DUBAI: The UAE Food Bank is set to extend its presence in two more locations in Dubai by October, having donated well over 52 tonnes of food through its first branch in the Emirate, Gulf News has learnt. The two new branches will open in Satwa and Muhaisnah by October, confirmed Khalid Mohammad Sherif Al Awadi, Dubai Municipality’s Assistant Director General for Health, Safety and Environment. The new branches will be sponsored by the Easa Saleh Al Gurg Charity Foundation, which has partnered with the municipality as the first permanent sponsor of the Food Bank initiative. “We have received more requests for permanent sponsorship and they are currently under study,” said Al Awadi. A partner applying for permanent sponsorship takes responsibility from a financial perspective for all processes at the bank’s location chosen by such partner as long as the food bank is operational, he explained. “We have created a sponsorship strategy and guidelines for that.” The civic body had opened the first UAE Food Bank branch in Al Quoz area on April 19.
In the four months that it has been operational, Al Awadi said the bank facilitated the donation of over 52 tonnes of food items from food establishments that had signed up with the municipality. The donors include prominent hotel chains, supermarket and hypermarket groups, food factories and farms in the Emirate. Their donations through the Food Bank office off Latifa Bint Hamdan Street in Al Quoz are collected and distributed to labourers and needy families by charity groups that have partnered with the municipality.
