Through her grief, Ala’a Adib builds community

After the loss of her younger brother, Adan “Sache” Dubet, Ala’a Adib knew she had to channel her heavy grief into something that would make her brother proud.

Adan was a victim of gun violence and died in 2020 before he had a chance to complete his final year of Business Technology Management at Toronto Metropolitan University. At the time, he had his sights set on studying at the Lincoln Alexander School of Law, given its vision of fostering socially conscious lawyers dedicated to serving their communities.

In his honour, Adan’s family created the Adan Dubet Law School Award, to support young law students who, like Adan, commit themselves to building communities and bettering the lives of others, despite facing barriers themselves. “The law school embodies the values of Lincoln Alexander, who was so profound and went through so many barriers to get to where he was,” says Adib. “Adan lived by these values – of building community and pushing against institutional barriers. He recognized that advocacy and education are key to creating a better future for everyone.”

Growing up, Adan saw firsthand how language, income, and cultural barriers can stand in the way of justice. His mother ran a nonprofit organization to support youth in the neighbourhood and often participated in community events and training sessions. He was bright, generous, and engaged. He held study sessions to mentor students who started the program a year or two after him. He would also frequently check in with neighbourhood teens in the West Mall area in Etobicoke, where he grew up. “He would say, ‘Okay, do you have a job? Where do you want to go to school? What do you need help with? Do you need community hours? We can help figure it out with you,’” Adib says. His compassion extended beyond Canada’s borders. One month before senseless gun violence took his life, Adan donated $2,000 to fix the roof at a school in Somalia, his mother’s birthplace.

Adan’s many acts of kindness added up. After his death, a GoFundMe campaign in his honour raised over $100,000 in three days. Adib started a non-profit organization called Smile for Sache, dedicated to serving people who face poverty and other systemic barriers.

The organization runs several programs, including basketball programs for youth, a camping retreat for boys from low-income neighbourhoods, healing retreats for mothers who have lost children to violence, and a Feed the Fasting program. 

The Feed the Fasting program offers traditional food to people facing food insecurity, so they can partake in the daily breaking of the fast during the holy month of Ramadan. The program community members gather together every day in honour of a loved one who has passed away, Adib explains. “We make the food together, and then we have drivers personally deliver the food to mosques, as well as people's homes, refugee hotels, or shelters,” she says. The program has been so successful that chapters have opened across Canada, in the U.S., and in the U.K. “Every city we went to, there were over 150 volunteers giving back and building community,” says Adib.

Last year, City of Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow honoured Smile for Sache with a Mayor’s Community Safety Award. The award recognizes innovative projects that build safe communities in the city.