Iftar for the Orphans

Purpose

Serving UNESCO's humanitarian and educational goals and themes, you are all welcomed to help in feeding 40 orphans for an iftar on Saturday the 6th of October 2007 in "Dar Al-Aytam Al-Islemiye".

Preparation

On Saturday the 29^th of September 2007, the UNESCO club cabinet held a meeting in which we discussed several issues. One of the issues we discussed was an iftar for the orphans, initially the idea of Esraa Al Muftah (treasurer). We decided to start preparing for this event by contacting an orphanage, a restaurant and advertise for this event. I had already contacted from before “Dar Al Aytam Al Islamiya” and asked for a specific number of orphans from the ages 8-12 and equally from males and females. Since the proposed date for the event was Saturday the 6^th of October 2007 the orphanage couldn’t give us more than 40 orphans because most orphans go to their families on weekends. Then, Afif Tabsh (member at large) and I went to “Burger King” and got a good offer (7500 LBP for a meal) which included the following:

1- Chicken Burger
2- Hamburger
3- Fries
4- Soft Drink
7- Back to school gift (bottle)
8- Balloon
9- Crown (the crown was replaced with lollipop)

(We also decided to buy water, dates and plastic cups from extra donations to provide the orphans with a complete iftar.)

After taking the permission from Ms. Wadad Husseiny (director of students’ activities) we started advertising for the event through contacting our friends and UNESCO members from last year. We decided not to create a poster for the event nor put a stand outside West Hall since we thought that by contacting the AUB students directly we could be more efficient in collecting donations for the orphans. The club cabinet then started contacting AUB students through creating an event on “Facebook” and through messages, phone calls, e-mails and face to face contact. The point was in gathering donations to feed the orphans and the attendance of the students was very optional.

The money was gathered by the UNESCO club cabinet and was given to me to be put in one envelope. The students who donated money were sent a confirmation e-mail and an online receipt.  

After several days we surprisingly gathered donations for 73 meals (7500 LBP each) for the orphans. Since we only could feed 40 orphans, we decided to buy with the left money sweets, chocolate, watches and board games (serving UNESCO’s educational theme). I went to a whole sale shop and bought 40 watches (20 for females, 20 for males) and I bought several board games for the orphans to play with after the iftar and to keep afterwards. I also bought two boxes (25 packs each) of “Maltesars” chocolate and a box of “Chupa Chups” lollipops (150 lollipops inside).

The Event

On the day of the event, Nermine Shatila (secretary), Esraa Al Muftah (treasurer), Afif Tabsh (member at large) and I went to the orphanage with all the food and toys we bought for the orphans. We were also joined by two AUB students (Najla Sager and Zayna A) who decided to help. The event was successful as we sensed the happiness on the orphan’s faces after having iftar and playing.

Expenses

The expenses of this event were as follows:

-          Donations gathered: 547,500 LBP

-          Money needed for the meals: 300,000 LBP

-          Money needed for the water (12 “Nestle” bottles, 1 kg of dates and 100 plastic cups): 10,000 LBP

-          Money needed for the “Maltesars” chocolate (2 boxes of 25 packs each) and “Chupa Chups” lollipops (150 inside): 85,000 LBP

-          Money needed for 10 board games (“Monopoly”, “Domino” and “Scrabble” and 40 watches from a whole sale shop): 121,500 LBP

-          Money left (donated to the orphanage): 31,000 LBP  

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