One of the Kingdom’s leading non-profits, AlOula, has been working around the clock to give back to the most vulnerable during the pandemic.
The female-led organization dedicates its time to women empowerment and education. During the lockdown in KSA back in March, many families in Jeddah couldn’t afford the luxury of social distancing and AlOula knew it had to step up its game and lend a helping hand. “The families in south Jeddah were the first to be under the 24-hour lockdown in Saudi Arabia because they live closely to each other in a high-risk area,” told Dania Al-Maeena, CEO of Aloula, to Arab News.
Dania Al Maeena
With an impactful campaign, the slogan read “Alnass Libaed” (Arabic for People Are for Each Other), which conveys the importance of solidarity in times in hardships.
“We placed a new target to help 800 families and 4,000 beneficiaries, providing them with food baskets, including water, dates, canned foods and food donated by restaurants, as well as toys for children,” Al-Maaeena said. And because time off school shouldn’t regress one’s learning curriculum, AlOula managed to secure all necessary material to make sure youngsters have access to distance learning.
“We collaborated with a volunteer group called Khadoum that provides distance learning. Hundreds of individuals across Saudi Arabia supported the campaign, and over 15 companies donated laptops, food and games for the children. We also started online courses to teach hygiene techniques to curb the spread of the virus,” she added.
Amidst this unprecendent health crisis in the Kingdom and around the world, AlOula has so far helped over 4,000 people and more than 1,000 families in need.
The Saudi organization, registered in the Ministry of Labor and Social Development, was born in 1961 by a group of women to support the less-privileged in the south of Jeddah. Al Maaeena, AlOula’s CEO has had an extensive background in the fields of non-profits, especially on youth empowerment, event management, career counseling, management, and team building.
