{"id":2417,"date":"2019-06-01T15:59:05","date_gmt":"2019-06-01T19:59:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/?p=2417"},"modified":"2019-05-15T16:01:16","modified_gmt":"2019-05-15T20:01:16","slug":"for-a-good-cause-al-amin-muhammad-we-rise-above-the-streets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/?p=2417","title":{"rendered":"FOR A GOOD CAUSE: Al-Amin Muhammad, We Rise Above the Streets"},"content":{"rendered":"

Photos by Maureen Tricase\/Capture Your Moments Photography<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Tell me about yourself. How did you end up on the streets?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I am the son of\u00a0Haitian immigrants. My parents moved from\u00a0Haiti and settled in Chicago.\u00a0They were both very hardworking people and wanted only the best for me and my two sisters. While they worked, I had too\u00a0much free time on my hands and wound up\u00a0becoming a part of a gang. With that decision came drug activity, violence and prison time.\u00a0There\u00a0were a series of events that\u00a0occurred\u00a0that made me rethink my life.\u00a0I was\u00a0shot twice and declared dead. After that\u00a0incident\u00a0and many others, I decided to make a life change. I moved to Atlanta to\u00a0try\u00a0to\u00a0start my life over. After a few months there, I found myself\u00a0back into the drug scene. I was turned in by\u00a0someone I thought was a friend and ended up\u00a0in jail.\u00a0I made a decision\u00a0to change my life when I left prison. The problem was\u00a0I\u00a0didn\u2019t have a financial plan or resources when I was released, so I found myself homeless.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What made you decide you needed to make a change?<\/strong><\/p>\n

While I was in jail,\u00a0I spent\u00a0a lot\u00a0of time looking at pictures of my\u00a0daughters and thinking about my family\u00a0and life.\u00a0My roommate at the time noticed the pictures of my daughters and how I\u00a0cherished\u00a0them.\u00a0He\u00a0posed a\u00a0question to me that moved me to tears. He asked,\u00a0\u201cIf you die today, what legacy will you leave your\u00a0daughters?\u201d\u00a0I had no answer. It\u00a0was then that I\u00a0made the\u00a0initial decision to never return to\u00a0a life\u00a0of crime.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How did you turn your life around?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The\u00a0best thing that ever\u00a0happened to me,\u00a0besides my daughters, was Islam. Allah deserves all the praise and credit for my life changes. Had it not been for Islam, I don\u2019t\u00a0know where I\u2019d\u00a0be right now.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What attracted you to the Muslim faith?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

While I was in\u00a0prison, I\u00a0noticed that these men were like a little community, or Ummah as\u00a0we\u00a0call it. They had discipline,\u00a0camaraderie,\u00a0and an\u00a0honorable\u00a0way of\u00a0managing their\u00a0sentences that I had never paid attention to\u00a0before.\u00a0I enjoyed the brotherhood and the way they stayed out of the issues and the trouble that prison life comes with.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How did you end up in Syracuse?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

After I finally got my life together and\u00a0got my own\u00a0apartment and job\u00a0I\u00a0could think about my future. In the\u00a0Muslim faith, it is important to have a wife. \u00a0The brothers at the\u00a0Masjid were really pressing me to get married. I was on Facebook, met a young lady and we agreed to marry.\u00a0The\u00a0issue was she could not move to Atlanta because of her military obligation.\u00a0After a few weeks apart, I decided to relocate\u00a0and subsequently enjoyed it so\u00a0much I\u2019ve decided to stay awhile.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We have a number of food pantries and shelters in the Syracuse area. What prompted you to start handing out sandwiches and clothing on the streets instead of working with one of those existing organizations?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Because I spent almost 10\u00a0years homeless, I have\u00a0a different\u00a0perspective\u00a0of what the homeless population needs.\u00a0The\u00a0organizations had their way of approaching the issue and I\u00a0had an approach that\u00a0I\u00a0knew would work\u00a0based on my life experience. It was important to me that I actually interacted physically with my homeless family. I wanted them to\u00a0feel a sense of normalcy and that they aren\u2019t invisible or too dirty to\u00a0hug and touch. Removing barriers and going to their\u00a0\u201chouse\u201d\u00a0so to speak,\u00a0offers a\u00a0more\u00a0personal touch to\u00a0sharing resources.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How has your outreach grown since you started\u00a0in 2015?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

I went from\u00a0purchasing 15 burgers and passing them out to making 50 lunch sacks\u00a0at the dining room table\u00a0and passing those out to where we are today. Making more than 600 sandwiches, passing out hygiene items and\u00a0clothing. \u00a0The\u00a0organization\u00a0started with\u00a0a\u00a0few volunteers and has grown to\u00a0hosting more than 150 volunteers serving\u00a0more than 1000 people a\u00a0week. I would say we have grown\u00a0phenomenally!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What are your goals for the future?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The future\u00a0for We Rise Above the Streets\u00a0will\u00a0focus on\u00a0sustainability.\u00a0As we assist with the basic needs of the homeless population,\u00a0we want to be\u00a0able to transition to\u00a0providing resources to help\u00a0improve the quality of their lives. We want to establish a facility that will offer, showers,\u00a0clothing, food,\u00a0life\u00a0skill classes and counseling. For these elements to be\u00a0effective, we really need\u00a0a building\u00a0easily accessed\u00a0from any area of the city and surrounding areas.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How do we address homelessness in Syracuse? In the nation?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The best way to eliminate homelessness is to change the minds of the public. Homelessness has a stigma attached to it that the\u00a0people who find themselves down on their luck\u00a0are lazy or failures. If we change the way\u00a0people\u00a0see\u00a0the homeless, we will be in\u00a0better mental space to advocate\u00a0for and\u00a0truly find\u00a0solutions for the problem.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How can people help We Rise Above the Streets?\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The\u00a0most urgent needs of the organization are funds to keep\u00a0the operation alive.<\/p>\n

For monetary donations: PayPal:\u00a0weriseabovethestreets@gmail.com<\/p>\n

Mailing address: We Rise Above The Street\u00a0, 404 Oak Street, No. 111, Syracuse, NY 13203<\/p>\n

Also, we need the\u00a0following\u00a0items: Turkey meat, cheese,\u00a0wheat bread, juice boxes,\u00a0chips\u00a0and granola bars.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Is there anything I didn\u2019t ask that you\u2019d like people to know?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Please come and spend time with us. Come volunteer! While changing\u00a0lives, you will also have a life changing experience.\u00a0Thank you. #IfWeEatTheyEat<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photos by Maureen Tricase\/Capture Your Moments Photography   Tell me about yourself. How did you end up on the streets? I am the son of\u00a0Haitian immigrants. My parents moved from\u00a0Haiti and settled in Chicago.\u00a0They were both very hardworking people and wanted only the best for me and my two sisters. While they worked, I had…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2419,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[104,99,101],"tags":[870,868,869],"class_list":["post-2417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-causes","category-featured","category-features","tag-ifweeattheyeat","tag-al-amin-muhammad","tag-we-rise-above-the-streets"],"gutentor_comment":0,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/DSC_9427.jpg?fit=4690%2C7049&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":536,"url":"https:\/\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/?p=536","url_meta":{"origin":2417,"position":0},"title":"The Ladies Relief of the Poor and Needy and Home Association","author":"Staff","date":"February 27, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"A History of Helping By David Haas | Photography provided by Storycuse.com Long before social services were available to the needy, The Ladies Relief of the Poor and Needy and Home Association was formed in Syracuse in 1851 to help impoverished women, children and orphans. 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