Food is not going to waste!

Two more five-star hotels have rallied to support The Conserving Bounties Society during the holy month by lending a helping hand to underprivileged families and labourers.

The InterContinental Regency and the Crowne Plaza Bahrain, which fall under the IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) banner, have joined the initiative by donating surplus fare from its Ramadan gatherings.

 “Although we are very conscious in preparing our food so as not to overproduce, we get questioned by guests as to what we are doing with our leftovers during Ramadan,” said Phillip Economou, the area general manager of the IHG hotels in Bahrain.

“We wanted to be part of an organisation that enhances the spirit of support and cooperation in the community as well as contributing to reducing wastage of food, which aligns perfectly with IHG’s ethos.”

The Conserving Bounties Society, a non-profit organisation, is run by a team of 16 individuals in a dedicated office space with IT facilities and a storage area at the VIVA tower in Seef. It was founded in 2014 to create a food bank to help reduce wastage and feed the needy. 

Since its launch, it has assisted more than 300 families and 3,000 labourers. The distribution process takes place twice a day, after iftar and ghabga, with up to 400,000 meals distributed across the island.  All the donations follow internationally-recognised health and safety standards to ensure they are clear to be distributed safely.

Other hotels and supermarkets that have joined the society’s Ramadan appeal include The Sheraton Bahrain Hotel, the Movenpick Hotel Bahrain, ART Rotana Amwaj Islands and Downtown Rotana as well as Lulu Hypermarket and Alosra.

GulfWeekly, Bahrain’s campaigning community newspaper also linked up with Mumtalakat to support the society as part of its Spirit of Ramadan initiative.

Thawra Al Dhaen, the society’s chief executive officer, said: “The initiative continues to help with reducing the amount of food wastage significantly and the amount directed to the municipal landfill, which has a negative impact on the environment.

“This is consistent with the goals of sustainable development initiated by the kingdom as part of Bahrain’s Vision 2030 requirements – specifically objective No 2 on the complete elimination of hunger and also the objective No 12 on ensuring the existence of patterns for sustainable consumption and production of food as well as prevention, reduction, recycling of the surplus of food.”

GulfWeekly’s chief reporter Mai Al Khatib-Camille and her husband, Sam, joined members of the sovereign wealth fund’s team and family members recently to help pack parcels of goodness and others are encouraged to participate before Eid.

Those that would like to help can contact the society on 33499499 for more details.

The Spirit of Ramadan campaign is also providing meals to children in need around the world using the smartphone application, ShareTheMeal, designed to fight global hunger through the UN World Food Programme (WFP).

Follow #Mumtalakat4BH for more details and download the ShareTheMeal app from AppStore or GooglePlay.