Intended for the needy regardless of religion, race and color

25 May 2019, Dubai, UAE: In the observance of the Year of Tolerance and in conjunction with Zayed Humanitarian Day which falls on the 19th day of Ramadan, the Dubai Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities Department has launched the 'Meals of Hope' initiative to feed all individuals, families, the needy, and workers residing in Dubai, regardless of their religion and race. This is in line with the mission of the Department to spread and strengthen the values of moderate Islam, expand humanitarian philanthropy, and promote the values of charity, solidarity and tolerance among different groups in society.

The 'Meals of Hope' initiative is a qualitative investment of modern means to serve charities and needy people in the Emirate of Dubai, and which the Department is keen to provide iftar meals during Ramadan, in order to maintain the sustainability of the project throughout the year, by coordination with a group of restaurants in the Emirate of Dubai. This is also in the light of the Memorandum of Understanding signed by the Department on Wednesday evening at the Burj Al Arab Hotel with Zomato, which  is a licensed trading company in Dubai that operates within the emirate.

Mr. Ahmed Al Muhairi, Executive Director of the Charity Work Sector at the Department, said: 'The 'Meals of Hope' initiative was launched in conjunction with Zayed Humanitarian Day, and through cooperation with charitable organizations and institutions in Dubai. Various groups in the community can order meals directly, using the Zomato electronic food delivery platform. Addressing concerns on the delivery of meals by different restaurants, a number of restaurants have been selected based on the Department’s criteria on excellent environment for food delivery and the quality of food.

“By launching and activating this initiative, we aim to achieve significant growth in humanitarian philanthropy, raise the level of public happiness, and focus on the efficiency of delivering iftar meals to the Al Quoz region during the first stage and then to various locations and regions of Dubai after the end of the holy month of Ramadan, in order to maintain the sustainability of the project throughout the year.”

Al-Muhairi added that the charity is also keen to ensure that its philanthropic initiatives are in line with the needs of the community and its humanitarian aspirations, to sustain charity work development, and to encourage the competition of restaurants to participate, to be supervised directly by Zomato, with the standards laid out and the quality of food are provided in an efficient manner in compliance to global healthy and safety standars.

There is no doubt that we in Dubai Islamic are keen to activate this humanitarian work in the shadow of this holy month, as well as the revival of this great humanitarian day, and following the late founder Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, to insure the happiness of needy people, this is the result of continued coordination and work between the Islamic Department and its partners in the field of sustainable humanitarian philanthropy.

Mohammed Musabeh Dhahi, Director of the Charity Department, said: 'The beneficiaries should take advantage of this initiative by registering on the Zumato platform to deliver food, locating their place of residence, providing their telephone number, and choosing a meal from the restaurant list. (Zumato) to deliver the meal to their address directly.

At the same time, donors can make donations through the digital platform itself, while ordering their meals on a regular basis.

Dahi said the idea of 'meals of hope' is reflected in the humanitarian side of feeding food, by means of fast available, without financial costs, or effort borne by the needy, and the beneficiary can take the 'meal of hope' by eating meals at the restaurant, or free delivery of meals The restaurant will be selected in cooperation with Dubai Islamic. The initiative will allow Zumato to participate with charities to contribute to feed those in need and fasting people.

This initiative will provide a lot of food and delivery expenses, the cost of the tents during the Ramadan season,  and tents distribution costs, payments to the relevant authorities and the effort and time spent on donors to feed the poor.