|
UAE Freezones Biz News Updates
|
|
UAE’s first food bank launches in Dubai
Hussain Nasser
Lootah, left, deputy chairman and managing director of the country’s first
food bank, helps out on Wednesday as the UAE Food Bank in Dubai opens.
Low-income families and labourers will be able to get food donated by
hotels and supermarkets after the country’s first food bank was launched in
the city on Wednesday.
Stocked with boxes of food as part of the Year of Giving, the food bank aims
to help provide for the less fortunate while reducing food waste.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, launched
plans for the UAE Food Bank in January.
"The UAE Food Bank represents one of the most humanitarian values in the UAE,
and is well on its way to becoming one of the country’s largest humanitarian
institutions, widely spreading the culture of giving within a sustainable
institutional framework," said Sheikha Hind bint Maktoum Al Maktoum,
chairwoman of the UAE Food Bank Board of trustees.
So far, 96 hotels, 240 food shops and 7 charitable organisations across the
country have answered Sheikh Mohammed’s call to action and signed up to
donate their excess food and help with its distribution.
On Wednesday, 30 of these partners – including Atlantis The Palm, Choithrams,
Jumeirah Group, Armani Hotel, Aswaaq supermarkets, Starwood/Marriott and Al
Rawabi Dairy – attended a signing ceremony with Dubai Municipality and the
Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives foundation, which runs the
programme.
"It is a fantastic initiative to be associated with," said Colette Shannon,
spokeswoman for Spinneys, which took part in the programme’s trial run this
year by donating fresh bread and other food from its supermarket in Umm
Suqeim. "Being able to manage the distribution back out to those who need it
most is hugely important."
The municipality developed a UAE Food Bank app to manage the logistics for
each donation. Donors can log on to the app and list the daily products they
have for collection. A transport company authorised by the municipality can
collect the produce and deliver it to the food bank.
Then one of the partner charities can claim the goods through the app and
redistribute the food, with each donation traceable online by all partners.
Some items, such as excess food from banquets, weddings or conferences, will
be transported within 24 hours or less.
Hussain Nasser Lootah, director general of Dubai Municipality and deputy
chairman and managing director of the UAE Food Bank, said plans were under
way to launch many more food bank outlets soon.
"We are planning to build about 30 places similar to this food bank across
the UAE," said Mr Lootah. "We want to minimise the amount of food being
wasted, and we want also to give support for the needy people throughout the
UAE."
The first UAE Food Bank is just off D67, west of Al Khail Road in Al Quoz,
and is close to many labour camps. It includes two large shipping containers
that have been converted into refrigerated storage units lined with shelves
stocked with boxes of dry foodstuffs.
Mr Lootah said community refrigerators filled with fresh sandwiches, juice
and water are also to be being distributed as part of the initiative.
"They will be distributed beside the mosques and some parks," he said.
"People who have extra food, who follow the hygienic instructions from Dubai
Municipality, can come and store it here so that people who need food can
take it."
Ahmed Al Muhairi, executive director of the charity work sector of the
Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities Department in Dubai, said the
initiative is different to food banks in many western countries, where the
less fortunate are typically invited to choose free food from the shelves.
In Dubai, the food will be distributed to the economically disadvantaged by
charities and volunteers. The UAE Food Bank, for the most part, will
inspect, store the goods and facilitate logistics.
"Here, it is different," Mr Al Muhairi said. "Here we need to make sure that
we take what would otherwise be discarded, but good food, and give it to
those who need it. It is as much about reducing waste as it is about
fulfilling a basic human need."
The UAE loses Dh13 billion each year in food waste, according to the Dubai
Media Office.
April 19, 2017
|
|
Courtesy The National
|
|