At last week Friday’s prestigious Minara Business Chamber Awards Gala dinner, the Al-Imdaad Foundation’s local project co-ordinator, Abed Karrim, took the Community Builder Award 2016.

According to Minara, the Community Builder Award is given to any South African male or female, living or deceased, who has delivered exceptional contributions in community service. This is an open award for any South African individual or organisation that is selfless in the service to humanity. This service is taken as a calling and their mission in life. They work below the scan of publicity, fame or fortune and they are consistent in their dedication, commitment and sacrifice.

At the helm of the Al-Imdaad Foundation’s local projects, Abed Karrim has embodied the foundation’s mission of striving to serve humanity. The foundation has been active locally in South Africa in numerous areas of the humanitarian field. Over the years, the foundation has built strong partnerships with local disaster management authorities in South Africa at all levels. It also works very closely with the Department of Social Development and the poverty eradication wing of government known as Operation Sukuma Sakhe (OSS).

As an official social partner in various development and poverty eradication programmes, the Al-Imdaad Foundation has become a household name across the country and a key player in building up communities in need, wherever they may be.

Describing nominees for this year’s awards, Minara chairman Ebrahim Patel said the judging panel were impressed by the calibre of the nominees who were playing significant roles in their respective fields of profession and businesses in the diverse spectrum of South African society.

He said, “The awards have become a hallmark of our contribution to inspiring high achievers, community workers and business people to strive for service excellence while adhering to the basic tenets of integrity, selfless service and contribution socially, economically and politically to the broader environment of our unique, non-racial, non-sexist, multi-cultural and multi-religious society.”

The Community Builder Award was thus an honour for Mr Karrim and the foundation, and an encouragement for them to continue in their efforts in uplifting the community, poverty eradication and social development.

The Al-Imdaad Foundation has several trademark projects that continue to service thousands of needy South Africans on an ongoing basis. These include a school breakfast initiative known as MAKE BREAKFAST POSSIBLE, which ensures that needy learners start the day with a high nutrition cereal.  It also runs a sandwich distribution programme at hospitals and clinics across the country known as the SLICE-4-LIFE programme.

In addition, the Al-Imdaad Foundation’s annual Operation Winter Warmth campaign has become one of the biggest blanket drives, with 10s of thousands of blankets distributed across South African provinces each year.

The Al-Imdaad Foundation believes in a brighter future for all South Africans and that it is everyone’s duty to help bring that future about. The foundation says it always remembers the words of our first democratic president, Nelson Mandela, who said: “What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.”

In this way, the efforts of the Al-Imdaad Foundation at home in South Africa have made it a key NGO in adding value to communities across the country. It seems fitting therefore that head of local projects, Mr Abed Karrim, was recognised by the Minara Chamber of Commerce to receive the Community Builder Award 2016.

DID YOU KNOW?
Click on the words highlighted in red to read more on this and related topics.
If you are reading this on your cellphone and there are telephone numbers provided in the text, you can call these simply by clicking on them.
To receive news links via WhatsApp.

For the latest news, visit our webpage or follow us on Facebook and Twitter. Join us there!