In 2015, Pauline Khan and Saima Amin set up a fridge in their local community to address food paucity in order to support low-income workers, especially those working outdoors, often in demanding conditions. The inspiration for Feed the Need KSA came from Feed the Need Bahrain, which was set-up as a way of giving back to the community, bringing people together and addressing food waste.
Since its first fridge in 2015, Feed The Need KSA has come a long way. Under the management of CEO Lama Aladalah, it now operates under the sponsorship of a local women’s charitable association called Bunyan, which itself was set-up to provide support to families. Feed The Need KSA currently operates and supports 14 fridges around Riyadh through community food donations such as fruit, snacks, juices, water, canned beans etc. The fridge locations can be found here: https://goo.gl/MA7ndV
In addition to keeping fridges full, the organization also holds food distribution in less affluent areas or workers’ camps. This Ramadan, it will be hosting a number of events including:
a) Cooked meal distribution event on Friday, May 18, 2018, where members of the community will cook rice and chicken dishes to be distributed around the fridges by volunteers before iftar;
b) Food bag distribution event on Friday, June 1, 2018, where volunteers will be distributing food bags near the fridges.
Since Feed the Need KSA was first set up in 2015, there has been a lot of interest from community groups and businesses around the community. This is because the group believes community fridges should be open to all to promote inclusivity and dignity giving anyone a chance to give as well as to receive. Additionally, their initiative which includes only volunteers is an opportunity to contribute to the community while learning new skills or sharing existing skills. If you would like to help, donate or organize an event for your local community please get in touch! please get in touch!
Feed The Need Email: feedtheneed.ksa@gmail.com
