Two five star hotels in Bahrain representing IHG® (InterContinental Hotels Group) – The InterContinental Regency and the Crowne Plaza hotel has joined forces with Conserving Bounties Society ((جمعية حفظ النعمة, Bahrain Food Bank, to launch its first food donation initiative during the Holy month, by donating surplus food from Iftar gatherings, and re-providing them to needy and low-income families.
It is noteworthy that there are many families and low-income individuals who can benefit from the meals that are wasted daily, reaching more than thousand meals a day. Through this initiative, the hotels hopes to provide food assistance to more than 300 family beneficiaries daily in various residential areas by providing ready and fresh meals of guaranteed quality that will be distributed immediately to the beneficiaries.
In Ramadan, the Society aims to assist to more than 300 families; in addition to 3000 workers all over the kingdom of Bahrain, around 120,000 meals to be distributed through planned activities.
“Although we are very conscious in preparing our food so as not to overproduce, we get questioned by the guests as to what we are doing with our leftover foods during Ramadan. The society is becoming very conscious about this subject. We never thought in the past to donate our untouched food however we wanted to be part of an organization that enhances the spirit of support and cooperation in the community by taking advantage of the surplus food as well as contributing to reducing wastage of food, which aligns perfectly with IHG® (InterContinental Hotels Group) ethos.
Our partner, Conserving Bounties Society ((جمعية حفظ النعمة, Bahrain Food Bank, collects untouched food, re-boxes it in a safe and hygienic way, and offer it to families and individuals in need.” Quoted Mr. Phillip Economou, the Area General Manager of the IHG® hotels in Bahrain.
Mr. Gilles Nicolas, General Manager, Crowne Plaza, responsible for initiating and spearheading this tie-up said, “It is a great initiative and especially with both hotels being involved, it helps us give more to the society as a combined IHG® hotels in the region.
“This reinforces our commitment to the cause and encourages us to continue working towards the well-being of the local community.”
This is first of the many initiatives we are looking at with Conserving Bounties Society ((جمعية حفظ النعمة, Bahrain Food Bank and look forward to many such community events.
Mr. Ahmed Al Kuwaiti, Chief Executive Officer, Conserving Bounties Society ((جمعية حفظ النعمة, Bahrain Food Bank, “ it’s our pleasure to build a strong partnership with IHG® hotels in Bahrain”. We are the first specialized Society in the Kingdom of Bahrain, in collecting and packing surplus edible food from hotels, restaurants and various private occasions.
Our work is as per international health and safety standards. The collected food is then re-distributed to families, Labour camps and various individuals all over the Kingdom of Bahrain.
Our society signed contracts with a number of five star hotels, restaurants and Super and Hypermarkets in order to take advantage of the surplus of edible food.
The distribution process is made on a daily basis on two shifts morning and evening times. We could manage to distribute up to 400,000 meals so far and more than 300 families as well as more than 3000 labors and a large number of individuals have benefited around Bahrain.
This initiative has helped in reducing the number of food wastage significantly and eventually reduced the amount of food waste directed to the municipal landfill on daily basis. It has also reduced the negative impact of wasted food on the environment which is consistent with the goals of sustainable development initiated by the Kingdom of Bahrain as part of Bahrain’s vision 2030 requirements specifically objective No. (2) on the complete elimination of hunger and also the objective number (12) on ensuring the existence of patterns for sustainable consumption and production of food as well as prevention, reduction, recycling of the surplus of food.