Channeling the true spirit of Ramadan, an Australian woman in Dubai launched an initiative to facilitate giving to the less fortunate. Known as “Share Fridges,” they are quite literally refrigerators placed in public areas and stocked with everything from water and juice to fruit and home-cooked meals.
Sumayyah Sayed, a mother of two, came up with the idea to provide for blue-collar workers and stocked a fridge with water and snacks to break the Ramadan fast at iftar, according to Emirates Woman.
A Facebook group she started after the initiative proved to be a success now has over 13,000 members and helps to coordinate donations and locations. According to 7days, one fridge can serve as many as 180 workers daily.
Signs on the fridge invite people to take what they need, or alternately donate if they can, in a variety of languages.
Reactions to the project are heartwarming, both in terms of peoples’ willingness to help the less fortunate and in the reactions and observations of those on the receiving end.
On Wednesday a security guard in Motor City, Saqib Hassain, wrote that he had seen Sayed set up a fridge in the area. “Me as a security guard watching this from the morning that tenants of the community are coming and putting different items in the fridge and workers are taking… Happy to see this step of the tenants,” he wrote.
WE SAID THIS: There are currently more than 60 Share Fridges in the Dubai area. If you’re interested in participating in the project, you can find a list of fridge locations here.