Lend a helping hand

Manama: Facilities for taking care of the needy, especially those serving the elderly and the children, can do much better with a bit more help from the society, American Women’s Association (AWA) President Diana Raia said.

Now, most of the centres are run by volunteers and are struggling to cope with huge expectations from the people who need their support. If more resources are received by such facilities, efforts could be made to admit more beneficiaries, she told DT News.

She said that AWA supports more than 30 such facilities, but more needs to be done to make a difference. 

“There are organisations that serve people in need of support. But such organisations need more support to effectively serve the underprivileged.”

For example, blind children or children with disabilities need help from trained professionals. But, facilities serving them may not be able to provide that as most of them are run with the help of volunteers and are on tight budget, she said. “Efforts aimed at attracting professionally trained staff, who can guide differently-abled children, and proper pay structures to attract qualified professionals to the Kingdom are the need of the hour. If charities that aid such facilities are supported by all, a lot can be changed,” she pointed out.

“There are many loving and giving people here. But, that is not enough. I wish, we could raise BD100,000 a year, so that we can give more. But, we are only able to give about BD25,000 to BD30,000 a year.  We wish we could raise much more and help more,” Raia added.