Emad Mourad - Doha

Ibrahim Al Abdali receives round-the-clock donor contacts during his work at the Al-Namaa Conservation Center in Doha to help people donate their surplus food and distribute it to the poor instead of dumping it in garbage containers.

The phenomenon of extravagance in the field of banqueting is very widespread in the Gulf region, especially in weddings and social events. The center of the preservation of grace is divided into two parts: the first is to raise awareness of the need to rationalize consumption and avoid waste and waste, and second recycling of food and in-kind surplus to preserve the environment and provide it to the deserving.

Al Abdali's mission is to receive a call from the donor and determine the time the center team will go to get the food surplus, and then coordinate the mission until donations reach the center building in Khalifa City, Doha.

The Center distributed 468,881 meals during the past year (Al Jazeera Net)

The food bank
Al-Namaa Center - which started its idea a decade ago - is the first food bank in Qatar, and grew up in a community initiative. Its role was only to collect surplus food and distribute it to those in need in Qatar. On all types of voluntary contributions in kind, recycling and redistribution to those in need.

The center depends on the optimal utilization of available resources, reducing waste, recycling and distributing them to beneficiaries, in the pursuit of social solidarity among the members of society, reducing the waste of blessings, and optimizing investment, and providing social services and awareness distinctly.

Beneficiaries of the Center's work have reached more than 2 million people since its inception. The year 2018 witnessed a significant development in the center's activity, where 468,881 meals were distributed, up 21% over 2017, benefiting 242,649 workers and 33,668 families. The center also distributed more than 8 tons of meat and chicken, 4.5 tons of rice and 4.7 tons of sugar.

During the past year, the Center distributed 2599 pieces of furniture, 2027 carpets and upholstery, 481 electronic devices, 674 electrical appliances and nearly 200 tons of clothing; to needy families after studying the cases submitted. The remainder was also offered for sale at nominal prices to low-income families, which helped the Center to develop its business and expand its utilization.

The Center organizes awareness campaigns to urge the community to preserve the blessing (Al Jazeera Net)

Education and awareness
In the field of awareness, the Center held memorization lectures to raise awareness of the dangers of waste and the need for rationalization and ways to preserve the blessings of school students, the number of beneficiaries of nearly 500 students.

Director of the Center Ali bin Ayed al-Qahtani said in an interview for Al-Jazeera Net that the preservation of grace is not just a center to save food, but seeks to be a model in education and awareness.

He added that the collection of surplus food is a task that requires great effort, but the biggest effort is to raise awareness and educate the community and reduce the waste of food, which represents a loss for both the individual and the community.

On the mechanism of work within the center, Al-Qahtani explained that there are significant differences in dealing with various donations. Food donations, for example, are dealt with very quickly in order to ensure the validity of these foods, through a trained team knows the areas of workers' presence and housing.

The furniture, clothing and electrical appliances are distributed by the center to needy families after being examined by the Committee of Assistance in kind. The remainder is offered for sale at nominal prices to families with limited income. The waste of furniture causes an environmental problem.

Al-Qahtani stressed that the Center seeks to cooperate with civil society institutions and research centers to provide data and figures related to the establishment of a research study based on scientific foundations known as the rate of waste in society and its environmental and economic effects, means of avoidance and the possibility of diverting wasted objects to useful resources.