Donations continue to pour in for new Fredericton mosque

A fundraiser for a new mosque in Fredericton has now raised more than $25,000, and the amount continues to grow.

The fundraiser was started by resident Ben Conoley after the shootings at a Quebec city mosque Sunday.

While it started off with only a small amount early this week,Conoley haschanged the target of his GoFundMe fundraiser several times as the money continues to pour in.

• After Quebec City shootings, Fredericton residents help raise money for mosque
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Earlier this week, he told CBC that the fundraiser was inspired by his five-year-old daughter. Collecting and donating the money was an opportunity to show her that people can make a difference, he said.

"It tells them that they live in a world, despite what they see on the news or hear on the news, where there are kind people," he said.

"And that you can rely on your friends in your community when you see something wrong happening."

Current mosque is too small, unsafe

The Fredericton Islamic Association has already been fundraisingfor a new mosqueon its own for several years now, saidAbdelhaq Hamza, the association's former president.

Thebuilding on Lincoln Road is too small, and not safe, he said. Cars are speeding by and there are no street lights or a sidewalk for pedestrians walking to the mosque.

The building is also too small for its congregation, which has doubled to almost 1,000 members since the Syrian refugees started arriving in late 2015.

The association now hopes to either buy land to build a new mosque, or turn an existing property within the city into one.

Hamza told Fredericton Information Morning on Friday that the association hopes the fundraiser will catch on with people across Canada.

One man from Calgary recently donated $2,000, thoughmost of the other donations are between $10 and $50.

But it's not the amount that'sthe most important part, said Hamza.

"You don't quantify generosity, you qualify it," he said.

"And the way you qualify it is you say, 'show me people who put a dollar or a penny and I show you people who deep inside care about the situation.'"

He added that people at the mosque have talked about the attack in Quebec.

While they agreed that safety is an issue, they also have many members who've lived in Canada for years and never felt threatened.

"You will always have anomalies,people who nurture hatred," he said.

"But on the other hand, it looks like the wave of hope is far greater than the anomaly that we got in the hatred.

"We said, 'no,life goes on.'"