by Mahmoud Fouly

 

CAIRO, March 10 (Xinhua) -- Workers and volunteers with the non-profit organization Egyptian Food Bank (EFB) are working nonstop to prepare free food boxes for those underprivileged both in Egypt and the neighboring besieged Gaza Strip, as the Muslim holy month of Ramadan will start on Monday.

 

Raising the slogan of "Food: the Essence of Life," surrounded by trucks and forklifts for loading and transporting food boxes, the five-story EFB headquarters is welcoming its highest season for the past 20 years.

 

"We provide supplies to about 3,700 community-based organizations nationwide, with nearly 5 million registered indigents," said Ibrahim Shaheen, director of the supply chain sector at the EFB, adding that the organization has about 120 direct workers in packaging and warehouses, while the total number of employees is about 1,000.

 

"We prepare boxes named 'Ramadan Joy' containing various food products," including beans, rice, sugar, and macaroni, while the rest of items like dry dates, cheese, milk, cooking oil, etc., he said.

 

The 25-year-old Mohamed Gamal Taha is a warehouse manager at an energy company, who has been volunteering with the EFB since 2019 and has formed his own team of about 150 volunteers.

 

"I once saw EFB boxes that I took part in preparing being distributed in my neighborhood. It makes me happy to see the boxes I prepare to reach people, and this has encouraged me to expand my team of volunteers," the young man told Xinhua.

 

"We love to exert greater efforts until these boxes reach Gaza," he added.

 

The EFB is a member of the National Alliance for Civil Development Work, a main provider of humanitarian aid delivered to Gaza via the Rafah border crossing.

 

Some of the trucks outside the EFB building were covered by a green banner branded with the phrase "To Our People in Palestine."

 

"Until now, the EFB has sent more than 7,000 tons of food supplies to Gaza, which is just a drop in the ocean compared to what the Palestinians need," said Mohsen Sarhan, CEO of the EFB, describing the Israeli aggression on Gaza as a tragedy.

 

Sarhan explained that donation is the EFB's main source of funding. "More than 95 percent of our donations come from Egyptian citizens."

 

"We produce about 50,000 to 60,000 food boxes every day," the food bank's chief officer told Xinhua, adding the food bank is seeking to "balance between our basic work in supporting Egyptian citizens, which is our main mission, and our duty to support our neighbors (in Gaza) who are suffering from a great deal of aggression and pain."