Working together in an outreach effort took on special meaning in Macon, Georgia, when members of Muhammad Mosque No. 93 and Greater Turner Tabernacle AME Church collaborated to help their community. On Sept. 12, they helped clean up an area in the city.
One stretch of the neighborhood had so much trash that volunteers from three teams joined forces to tackle it. Nearby, organizers moved between groups, delivering water, replenishing supplies, and directing late arrivals to places where help was needed.
Twenty-nine volunteers participated in the neighborhood cleanup, bringing together mosque members, Greater Turner Tabernacle AME Church, Deacon Johnnie Yates, Pastor David Luke and Apostle Louise Smith Hill. According to organizers, their work cleared litter while opening doors to relationships among religious institutions that had long served the same community.
“We built some serious bridges,” Sister Aishah Muhammad, the mosque’s outreach coordinator, told The Final Call.
She assembled an outreach team with the energy and experience to run projects, including Protocol Director Fadil Muhammad. Meeting every two weeks, the team began considering activities, with neighborhood cleanup emerging as a practical place to start.
For Brother Fadil, a Macon native with decades of community involvement, the effort connected his experience with the mosque’s responsibility to its neighbors.
“What does your church do? What does your mosque do?” Brother Fadil told The Final Call, explaining that religious institutions and organizations must be prepared to answer these questions through service.
“It’s a great opportunity for us to really show that, yes, we are going to do something.”
Brother Fadil said he had long wanted to develop joint projects with nearby churches. Greater Overcoming Church of God sits across the street from the mosque, he said, yet opportunities to work together had gone unrealized.
Before volunteers arrived, Brother Fadil and another team member surveyed the neighborhood and mapped out areas needing attention. They considered streets around the mosque, including Third and Second streets, and places where clearing litter would make a visible difference for residents and people passing through.
Volunteers worked from 8 a.m. to noon, divided into five teams. Sister Aishah mixed participants among the groups, giving people from diff erent backgrounds an opportunity to work alongside one another.
After a safety briefi ng, teams headed out with gloves, trash bags, pickup tools, and safety vests. Sister Aishah coordinated the operation and carried water and additional supplies for volunteers. A pickup truck collected filled bags and transported them to a dumpster.
One heavily littered area required several teams to come together.
“It was just so much trash,” Sister Aishah said.
However, Sister Aishah said those diffi culties were small compared with what the group accomplished. Access to cleanup supplies and a large dumpster through a local organization made the project possible.
Residents came outside to ask who the volunteers were and to express appreciation. Some wanted to visit the mosque. Others asked to be included in future cleanups, said Sister Aishah.
Brother Fadil hopes future efforts will involve more neighborhood residents, including children, in caring for the places where they live.
Pastor Luke said the church’s social action committee brought the cleanup date to his attention, and the church received an invitation to participate. Approaching three years as pastor, he said mosque members had welcomed opportunities to attend the church’s services and invited church members to theirs.
“So, we were more than willing to come,” he told The Final Call.
Working alongside others for a common cause stood out to Pastor Luke. He also appreciated learning about the area’s history from members of his group and hearing their hopes for the neighborhood.
“The care that they expressed for the community,” he said, extended beyond the cleanup to “a vision of hope for our community.”
Pastor Luke also helped expand participation. According to Sister Aishah, after arriving, he began calling others and encouraging them to join the work. Apostle Hill subsequently came out, and conversations began about bringing more congregation members to another cleanup.
Asked whether the joint outreach would continue, Pastor Luke answered, “Most certainly.”
“I am a very ecumenical-minded pastor,” said Pastor Luke, who also serves as a chaplain. “I really am excited about the relationship.” For Sister Aishah, community connections are part of the work that must continue. “We’ve got to get out and serve,” she said.
Brother Fadil encouraged people to identify neighbors and institutions that share a desire to improve the community. “Together, you’re going to be able to make a greater difference,” he said.
