Abu Dhabi: An Irish expatriate in Al Reef Community who distributed 300 care packs to workers last Ramadan plans to more than double the number to 780 packs after being flooded with contributions from residents and hotels.
Susan McCann, 37, who has been preparing care packs for workers in her community for the last two Ramadans, said: “This time it just got very big.”
“Last year I distributed 300 care packs for workers, but I realised they were not enough. People kept knocking on my door asking if I had packs to give away and it broke my heart to send them away empty–handed,” she told XPRESS.
McCann decided to involve the entire community to reach out to the 780 odd workers in Al Reef community area. “For the last three months I have been planning on collecting things for the care pack. I even printed 4,000 flyers detailing the care pack initiative to help people contribute. With the help of 10 other residents, we went to every house in the area to drop off the leaflets.”
NECESSARY PERMISSIONS
Census International, the facilities management provider of Al Reef, helped her and the volunteers with all necessary permission to enter buildings in the community.
“This is the season of giving. Everybody wants to give something back to society during Ramadan. When Susan got in touch with us regarding her care pack initiative, we welcomed it with open arms.
“People have the intention to help someone, but don’t know how to go about it. They need someone to show them a path and Susan has done just that,” said Fawaz Al Amri, general manager, Census International.
McCann said Census also let her use the Al Reef community logo on the flyers to residents which added value to her campaign when they approached residents.
And the residents have been more than generous, literally flooding McCann’s house with contributions for her care packs.
When XPRESS visited her home, hundreds of towels, pillow cases, soap bars, T-shirts, caps, toothbrushes, toothpaste, body lotions, lip balm, combs, nail clippers and more were stocked up in her bedroom and bathroom.
“We will use the pillow case as a bag and fill up all the linen, T-shirts, caps and toiletries in it. We will give it to the workers on July 19 as an early Eid gift to the workers,” said McCann excitedly.
“Every morning when I wake up, I find bags of toiletries and linen at the door. There is a lot of goodness in people. What is more, they have placed trust in me that their contributions will go to the right people.”
Support from hotels
McCann also received support from three Abu Dhabi hotels – Sheraton Corniche, Le Meridien Abu Dhabi and Crowne Plaza on Hamdan Street. She and her volunteers will have the care packs ready on July 18 [Friday]. “They will be distributed the next day when the workers come to work in Al Reef. All the workers leave the community in buses at around 12pm. The buses are parked in designated pick-up points. Once the workers sit inside, we will hand them their goody bags,” said Claudie Audet, a volunteer helping Susan in her efforts.
