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Dubai: Handbags, jewellery packed as Ramadan gifts for low-income families, workers

The 'Gift It Forward' initiative has collected about 90,000 pieces, ranging from keychains and caps to yoga mats

Published: Thu 14 Mar 2024, 6:38 PM

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KT Photos: Rahul Gajjar

KT Photos: Rahul Gajjar

More than 8,000 blue-collar workers will get gifts such as suits, handbags and jewellery this Ramadan, thanks to an initiative by a group of UAE companies. Several employees from Dubai Holding and their partners came together to pack gifts bags, as part of the company’s 'Gift It Forward' initiative.

The company’s 12 partners - including their own verticals like Jumeirah Group and apparel partners like Azadea and Apparel - came together to give several items ranging from keychains and caps to yoga mats and jewellery. These items were repurposed into unique gifts and will be distributed among 8,000 workers as well as 500 low-income families in the UAE.


Goumbook was one of the partners involved in sorting out the donated items. “This is not a packing in terms of first-need items,” said Tatiana, founder of Goumbook. “It is not about things people need. These are gifts. Valuable items that a person would probably not buy for themselves because they want to save money for their families. That is why it is called 'Gift It Forward'.”

Over 120,000 items

It took the volunteers of Goumbook roughly four weeks to go through the batches and categorise them. Tatiana also explained how each item was categorised and assigned a value so that each gift bag could be of the same value.

“We received over 120,000 items,” she said. “We went through each item to ensure their quality and we ended up with about 90,000 pieces. We hired young students to help us with this process so that they can learn about the importance of circular economy.”

“We didn’t want one person getting a bag while another got a keychain,” she said. “So we assigned each item to six categories based on their size and value. Then we instructed the volunteers how to pack each gift bag with each of these categories.”

Giving back to the community

For Dubai Holding, this was a way of giving back to the community. The packing initiative is one of 12 such sessions that are scheduled to be held throughout the month of Ramadan and over 300 volunteers are expected to participate in it.

According to Huda Buhumaid, Chief Impact Officer of the company, it is important for the company to support such causes. “We operate for the benefit of tomorrow,” she said. “We genuinely believe we have huge talent in the group with a combined workforce of 40,000 people. Many of them are willing to give back to the community and we just try and utilize our own resources to support our campaigns.”

For Filipino expat Cel Yah, this is her 28th year in the UAE and she loves the feel of the month. “This month is all about giving and that is why I volunteered here,” she said. “You can’t always give them money or items. Sometimes you can only give them time and that is what I wanted to do today.”

The campaign supports the national #RamadanInDubai initiative and wants to integrate responsible consumption with social responsibility.

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