24-year-old Elma survived war and hunger, now helps socially vulnerable in the US

Elma Kosovac Imamović, a 24-year-old first-year student at Concordia University in Minnesota (USA), started the "Food Basket" project three years ago, donating to socially vulnerable families for Thanksgiving and Christmas in Fargo-Moorhead, reports the BH News Agency Patria.

"I started the "Food Basket" project because I was in a similar situation. Every year I would buy food for several families in this area. That number grew from 15 to 65 families," says Imamović.

Imamović is now a family woman, a mother, but she has not forgotten what she went through during the aggression against BiH from 1992 to 1995. Her childhood in eastern Bosnia was marked by war, and bullets flew until the end of 1998, says Imamović.

Her parents had to provide food for three children, and they often ate only milk and bread. They moved to the USA in 2000, where her family finally had the opportunity to create a different life.

Local companies have joined her in this project, and the program has been expanded. With the help of volunteers, Imamović personally delivers each basket.

The only thing this young woman asks for is a thank-you letter, which she gives to donors and with which she creates a special book. For the upcoming Christmas, she will try to provide a basket for every family that requests help. That is precisely why she is organizing a charity event to raise funds.

"These families are in need every day, and I help them two days a year. When I think about it, I lived like that too. But it also reminds me how far I have come and how much my parents did for me," concluded Imamović.