Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH — “Today we are going to Karantina in South Jeddah,” Wid Enani, co-founder of ‘Live To Give’ said as she strapped her seatbelt and let GPS navigate her to our upcoming destination. In Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman's Saudi Arabia, women take the wheel and are seen taking more empowered decisions.

‘Live To Give’ is a two-year-old non-profit organization co-founded by Enani, Hashem AlShareef and Ryan Sager. What started as an act of kindness has now become a movement with over 600 meals being distributed daily during Ramadan by a team of over 100 volunteers.

Enani, a full-time humanitarian and a professional architect, designates team leaders to lead a group of volunteers who gather every day to assemble meals, grocery boxes and water with dates for those fasting during the holy month of Ramadan.

“We visit different destinations every day. I use Google maps to discover underdeveloped dwellings,” she explains as she drives into a parking lot where a local woman cheers her on for driving.

Followed by a fleet of cars carrying volunteers and supplies, a group of young children playing football abandon their game and gather around the team leaders who swiftly gather their team and food supplies and head out to surprise the neighborhood.

As the volunteers spread through Karantina, locals welcome warm food and genuine smiles.

Sager and his team knock on doors calling out ‘iftar sayem’ and wait for residents to collect their meals.

A two-year-old girl is pleasingly surprised by his compassionate smile and offers to carry the supplies inside for her mother.

“It’s a an outstanding feeling seeing how our idea started from something small and how its become bigger than we could have imagined. We want to participate in helping the needy as well as influencing other people and campaigns. Our upcoming goals go beyond distributing food as we want to restore homes and ensure they have stoves and ovens so they can cook and sustain themselves,” Sager told Saudi Gazette.

‘Live To Give’ is open to anyone who wants to volunteer or donate by buying meals or supplies for families and children.

“Our society is unaware of how many underprivileged people there are and that just with a simple effort, we can change peoples’ lives and put smiles on their faces. That feeling is indescribable,”AlShareef said.

‘Live To Give’ helps overlooked places and their residents feel valued and happy while enjoining goodwill and building a trusting local community. Join the movement of kindness today and contact Live To Give for more information.

Instagram @livetogivejed