WINNIPEG – As fire destroyed Shamattawa’s only grocery store, a Winnipeg Muslim charity rushed to help the remote city in northeast Manitoba, sending over 2000 kilograms of supplies to help the community.

“We are moved when we see something like this,” Hussain Guisti with the Zubaidah Tallab Foundation told CBC on Wednesday, September 28.

“As Muslims we have to care about those who are in need. We just have to. It’s part of our religion. It’s part of us,” he said.

The Northern Store in Shamattawa, located about 750 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg, was destroyed in a fire Thursday.

A 12-year-old boy, one of six children RCMP believe were involved in setting the blaze, was arrested and is facing charges.

With the absence of the only grocery source in the city, Guisti will take over 2000 kilograms of dry goods to Perimeter Aviation where they will be flown in to the community.

Muslim volunteers with the foundation collected the goods in less than a week, receiving donations from local businesses.

Donated items include loaves of bread, canned beans, bags of potatoes, flour, four pallets of diapers, as well as personal hygiene items like soap, deodorant and toothbrushes.

“We didn’t sacrifice quality. When I picked up the things I only bought top quality material that I would use myself and that I would use for my own family,” he said.

The North West Company has opened a temporary location in the community after the fire but there are still lots of goods that are needed.

However, many people cannot afford what is on the shelves, Guisti said.

“What little the store has, the vast majority can’t afford it,” he added.

Though the shipment is not the first to northern communities in Manitoba, it is the largest so far.

“There are those who can donate money but don’t have the time to put in the volunteer effort and there are those who can volunteer and don’t have the money,” Guisti said.

“You put them all together and you can do something like this.”