CAIRO: There is an Arabic proverb that says, "No one sleeps with an empty stomach. But that's certainly not the case in Egypt these days. According to the Ministry of Social Solidarity, 20 percent of Egyptian families live below the poverty line. In an attempt at tackling this situation, 22 leading businessmen have joined forces to create The Egyptian Food Bank, a charity that works towards the stated aim of eliminating hunger in Egypt completely. "While attending a funeral of a poor friend of mine, a woman grabbed a piece of bread and fed it to her daughter without even cleaning it. On the same day I attended this wedding ceremony at a five-star hotel, where all kinds of extravagant food was served, and leftovers were thrown in the garbage, said Niazy Sallam, chairman of The Egyptian Food Bank in a TV interview on Orbit's "Al Qahera Al Youm. Sallam explained that he was touched by this contradiction, which propelled him to take steps to bring about lasting change. And so, three years ago, the Egyptian Food Bank was founded. The charity organization with the mission of delivering healthy, fresh food to people seriously in need, recently kicked-off its monthly one-week fund-raising campaign a few days ago with booths at CityStars mall in Nasr Cuty, Hyper1 market and Heliopolis club. But organizers stress that their efforts are not an invitation for people to stop working and wait for food to be delivered to their doorstep. "Our program supports people unable to work: widows, orphans, adults. And when we find a person able to work, but who doesn't have the qualifications, we help him get a degree, and take care of his family while he is gone, Moez Shohdi, a member of the charity s board, told Daily News Egypt. There are 22,000 Egyptian charity organizations but the Food Bank is unique in focussing entirely on addressing hunger. "All NGO's work haphazardly, Shohdi says. "You may find an NGO . collecting donations, and you never know where the money goes. According to the organization's statistics, hunger can be eliminated by 2025 by the application of three main factors: professional management, awareness, and a good organizational plan. "We absolutely cannot eliminate poverty, but we can eliminate hunger, claims Shohdi, boldly. The organization has a group of employees dedicated to checking lists of potential recipients of aid provided by other NGOs, ensuring the recipients are genuine. Their choice of NGOs is governed by specific criteria: they should be active, credible and professionally managed. The organization has numerous deals with upscale hotels to pack excess food from weddings and celebrations and distribute it to the nearest community in need. They distribute more than 40 million trays a month, all of them fresh and neatly packed. Egyptians do not need more than a push, Shohdi said, and they will run to help - that is just in their nature.
