Syeda Amtul Saudi Gazette JEDDAH — In an effort to serve the needy, the International Indian School Jeddah Alumni Association (IISJAA) organized a weeklong food drive at International Indian School Jeddah (IISJ) girls' section here. IISJAA succeeded in collecting over 6,000 units of various non-perishable food items donated by alumni students and other families in their annual philanthropic event. IISJAA President Asim Zeeshan said: “This is the fourth year we are doing the food drive and every year we reach new heights. This year we have collected 20 percent more food items than last year. Also many non-alumni members came forward and donated. We are extremely thankful to them and may Allah SWT bestow His blessings for their participation in this noble cause. This exercise is a two way beneficial. On one hand we provide food to the needy people and on other hand we provided food to the soul of those who participated with their donations.” The food drive included donations from some corporates as well. Mazola provided cooking oil, Bahrawi Trading Company provided the Italian Pasta brand Divella while Tilda donated premium quality rice. IISJAA General Secretary Fareed Sardar Khan said: “We are blessed to have such alumni members. Every day around 12 volunteers were available for their services which included unloading the food products, staking, segregation and packing in boxes." IISJAA Vice President Syed Aziz said that in order to reduce wastage and to improvise collection "we issued a pre-defined item list so that potential donors purchase and donate the required items only." He added: "With cash we purchased food products from wholesale market." The food drive was an exercise to collect and distribute the food items before the commencement of Ramadan to the less fortunate families living here. Each family pack includes rice, cooking oil, sugar, milk, flour, pasta, canned fruits, tuna, chickpeas, dates and juices. The food drive event was supported and aligned with the help of volunteers who are the Alumni of IISJ. Volunteers included Sarosh Ashraf, Adnan Sayeed, Abdul Fattah, Fahad Imtiaz, Fayhan Malik, Shaqeeb Adam, Zeeshan Mohammad Saleem, Mohsin Shareef, Samir Khan, Nazim Zeeshan, Syed Mujahid and Aiman Ilyas.
