100 Million Meals raises Dh78m in less than a week since launch

The 100 Million Meals campaign has raised Dh78 million since the initiative was announced last Sunday.

Donations have poured in from people and companies, both inside and outside the UAE.

Every Dh1 donated helps to provide a meal in countries across the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

“Raising more than half of the targeted donations in less than a week since the launch of the campaign reflects the keenness of the UAE community to support the country’s humanitarian efforts to provide relief to people in need across the world,” Mohammed Al Gergawi, Minister of Cabinet Affairs and secretary general of Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives, said yesterday.

The Emirates will pay for 100 million meals in 20 countries during Ramadan, in one of the biggest food drives of its kind.

Authorities have already started to distribute the food parcels.

Low-income families, refugees, orphans and widows in Jordan, Egypt and Pakistan have begun receiving ingredients that will help them prepare meals throughout the holy month.

Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives, which organised the 100 Million Meals campaign, joined international and local partners in each beneficiary country to deliver the parcels.

The UN World Food Programme will distribute cash vouchers raised from the campaign to provide 20.8 million meals in refugee camps in Jordan over the next six weeks.

As a strategic partner of the campaign, the WFP is helping to provide food support through money transfers and cash vouchers for low-income communities in Palestine and in refugee camps in Jordan and Bangladesh.

Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Humanitarian and Charity Establishment, working in collaboration with the UAE embassy, has begun distributing food parcels to people in Pakistan.