ABU DHABI, 2nd August / WAM / His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, representative of the ruler in the Al Dhafra region and Chairman of the Red Crescent Authority, affirmed the authority’s keenness to adopt local initiatives that work to sustain giving and enhance capabilities by providing stable sources of income for needy families and vulnerable groups.
His Highness said that the authority has taken great strides towards wider horizons of expansion and quantitative and qualitative spread in projects and programs directed to the categories and segments it sponsors inside and outside the country.
This came during his visit to the headquarters of the Red Crescent Authority in Abu Dhabi to review the goals and initiatives of the “Preservation of Grace” and “Al Ghadeer” projects of the Authority.
His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan said that the Preservation of Grace project plays a major role in reducing extravagance and thanking the blessings that God has bestowed upon us by recycling surplus food, clothing and furniture and donating them to people with needs and limited income to enhance the principle of solidarity, compassion, affection, brotherhood and giving that characterizes it. UAE society.
His Highness pointed out that the project also seeks to urge individuals and governmental and private bodies to extend more bridges of communication with the needy, make maximum use of the quantities of wasted food, meet the needs of the beneficiary segments, provide aid in an easy and safe way, and preserve the environment by recycling the surplus.
His Highness noted the goals for which the “Al Ghadeer Emirati Crafts” project was established, which contributes to improving the lives of female craftswomen working in the project, supporting the economic and social conditions of their families, highlighting the cultural and heritage identity of the Emirates, and enabling female citizens to acquire the necessary expertise in order to revive ancient crafts and pass them on to current generations.
His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan praised the great efforts made by the organizers of the “Preserving Grace” and “Al Ghadeer” projects and called for more initiatives and programs that would activate and enhance the role and objectives of the two projects.
At the beginning of the visit, His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan was acquainted with the objectives and initiatives of the Preservation of Grace project, in the presence of His Excellency Ahmed Matar Al Dhaheri, Director of the Office of His Highness the Ruler’s Representative in the Al Dhafra Region, His Excellency Hammoud Al Junaibi, Secretary General of the Red Crescent Authority, and a number of officials in the Authority.
His Highness was also acquainted with the beginning of the establishment of the project, its work strategy, plans and divisions, the most important initiatives and achievements it has achieved during the past years, and the most prominent future projects. .
His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan watched a presentation on the services provided by the project during the past six months, where the number of beneficiaries from the food section reached more than 700,000 people, and the total number of distributed products was about one million and 147 products, with a value of 21 million dirhams, and with regard to the clothing section, it reached The number of clothes distributed was about 332 thousand pieces, from which more than 16 thousand people benefited, with a value of about 143,000 dirhams, while nearly 300 families benefited from furniture, with a value of about 900 thousand dirhams.
His Highness was also briefed on the strategic plan of the Preservation of Grace project, which includes the introduction of new electronic services represented in the smartphone application, which is to be launched during the current month and aims to expand the provision of services, open channels for donation and keep pace with the development in the provision of electronic services, in addition to implementing an electronic system for stores for preserving grace.
The plan also includes a pioneering initiative by the students of the College of Engineering at Abu Dhabi University, through which their academic and applied expertise will be employed in providing furniture requirements for the homes of the needy, benefiting from furniture donations received from some agencies, hotels, furniture stores and individuals, and working on maintaining and redesigning them according to the best scientific standards that achieve sustainability. It meets the needs of the residents of these dwellings.
The initiative also includes the recycling and maintenance of furniture and making use of it in a practical way to meet the needs of these housing units, while adding creative touches from male and female students to furniture pieces through a comprehensive perspective of the architectural planning of each of these housing units, and a commitment to the social and health dimensions that suit the local environment and the urban planning of the residential complexes for these groups. the beneficiary.
The initiative also aims to enable the residents of these dwellings to live a decent life by employing the available environmental elements and their connection with the use of home furniture to achieve the quality of life for these social groups and to benefit from the incoming furniture donations to enable the needs and requirements of the beneficiaries, in addition to recycling and maintaining furniture and making use of hotel furniture with the aim of distributing it to the needy.
The initiatives include establishing a sewing workshop and distributing a number of modern and modern grace-keeping containers to collect old and new items, converting unused food waste into organic fertilizers and benefiting from them, in addition to placing project refrigerators in commercial centers to receive restaurants’ contributions of fresh meals and distribute them to beneficiaries on a daily basis.
On the other hand, during the visit, His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan inspected the Al Ghadeer Emirati Crafts Project, one of the pioneering projects of the Emirates Red Crescent Authority and enjoys the generous patronage of the wife of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Her Highness Sheikha Shamsa bint Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Nahyan, Assistant to His Highness the President The Emirates Red Crescent Authority for Women’s Affairs, which, since its inception in 2006, has empowered more than 200 creative women craftswomen in the field of sustainable crafts.
His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan heard from some craftswomen about the services and products offered by the project and got acquainted with the most important sections of the project, namely Al-Khus, Al-Sado and Al-Salsal, some of whose products are manufactured specifically for some government and private agencies that support the Al-Ghadeer project permanently.
His Highness also watched a modern group of Al Ghadeer products called “Al Dhafra Group”, consisting of Al Dhafra Fort candles, palm plates, wicker baskets, and a honeycomb candle inspired by oils extracted from the date kernel, in addition to Al Dhafra baskets, which are a combination of wicker and clay crafts.
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