Dubai: A UAE camping group has joined hands with a local catering company during the month of Ramadan to combat Covid-19 by helping members of the community who are the most vulnerable.
The Fathers and Kids Camping group, established in Dubai in 2010, has launched the Curry4COVID campaign in partnership with Classic Catering to prepare hot meals for disadvantaged and vulnerable blue-collar workers in Dubai, which are then distributed through the UAE Food Bank in support of the 10 Million Meals campaign.
“Many low-wage workers in Dubai have lost their jobs because of COVID19. They are left with no salaries and many are not being able to get back home to their families. These are the same hard-working individuals who made it their goal to keep Dubai shiny and running smoothly. We decided to launch the campaign during these unprecedented times to help them the best way we could,” said Vahid Fotuhi, founder of the Fathers and Kids Camping group.
The campaign has managed to come up with 10,000 meals in the first week itself and now has the target of 50,000 meals till the end of Ramadan.
To support the campaign, members of the UAE community can purchase the meals through the KIDDO app, which is the official payment partner of this campaign. “The app helps parents to choose different activities for their kids and is created by one of our members. Now it has a Curry4Covid page where people can go and buy the meals,” says Fotuhi.
Kids from the camping group have created videos to spread the word around, which in turn has been shared on the social media platforms of all the 40 families who are group members.
“Families or individuals in the UAE can purchase one of the following meal packages via the KIDDO app which is five meals for Dh40, 25 meals for Dh200, 100 meals for Dh800 and 250 meals for Dh2,000,” said Fotuhi.
Food with face masks
Protective face masks are also being provided to each meal recipient, courtesy of to Dubai-based Sew Uniforms. “The aim is to help alleviate their hunger while also improving their health,” he explains.
The operations for the campaign runs smoothly with the food being prepared at the industrial kitchen of Classic Catering. “Every morning at 10am the app Kiddo informs Classic Catering how many meals they have to prepare. The kitchen gets the packs ready, which is usually a 400-gm box of chicken biriyani, and then the UAE Food Bank vans distribute it in the camps,” said Fotuhi.
Giving back to the community
The Father and Kids camping group, which has in the past encouraged kids to take up social activities in countries such as Zambia and Kenya, where they have built schools for orphans and water kiosks, felt that it was time to give back to the UAE community during such critical moments.
“We knew of Bobby Kapoor of Classic Catering who ran a Ramadan initiative every year to feed blue collar workers. This year we partnered with them, because we wanted our children to raise awareness about the needs of disadvantaged workers on the ground level,” said Fotuhi.
“A warm meal to feed a hungry heart is the least we can do today to embrace everyone in the community. These workers have worked hard to keep Dubai running. It’s time we look after them so that they don’t have to stay hungry,” he added.
