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The Bahrain Rugby Football Club (BRFC) recently took part in a community donation drive in support of Afghan refugees and was overwhelmed by the response, writes Mai Al Khatib-Camille.
A message had circulated on social media on August 24 urging people to donate items such as clothes, toys, diapers, shoes and milk and big-hearted community members happily complied.
When the BRFC heard about the plea, the sports and recreation facility jumped on the bandwagon and was inundated with donations.
“The BRFC members and wider community saw the request for donations on Tuesday and quickly mobilised to drop off their contribution to the Club,” explained Ashleigh Aitken, the club’s sponsorship and CSR executive. “We started with our designated collection box in reception and within a few hours that was filled and we had to use our back storage room.
“The room filled up by midday on Wednesday and we had to begin the collection outside. By Thursday evening, four of our parking bays were filled with donations for men, women and children.”
Over the weekend, BRFC used a large truck and made seven trips to transport and donate more than 400 bags and boxes of items for refugees.
“BRFC joined the drive that took place at Reef Island. We had also planned to gather items from our members and add them to the main collection,” Ashleigh added. “However, thanks to the generosity of the kingdom, the Reef Island collection reached capacity and was closed. We designated our ample parking lot to continue the campaign as many BRFC members and others on the island had already prepared their donations.”
In the meantime, BRFC aims to organise a charity or community project every four to six weeks for their members and guests to take part.
They aim to help a wide range of causes in the kingdom.
“Our members consider our CSR initiatives to be a vital section of the Club and we always exceed our goals that we set out with,” added Ashleigh.
