Some 74,000 needy people in Qatar would be able to break their fast during the upcoming month of Ramadan through four projects valued at over QR2mn announced by Qatar Charity (QC) yesterday.

The projects include the distribution of food items and the delivery of hot meals for needy families within Qatar at their homes, distribution of water bottles to worshippers at mosques as well as Iftar meals.

The “Monat Ramadan” (Supplies of Ramadan) programme will distribute food packets to 3,500 families (17,500 people) in various areas around the country at the beginning of the holy month, taking into account the size of the families in question. The boxes would include the most needed 20 food items throughout the month, such as rice, flour and sugar.

The “Soqia Al-Mossaleen” (Drinks for worshippers) project will distribute 200ml bottles of water to worshippers performing the Taraweeh prayers at mosques throughout the month of Ramadan. The project will target ten different Doha mosques a day, benefiting 30,000 people.

“The bottles of waters have printed messages to instruct people about the value of water and how dear it is in certain places,” said Ahmed al-Ali, director of logistics and centres affairs department at QC, yesterday at a press briefing.

He indicated that the door is open for donors to contribute to this project and QC has a good number of volunteers to hand out the water.

The “Fatorak Alina” (Your breakfast is on us) programme provides meals to around 18,000 needy families in Qatar throughout Ramadan. The meals would be delivered to their doors. Families wishing to be included in the programme could do so by registering through a phone call to QC.

The ‘Feeh Al-Afiyah’ (Good for you) project is a first of its kind for QC and will be carried out in co-operation with the Ministry of Social Affairs. The project will provide meals for Iftar, through employing underprivileged families (productive families) in the area. The participants will receive training and support in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Affairs.

Mohamed al-Ghamdi, executive director of local development department at QC, explained that QC has engaged such Qatari families to prepare the meals aiming at enhancing their economic performance.

“We have made contacts with each of these families to provide us with 30 different meals every day throughout the month of Ramadan. We have also ensured that high technical, hygiene, and quality standards are followed in order for the contract to be maintained. Geographical distribution of such families has been taken into consideration to include all areas of Qatar,” pointed out al-Ghamdi.

He said that such families were advised to adopt commercial names to identify their products so in future they may pursue their successful investment.

Ibrahim al-Muhannadi, director of developmental care at QC stressed the socio-economic consequences of the project pointing out that the idea was highly received by senior level officials. He said that QC staff have been trained to assist such families to be more effective.

“QC’s Ramadan projects within Qatar aim at boosting solidarity within the society and alleviate the burden on families that are not well-off. We want to reach out to as many people as possible, but we are limited by the funds we already have,” said al-Ghamdi.