Charity donations soar during Eid

A number of charity organisations have extended a generous hand to the less fortunate during the Eid festivities, with some donations exceeding Dh7 million, organisers said.
A Red Crescent officer said donations had covered costs of sponsoring orphans in the UAE and abroad.

This year Dh6 million was spent on distributing meat from sacrificial animals to the poor.
"The Red Crescent also collected donations of new and used clothes for distribution to children in war-torn countries," said Abdullah Al Rahman Al Danji, the charity's media relations manager.

The clothes will be distributed to 30,000 local orphans and 40,000 children abroad. "It costs just Dh200 to sponsor an orphan in the UAE and Dh100 abroad," he said.

Another initiative is the distribution of food packages to Palestinians in the Occupied Territories.
The Red Crescent has also prioritised sponsorship of Iraqi orphans and donations were high this year, said Rashid Al Mansouri, head of the Red Crescent delegation to Iraq. It has benefited 6,084 orphans, he said.

Meanwhile, the Dubai Charity Association will distribute sacrificial meat worth Dh1.3million locally and to other Muslim countries.

Clothes donations reached around Dh880,000, with around 6,000 families benefiting, said Ahmad Musmar, General Secretary of the Association.

Other charity organisations based in Dubai, such as the Children's Hope Foundation, donated food parcels to Bangladesh and raised funds for local special needs centres, medical centres and schools. Source