Corporate gifts don’t get any more meaningful than this! MOONEH Gifts Give Back. 30% from DS Gifts proceeds go towards feeding people in need (always applicable).
The past couple of years have been tough, to say the least! They have been tough on everyone, but especially rough on the many individuals who lost their jobs, and are desperately looking for new jobs to sustain themselves and their families.
“There is a real need, there are guys who have been out of work and struggling for a long time trying to find a job and need food…” – Chef Russell Impiazzi
When it came to choosing this Ramadan’s CSR activity for MOONEH LLC, I had no doubt that I wanted to go for providing food for those in need. I had been wanting to do something with the UAE Food Bank for a while now, but since we stopped catering, we do not really produce any ready cooked meals in the kitchen. As such, when I spoke with my dear friend, Chef Russell, and learnt about his initiative of turning perfectly edible food (that is nearing expiry or surplus food that could potentially be food waste) into fantastic full meals that are then distributed by the UAE Food Bank to different camps where the food is needed the most, I knew straight away that I wanted to be part of this great initiative. In fact, I was no longer interested in this being just the “Ramadan” initiative, instead I have decided for this to be an ongoing CSR activity that MOONEH does year round, just like we do with some DS MOONEH Products (see below). Now any DS Gift you buy from MOONEH as personal gifting or corporate gifting, any time of the year, 30% of the amount paid will be taken out and this money will be used to buy ingredients that will be sent to Chef Russell & his team to create meals with, which then will be distributed to those who need it the most by the UAE food bank.
It is worth mentioning here, that if you are a food retailer, a restaurant, kitchen, catering company, bakery, foodstuff supplier … or any food business, you can send any surplus produce (vegetables, chicken, rice, meats, canned foods, legumes…etc) or any near expiry products to chef Russell and he will use those in making these meals. He carries this activit out once a month, but when he receives more foods he can do this twice a month. This is really worth supporting, just think the amount of good you will be doing, by simply sending the extras!! It really does not take much to help, so please do help and support.
If like in my case you do not have such surplus, I had just purchased the ingredients and sent it to them. That works too. However, surplus when available is a better ideas as it gets rid of food waste, another issue worth considering.
This Ramadan, thanks to the corporate gifts bought by Logicom, Microsoft & Dell Technologies, we were able to sponsor preparing and distributing 650 meals. Watch the video above to see clips of that and also to hear Chef Russell speak about his initiative. Some images in the media gallery below too.
About MOONEH LLC CSR initiatives
As you may already know, through my company, MOONEH LLC, I regularly support a number of causes and run a social responsibility program through which we identify issues, struggles or challenges facing people, our community or the industry I am in and work towards helping to minimize or be part of the solutions for, no matter if ever so small (we are a small family business after all), as when it comes to community support, every little effort counts. Issues like food waste, endangered fish groups, adverse effects of GMO to the soil, Organic farming, food security, sustainability, support local, plastic waste, environmental challenges of our age, widowed women’s livelihood, women in business, gender equality at work, diabetes, cancer, teen body image disorders… are all issues I have worked with and supported over the years. From my own business practices, my company policies, to running raising awareness campaigns and conducting training workshops in events and in schools, to even sponsoring events and activities, these are all part of MOONEH LLC’s CSR activities.
You may know already how DS Dried Zaatar, DS Dukkah, DS Goat’s Milk Rolled Labneh & DS Olive Oil all go to support 5 widowed women in the Palestinian Refugee Camps in Jordan. This has been the case since we first started. so purchasing any of these products goes to support these women. MOONEH’s Pantry Monkey label is created to support the farming community in Lebanon that has had a very challenging few years, and now it will be the label to carry regional produce to support the regional farming communities. MOONEH LLC itself was founded to support the local organic farmers and now we have expanded our support mission to include the local and regional organic farming community, artisanal makers and producers. Support local: Through MOONEH’s online store we, offer a platform for local makers to launch their products into the market, and help them sell and fulfill their orders. We also house the production of a few local food products, for small food trading businesses to support their existence in the UAE market, giving them preferable and supportive rates, which will have been exponentially bigger should they have to open their own production facilities.
Latest addition to the list is DS Gifts give back initiative, where 30% of all proceeds from any DS Gifts purchase, including purchasing a copy of my book Plated Heirlooms, will go towards meals preperation and distribution in collaboration with Chef Russell Impiazzi, Sofitel Dubai the Obelisk & The UAE Food Bank.
“MOONEH LLC is a small company, a family business, but I like to think of it as a company with a huge heart, therefore, to me these CSR initiatives are the reason why MOONEH exists, more so than any other objectives.” – Dima Al Sharif
