Leading charity organisations in Qatar will join hands at a fund-raising campaign today at Darb El Saai to support people of the besieged Syrian city of Aleppo.
The drive, coordinated by the State National Day Celebrations Organising Committee, follows Qatar’s decision to cancel all National Day celebrations in solidarity with the people of Aleppo.
The donation drive will begin at 7pm at flag pole yard in Darb El Saai, and will be telecast live by Qatar TV and Al Rayyan Channel.
“All types of donations are welcome such as vehicles, money, and jewellery. We will continue receiving donations as long as there are people to donate, and there is no specific time frame”, an official from the organising committee told this daily yesterday. Five Qatari charities are participating in the campaign — Qatar Charity, Eid Charity, Qatar Red Crescent Society, Sheikh Thani bin Abdullah Foundation for Humanitarian Services (RAF) and Afif Charity.
About 100 boxes for collecting donations have been installed at Darb El Saai. Each participating organisation has allocated 20 boxes.
Some of the boxes are already in place and have started receiving donations, said the official.
“We are expecting a huge response from people for various reasons. First of all, it is the National Day and Qatar has declared solidarity with the people in Aleppo. Everybody is concerned about the worsening humanitarian situation in Aleppo,” an official of RAF said yesterday.
“We started the preparations much in advance to make the drive a big success. Besides the campaign in Darb El Saai, we, and our other partners have dedicated charity boxes in all centres to collect donations for Aleppo on this day,” he added.
He said several companies and restaurants including Qatar Airways have contacted the charity informing their readiness to allocate part of their revenue for Aleppo.
He explained that people can donate both in cash or kind. “We are receiving cash donations and in kind like cars, jewellery, and watches,” said the official.
The Cultural Village Foundation - Katara has installed more than 18 boxes at its premises (near the beach) to collect cash donations, in addition to two containers for donations in kind.
All these charities on its official Twitter and Facebook accounts have urged people to participate in the campaign to support their brothers in Aleppo.
Aspire Zone Foundation, in partnership with Qatar Charity, will donate all income generated from December 15-17 at Aspire Zone’s restaurants.
The prize money worth QR100,000 it has allocated for the Best National Day Instagram picture competition will also be donated for Aleppo, said the Foundation.
