JAKARTA (UCAN) -- Tari, a 34-year-old Muslim woman who daily scavenges for food in Central Jakarta, says she is grateful to a Catholic lay association for organizing a fast-breaking program for poor and marginalized Muslims.

"I am very happy that there is a religious community which really cares for little people like us," the mother of three told UCA News.

Tari was among 200 poor Muslims, including street vendors, cobblers, parking attendants and motorcycle taxi drivers, invited by the international Community of Sant'Egidio to break their fast in its compound in West Jakarta on Sept. 6.

After the program, each participant received a package containing milk, biscuits, syrup, instant noodles, soap, toothpaste and shampoo.

Eveline Winarko, coordinator of the Sant'Egidio community in Jakarta, told UCA News the program "aims to promote respect for poor people and an appreciation for those fasting" during the Islamic month of Ramadan.

She said funds for the program came from the community's members who also prepared food for the occasion.

The Sant'Egidio community was founded in Rome in 1968 following the Second Vatican Council as a movement of Catholic laypeople dedicated to evangelization and charity. Today it has more than 50,000 members in Italy and more than 70 countries throughout the world.

It also believes that dialogue between religions, as recommended by the Second Vatican Council, is the best way to achieve peace and cooperation between religions.

Winarko said that the Sant'Egidio community in Jakarta has held similar programs each Ramadan since 2007. This year it also invited a lay Muslim leader, Muhammad Said, who gave a talk prior to the fast breaking.

"We thank this community for caring for us and gathering us here for our fast breaking," Said told participants. "This community invites all of us to practice our religion. We should speak in a good way, have respect for others and promote tolerance," he said.

Said told UCA News that "this program is charitable in nature since it gathers and helps poor Muslim people," and did not aim at proselytizing.

Commenting on rumors that such a program might have such an agenda, he said these were only rumors. "The community does care for poor people," he stressed.

Kholid, a cobbler with five children, agreed, saying he felt the program was "a manifestation of tolerance and concern for small people."

Sant'Egidio has around 500 members and 16 communities across Indonesia.

It holds many events throughout the year including Christmas celebrations with poor people, prayer meetings several times a week and visits to the elderly and street children.