Ramadan is officially underway this year for Muslims and around the world, a time when those of the Islamic faith abstain from eating and drinking from sunrise to sunset.

How long you fast depends on what city and country you live in, and it can be anywhere from 12 hours to 17 hours each day.

The tradition of lending a helping hand, during Ramadan, continues at Al-Noor mosque in Wappingers Falls at the Mid-Hudson Islamic Association. All hands are on deck, like 17-year-old Zain Khan.

“It feels good, because you’re doing something for someone else, and bringing joy to their families,” he said.

The donations come from community members to make sure people in need are able to have a happy Ramadan. It starts with dates. There’s no Ramadan without dates. Muslims traditionally break their fast at sun-down with a date.

Ramadan isn’t just about going without food and drink during the day. The holy month is about giving back to others who may be less fortunate.

“Ramadan is about spending time with your family, and giving to the community,” Khan said, “and spending it together because not all families are fortunate enough to have food, and so we do this for them.”

Khan has been coming to this mosque since the first grade. He and other young people here are active in the community, regularly holding bake sales, coat drives and food drives for Muslims like Syrian refugees and non-Muslims.

Zena Elsamra, 24, is an Egyptian-American in the Hudson Valley. For her this isn’t volunteer work.

“I grew up in this masjid, I have been incorporated in this masjid, so we’ve been pretty involved,” she said. “This is something we effortlessly do, and I’m just happy to be here.”

This Ramadan for Elsamra is about so much more than herself.

“I think it’s so easy to get distracted, you know, mindless things,” she said. “We don’t consider that there’s people in our community, and these are our brothers and sisters also, who need our help. And that’s what we’re here for, so I feel like there’s also that spiritual relief.”

Elsamra says she loves Ramadan, and is happy to be starting the month off with a bang.

“It’s not in terms of ‘oh, we fast, and we’re thirsty, and we don’t drink water,’ ” she said. “It’s more of, we’re actually out here and we’re doing our duty of being the best that we could be not just as Muslims, but as conscious individuals, so it’s really great.”

The mosque is doing a drive-through food giveaway on Saturday for families in need across the Hudson Valley to come and pick up a box.