Queen Rania Meets Volunteers of Family Kitchen Food Bank

(Office of Her Majesty, Press Department - Amman) - Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah met today with founding members and a group of volunteers from the Family Kitchen organization which packages and redistributes excess foods from top hotels, fine restaurants and bakeries as high quality meals to some underprivileged families.

The representatives, including group founders Mr. Bandar Al Sharif and Miss Jacqueline Scott, briefed Her Majesty on the Family Kitchen initiative, its start, current activities and future plans of the organization which is managed and run by Jordanian volunteers. Family Kitchen -- which works in collaboration with nine 5-star hotels, restaurants and bakeries -- currently operates in Amman, Mafraq, Madaba, Zarqa and Balqa but aims to cover all governorates in the Kingdom in the future.

The initiative started in 2009 with collecting excess uneaten food from fine restaurants during the holy month of Ramadan and distributing it to the poor as packaged Iftar meals but now distributes food all year round. Ramadan 2009 saw the distribution of around 2,990 meals while in 2012 Family Kitchen distributed around 32,000 meals during the holy month and eyes a total of 74,000 meals distributed throughout the year.

The initiative follows very strict hygienic standards when collecting, storing and redistributing the food products, making sure that the poor receive meals that are of the highest standards.

According to Family Kitchen, one of the goals of the organization is to give the poor access to the same food that the rich eat. The beneficiaries are also free to choose what kinds of foods they want.

The project targets specific families in underprivileged neighborhoods with a focus on children. They work in collaboration with local charitable societies and centers. Beneficiaries are selected without religious or ethnic background discrimination.