Qatar Charity, Diplomacy Institute to distribute food to community

September 7, 2021 | UHCL Staff

The state of Qatar has a long-standing history of charitable contributions to the city of Houston, supporting the hardest-hit members of the community during the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, as well as ongoing efforts to address food insecurity.

"For the first time, Qatar Charity is partnering with a university to launch a food distribution effort," said University of Houston-Clear Lake's Associate Vice President of Global Learning and Strategy Gigi Do. "We are proud to work with Qatar Charity to help students and community members in need during such difficult times."

The food will be distributed Saturday, Sept. 25, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m., at two locations: the UH-Clear Lake campus, 2700 Bay Area Blvd., at Parking Lot G of the Delta Building, and at the Pearland Recreation Center and Natatorium at 4141 Bailey Rd.

"We're grateful to the City of Pearland for allowing us to hold the event at the Rec Center so that it is closer to more residents, and although we'd love to have it on our campus, we feel that it will be more convenient at this location," said Interim Associate Vice President and UH-Clear Lake Pearland Chief Operations Officer Beth Lewis.

"This initiative of Qatar Charity, which will be led by UH-Clear Lake's Diplomacy Institute, includes the entire University of Houston System and is open to the community," she said. "It's Qatar Charity's hope to impact the greater Houston area by tapping into all UH System campuses. All are wholeheartedly involved in this initiative to ensure the food gets into the hands of students and the community."

One of Qatar Charity's main missions is to offer aid and support to people in need all over the world. "This is part of humanitarian diplomacy, which is the connection between Qatar Charity and the Diplomacy Institute at UH-Clear Lake," said Diplomacy Institute Assistant Vice President Edmund "Butch" Herod. "The DI, as well as Qatar Charity, are committed to the advancement of humanitarian diplomacy, and we appreciate this new partnership to support our community."

He said that the food, funded by Qatar Charity's $200,000 gift, was purchased through the Houston Food Bank, and this distribution would be the first of anticipated future events.

Do said that between all the UH System campuses, over 6,000 boxes weighing about 30 lbs. each would be distributed. "It's Qatar Charity's intention that each food box last more than just a few meals, and contain healthy, sustainable food that is appealing to people across diverse cultures," she said. "With the recent disaster in Louisiana caused by Hurricane Ida, we hope that people who have evacuated to Houston can also take advantage of this opportunity. We are seeing food insecurity is more of an issue than ever."

The distribution event requires no registration. For more information about this distribution event, go online.