SHARJAH – Sharjah Girl Guides turned up in force at the Sharjah International Book Fair 2019 (SIBF) to promote their ‘Cookies for a Cause’ fundraising initiative.
SIBF attracts around 2 million visitors each year, making it an ideal platform for SGG’s Brownies (7 to 11 years) and Guides (12 to 15 years) to promote their delicious wares and make sales in order raise money for a good cause.
A group of approximately 20 Guides and Brownies have volunteered to sell the cookies, walking the halls of the exhibition. The girls say they love the event, the responsibility and the opportunity to give something back to the community.
The beautifully packaged goodies are made through a collaboration with a local chef who produces delicious combinations of chocolate chip, oat, and peanut butter cookies. Especially for UAE Flag Day, the packaging reflected the Emirati Flag with the word ‘shukran’ (thank you) across the front of the single-cookie boxes. They also come with a pretty, pink, enameled pin with every purchase.
These young volunteers are determined to raise money for the Faraj Fund, a charity set up to free prisoners incarcerated for debt and provides relief to inmates and their families across the UAE. The charity provides funds to repay the debt that caused the incarceration; offers aid to families of prisoners that find themselves in difficult circumstances; secures travel tickets for inmates and their families who are unable to pay return home upon release and raises awareness for the need of money management.
Last year, Sharjah Girl Guides raised approximately AED 30,000 from the initiative and hopes to match, if not exceed, that figure again this year. To reach this target, they already took Cookies for a Cause to the Sharjah International Film Festival for Children and Youth 2019, last month, and will continue to promote the cause at more such public events in Sharjah and the UAE.
SIBF is taking place at the Sharjah Expo Centre until the 9 November with a star-studded line up of international authors, speaker and entertainers. The fair is featuring over 2,000 publishers from 81 countries under Sharjah World Book Capital’s (SWBC) theme of ‘Open Books Open Minds”. There will be almost 1000 activities distributed among scientific, knowledge and literary themes, including 350 cultural events to be enjoyed by book and culture enthusiasts across every age group.
