A Brief History of the MSSM Fast-A-Thon

In the Fall of 2006, two Mount Sinai medical students, Mubashar Khan and Faraaz Shah representing the MSSM Muslim Students Association, organized the first Fast-A-Thon at Mount Sinai. The concept was simple: students participated in a dawn to dusk fast (no water, no food) and sponsors from the Sinai faculty and local businesses pledged a monetary amount per faster (flat donations were also accepted). That year, 41 fasting participants and 29 generous sponsors raised $1040. Faraaz and Mubashar chose EHHOP (East Harlem Health Outreach Partnership, http://www.eastharlemhealth.org/), the student-run free clinic at MSSM as the recipient of these proceeds. EHHOP provides primary medical care to the uninsured residents of East Harlem, and 100% of these proceeds were directed to pay for medications and specialty referrals for EHHOP patients.

The event was held again in 2007 with 50 fasting participants and broke the $2000 goal on the way to raising over $2112 for EHHOP.

In 2008, a new goal fundraising goal of $3000 with 75 fasting participants was set. Fast-A-Thon 2008 successfully recruited 75 fasting participants and smashed our fundraising goal and raised $5,062.

September 15, 2009 is the date set for the 4th Annual Fast-A-Thon. We anticipate recruiting 100 fasting participants and need YOUR help to reach our 2009 fundraising goal of $7500. Again, all proceeds will go towards meeting the healthcare needs of the uninsured in East Harlem.

Other new initiatives for 2009:
- This blogspot.
- Daily update on the status of our goals.
- Live blogging on September 15 by fasting participants.

Before I end, I would like to give another big thank you to all of our 2008 sponsors:




















- Andrew Chow