FR
EN
AR
Twenty children aged 5 to 8 from poor backgrounds sat down Wednesday with a group of high-profile social media influencers to receive gifts and enjoy a festive dinner at Le Vendome hotel.
Ahmad Daabas, editor-in-chief of online magazine AMDmode, said he had suggested the event to the hotel’s management to raise awareness of the importance of giving to those from families who could not afford to provide the gifts traditionally associated with the Christmas season.
“Unfortunately, sometimes we forget that there are some kids and families who are less fortunate than us and they’re suffering.
“These holidays come, and they don’t have the money to celebrate and enjoy like we’re doing,” Daabas said.
The Dubai-based influencer has almost 100,000 followers on Instagram and proposed that bringing his high-profile friends to the event could generate some publicity for an important cause.
“What I suggested is, instead of taking the gifts to the kids, what about we bring the kids here and we have some of my friends, who are active on social media and can spread awareness about the life of these kids?” he explained.
Le Vendome hosted the event as part of its Christmas theme, “Aux Cadeaux Dores” (“Gilded Gifts”), while the NGO Smile in a Box provided the gifts.
The latter organization, which was set up by some working mothers who met at a spiritual group, distributes gifts to needy families around Lebanon.
This year, Smile in a Box is giving out gifts such as school supplies and toothpaste to maximize their benefits to kids.
“We thought of adding [these gifts] so that the box will not only be a toy that the child will only use for five minutes,” co-founder Lara Chamoun said.
“We know that these children need this stuff, not only toys.
“Most of them are in really bad shape. We have seen the misery and the bad conditions they live in.”
Cynthia Samuel, a Lebanese-Canadian social media activist, actor and former Miss Universe competitor who has worked with brands such as Ray Ban and Dior, said that taking pictures at the event would convey a valuable message to her more than 200,000 followers on Instagram.
“I’d like these young men and young women [who follow me] to realize that there is so much more to life than what they probably think there is,” she said.
“The younger generation these days - they think about materialistic things, or stuff that maybe isn’t as important in life, and I want them to know that we have such things happening in the world and maybe wake up to the amount of responsibility they actually have.”
The actor said she hoped the campaign would encourage her followers to reach out to those less fortunate than themselves.
“When we show them that us people in the social media field, people working with brands that are on television or whatnot we still have the time to actually work with children ... maybe they [might] feel like they could help in some way.”
Source: Reuters
