Saban Bilgin owns his own moving company, so he knows that lifting box after box can be backbreaking work.

But he found the two dozen or so boxes he helped unload from a van Tuesday to be heart-lifting instead.

"It's tough economic times for everybody," Bilgin said in broken English as he helped deliver 300 pounds of ground beef to the Sulzbacher Center, a homeless shelter in Jacksonville. "In hard times like this, helping people feels very good."

The act helped Bilgin and four friends from the Amity Turkish Cultural Center fulfil the Muslim tradition of donating ritually prepared meat to the poor. In a hectic hour between 3 and 4 p.m., they made the Sulzbacher delivery and dropped off another 300 pounds at Second Harvest Food Bank.

The donations were part of a Muslim practice associated with the Eid ul-Adha, a major festival that accompanies the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, which happened in early December. The Quran instructs Muslims to divide the specially prepared meat into thirds: one portion for themselves, one portion for a neighbor and another portion for the poor, said Akif Aydin, director of the nonprofit cultural center.

The center, which exists to foster intercultural understanding, is mostly made up of Muslims, Aydin said.

Normally, many Muslim immigrants send cash donations to their native countries, where meat is purchased and distributed to the poor there.

"But this year we said 'let's pool our money here and donate for poor people here in Jacksonville,' " Aydin said.

Officials with the two agencies said the donations will help a lot of people.

"If you think about the organizations that we serve -- from soup kitchens to homeless shelters -- meat is tough to come by some days," said Tom Strother, a spokesman for Lutheran Social Services of Northeast Florida, the food bank's parent agency.

"Having meat really completes a meal."

Actually, it will complete a lot of meals, said Kevin Nacke, director of food services and executive chef at the Sulzbacher Center.

The donated meat will contribute from three days' to a week's worth of meals, depending on whether it's used for lunches or dinners, Nacke said.

The center serves from 1,100 to 1,300 meals a day, which is up an average of about 200 meals a day over the same period a year ago, he said.

"So it's a big deal," Nacke said of Tuesday's donation.

Nacke and Strother said their agencies have seen an increase in demand since the economy nosedived in the fall.

Aydin said members of the Turkish cultural center had the economy in mind when they decided to donate locally.

"Islam says to give to neighbors -- it doesn't say just Muslim neighbors," he said.

jeff.brumley@jacksonville.com (904) 359-4310

Copyright 2009 The Florida Times-Union