This program is now closed. Thanks to the community’s generosity, we served 3,990 meals over 97 days to a group of residents affected by income losses due to COVID. This provided support of AED 96,820 (excl. VAT) to our local restaurants.
Our community gifted close to 4,000 meals from local Dubai restaurants to people struggling during the coronavirus crisis.
- Support people in our local Dubai community who’ve lost their income with meals delivered safely to their doorstep.
- Sustain small restaurant teams by giving them a valuable reason to do what they know best—cook great food!
- Feel empowered to contribute while you #stayhome; our neighbours will #stayhome too with meals delivered home!
Program Updates
As of August 5, 2020:
- This program is now closed. Thanks to the community’s generosity, we served 3,990 meals over 97 days to a group of residents affected by income losses due to COVID. This provided support of AED 96,820 (excl. VAT) to our local restaurants.
- At various points in the program, we supported about 3-4 of the same small local restaurants by ordering these meals from them. Our goal was to make an impact by focusing the effort on a ‘small radius.’
- In the final week of the program, 41 neighbours-in-need were sent daily meals currently in Satwa, Bur Dubai, Karama and Deira. The numbers have changed through the program because some have left the country.
- How we vetted the meal recipients: A good samaritan in our community had shared a list of over 600 people who would benefit from some form of assistance. We identified participants for this program based on this list. Our team had made calls upfront to suss out who can benefit from the program so we could support neighbours in need in the best way possible (not everyone is best supported with a cooked meal, e.g. families may prefer separate ingredients to cook for themselves, others may require other forms of help beyond what we are legally able to offer right now).
- We supported the same group of residents with meals every day in order to assure them of some certainty and relief during these difficult times. We felt it would be better to have sustained impact with a small group of 40-50 people rather than focusing on a larger group for a short period of time.
Who Are Our Community Restaurants?
Here are some sample meals provided by our restaurant partners:
- Rayyan Mandi [Yemeni, 04-2244434]: Chicken mandi (melt-in-your-mouth roasted chicken) with rice, lentil soup, leafy greens.
- Qwaider Al Nabulsi [Jordanian-Palestinian, 04-2277760]: Maklooba rice with chicken, salad, yogurt with cucumbers.
- Al Ammor [Egyptian, 04-2500115]: Chicken potato tagine, rice, salad, soup, dates, yoghurt.
- Biryani Culture [Indian, 056-9883080]: Biryani, apple, dates, yogurt, laban and water.
- Sind Punjab [Indian, 04-3525058]: Chicken biryani, pakodas, jalebis and soft drink.
- Ravi’s in Satwa [Pakistani, 04-3315454]: Chicken tikka, biryani rice, gravy, salad, chutney, laban, sweet, water.
- Hot Palayok [Philipino, 04-2219797, *temporarily closed as of now*]: Chicken tinola soup, ensaladang talong (salad), jasmine rice, beef kare kare, buko pandan, banana, juice, water.
We’d also love if you called them directly and ordered their delicious food to support them during the current crisis. Don’t use delivery apps because they charge hefty commissions to the restaurants which are already hurting right now. Some of the above restaurants may have delivery minimums based on your area but it’s always worth calling to check. Every little bit counts!
Which Neighbours Receive Your Gift?
There is no denying that the COVID-19 storm has affected us all. Some more than others. As restaurants struggle to keep their kitchens running, there are also those, amongst us, who would benefit most from the comfort of a wholesome meal:
- Community members who are suffering from the loss of work, reduction in salary or forced, unpaid leave.
- Job seekers who are marooned in the city, far from their family and loved ones.
- Flat mates who run the risk of contamination through shared kitchen spaces.
- Breadwinners who can no longer afford to support their families back home.
And then there are those of you who are itching to be heroes but don’t know where to begin.
If only there was a way to connect your desire to make a difference with restaurants that need support and neighbors who need one less meal to fret over.
What if we told you, we have you covered?
Special Mention: We’d like to thank our website and booking portal providers ezTix for working with us to keep all processing costs to a minimum for this program.
