Starbucks Jordan organizes Iftar banquet for residents of the SOS Children’s Village in Amman

To celebrate the holy month of Ramadan, and as part of its ongoing Community Connections program, a team of Starbucks partners (employees) recently hosted an Iftar banquet for the SOS Children’s Village in Amman. The event featured a series of engaging entertainment activities, including a Frappuccino tasting and a giveaway of gift packages. 

This activity demonstrates the success of the Starbucks Community Connections program and the company’s commitment to the local community, particularly to the youth segment, which constitutes the building blocks of Jordan’s future. The children of the SOS Village in Amman tremendously appreciated the initiative, which not only served to highlight the many joys of the holy month but also allowed them to engage in an interactive social event that reinforced the concept of communal ties, and helped reinforce their communication and self-expression skills.    

“This initiative signals the beginning of a long-term partnership we intend to maintain with the SOS Children’s Village, with the objective of bringing joy and celebration into the lives of its residents,” commented Rana Shaheen – Regional CSR & Communications Manager for Starbucks MENA. “The mission undertaken by the SOS Children’s Village is of the utmost importance as it targets one of the most vulnerable segments of the community and allows them to become fully productive and accomplished individuals. As a leading brand operating in the Middle East, we see it as our duty to support such a noble endeavor.” 

The Community Connections program is part of Starbucks’ continued efforts to deliver lasting positive changes to the communities in which it operates. The program, which aims to promote the spirit of volunteerism and encourage young men and women to create positive change in their communities, was developed over the past three years across nine markets in the Middle East. To date, Starbucks partners and volunteers have completed more than 170 projects totaling over 10,200 community service hours. Other initiatives organized as part of the program in Jordan include an Iftar with Mabarret Um Al Hussein Orphanage, a celebration at the SOS Children’s Village in Amman during Eid Al Adha, and two community initiatives to repaint the sidewalks in the neighborhoods surrounding its stores in 7^th Circle and Deir Ghbar. 

As part of its Shared Planet initiative, which involves a number of global Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) projects, Starbucks has set out to complete an accumulated one million hours of community service by the year 2015.