MIAMI – A Christian pastor’s prayer to open a faith-based shelter for the homeless has been answered thannks to an immigrant Muslim doctor who offered a generous donation on Christmas Eve.

“For a long time, I’ve wanted to do something in our community for the homeless,” Pocatello kidney doctor Naeem Rahim, who co-founded the JRM Foundation with his brother, Fahim Rahim, told Idaho State Journal on Tuesday, December 27.

Naeem said he was in Miami when he saw a news story with a photo of Jacqualine Thomas, pastor of Praise Temple of God in Pocatello, in front of the house she hoped to convert to a homeless shelter in Pocatello.

Thomas has been on a quest to gain financial support from area residents to help turn her dream of a faith-based homeless shelter, Big Momma’s House, into a reality.

Thomas faced a January 28 deadline to secure a $30,000 down payment on an existing home and property at 916 E. Sublette Street in Pocatello.

Naeem, his wife Amna, and three sons, Mustafa, 16, Musa, 14, and Hasan, 8, finished their evening meal on Christmas even when he shared his desire to help Thomas with her quest to establish Big Momma’s House.

With the full blessing of his family, Naeem made the late night call to Thomas.

“I told her God told me to call her,” Naeem said. “I said, ‘Big Momma, we’ll take care of it.’”

It was 11:30 pm when she received the call from doctor Naeem saying he would provide the $23,000 she needed to make a down payment on Big Mamma’s House.

“I thought someone was joking,” Thomas said. “Now I can’t stop crying.”

“I heard God in his voice,” Thomas said about the phone call from Naeem.

Both natives of Pakistan, Naeem and Fahim Rahim came to Pocatello in 2005.

They attended New York Medical College and completed their training in internal medicine and nephrology. In 2010, both brothers received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor.