To mark International Day of Charity, Vodafone Qatar celebrated its employees who had undertaken charitable initiatives and encouraged all its employees to give back to the community.
Declared officially by the United Nations General Assembly in 2012, International Day of Charity is marked annually on September 5. The day serves to enhance and increase social responsibility among everyone, solidarity and increase the public’s support for charitable causes.
Under Vodafone Qatar’s corporate social responsibility pillar, its ‘World of Difference’ programme annually funds employees’ charitable work. Most recently, three teams made up of 30 Vodafone Qatar employees helped cancer patients, aided Filipino workers and collected toys for orphans, the company said in a press statement.
Led by senior manager (Security Operations) Anees House, he and his team visited the National Center for Cancer Care and Research to spend time with 70 workers being treated at the centre and helped them call their families back home with the distribution of free Vodafone SIM cards and recharge cards. The team also helped meet the treatment expenses for the daily visiting patients undergoing follow-up treatment.
Kabayans for a Cause was Commercial Operations lead Con Festin and her team’s mantra who wanted to help the 100 Filipino workers residing in labour camps in Industrial Area, Al Rayyan and Al Khor. The team distributed 120 food packs and grooming kits to the beneficiaries’ representatives, which was witnessed by Philippine labour attache David Des Dicang and more than 50 members of the Bayanihan group at the Philippine Overseas Labour Office.
Head of Mid-Value Segments, Siddique Ahmed, and his team created Toys4Smile, a digital portal that allows people to request the donation of their toys and then tracks where the toys were sent. The team also handled collecting and packaging the toys then shipping them to Pakistan where a chosen partner, SOS Children’s Village, the world’s largest non-government organisation dedicated to the care of orphaned and abandoned children, distributed them to 14 orphanages that benefited more than 150 children.
“Charity is important as it allows us to reach out into the wider society and help those who are in need of our support. So, it gives me great pride to see our employees selflessly volunteering to do good for the community. As a company, we are in a unique position to have so many amazing employees that everyday reflect the Vodafone spirit. Empowering employees to do good and supporting employee charity initiatives is one of our core beliefs at Vodafone,” said Khames al-Naimi, chief human resources officer, Vodafone Qatar.
Vodafone Qatar launched its employee volunteering programme in 2015 and has since seen many of its employees put in hundreds of volunteering hours both in Qatar and abroad. Vodafone’s corporate volunteering scheme allows its employees to take two days paid leave every year to participate in volunteering activities.
Orphans in Pakistan receiving the donated toys.
