OUR HISTORY

In 2000, two long term resident expatriate ladies wanted to give back to the community where they had made their home. The Palm Association, brainchild of this pair, has since grown into a sustainable, not-for-profit, pro-active and accountable organization, run by volunteer women, with the sole purpose of providing help and assistance to Bahraini women and their children.

Over the past 15 years it has helped countless families through the distribution of food parcels, home improvements and educational sponsorship.

OUR MISSION

We pledge to:
  Never give cash directly
Use our funds to the very best advantage
Approach every project with passion and commitment
and to always ... Make A Difference

OUR ETHOS

The Palm Association, through events and donations, raises funds in order to help Bahraini families whose household income would be classed as below the poverty line, and to make a difference in their lives by providing:

• Food Boxes on a monthly basis through the Feed- a -Family programme
• Home improvements and donations of large electrical appliances through the Project Rebuild
• Assistance and Sponsorship for educational endeavours through the Education programme

The Palm Association strives to utilise its funds to the very best advantage by evaluating all requests and projects with objectivity and fairness in order to use our resources wherever they are most needed.  It is against our policy to give cash donations. We ensure total transparency by making our professionally audited annual financial accounts freely available.

PROJECTS

Feed-a-Family

The cornerstone of the association is our Feed-a-Family programme. Sponsorship of the Feed-a-Family permits us to provide and distribute approximately 155 food parcels to the value of BD20 every month to Bahraini families in need. Each family, identified by our trusted community contacts to be facing difficult financial situations, survives on the bare minimum due to unforeseen or unfortunate circumstances such as the death of a spouse, loss of employment, divorce, accident, disability or illness. The provision of food boxes can help to alleviate their burden.

Project Rebuild

The Palm Association has distributed over 7,000 appliances to families all over Bahrain throughout the past 15 years. It was noticed that some homes were in such poor repair that urgent steps were necessary. It was a natural progression for the Palm Association to assist in the refurbishment and renovation of these families’ most basic facilities such as bathrooms, kitchens, flooring, unsafe staircases, roofs, dangerous electrical wiring etc. Since 2006 the Palm Association has undertaken numerous rebuilding projects to transform these dwellings into safe, comfortable homes.

Education

It is the responsibility of every charity to highlight its ideals and aspirations. Our approach is two pronged: school liaison and educational financial assistance for individual students.

The Palm Association has a dedicated school liaison officer who is available to assist all schools in Bahrain in their social outreach programmes. Our school liaison officer is there to work with and support teachers in their efforts, to help students better understand the community in which they live, engender and nurture empathy for those less fortunate and to afford students an opportunity to contribute in a positive way.

The Palm Association from time to time will also provide funding for students who wish to improve their English and has provided nursery schooling for children of parents with serious illness.

Other Activities in our Community Outreach

• Providing warm clothes for winter - Paediatric Oncology Unit at Salmaniya Hospital
• Play Coordinator –Haematology Day Care Unit
• Eid vouchers for orphans
• Ramadan Food Drive and cold weather blanket purchase
• Through Community Outreach, working in co-operation with, and affiliated with several groups including: Bahrain Mobility International, The Bahrain Association for Intellectual Disability and Autism, Bahrain Friendship Society for the Blind, and Dreamflight.
  
  

More information: www.thepalmassociation.com