AMMAN — Since its launch in October, the “Bread for everyone” initiative has so far secured the participation of at least 36 bakeries, organisers said this week.

A worker places bread on a shelf marked ‘This bread is free for people who cannot afford to buy it’ at a bakery in Bayader (Photo by Muath Freij)

The brainchild of Nadeen Maayeh and two partners, the campaign entails setting up a designated shelf in each participating bakery, where customers can donate bread and those in need can pick it up for free.

Above each shelf, the organisers hang a sign saying: “This bread is free for people who cannot afford to buy it.”

In early November, Maayeh told The Jordan Times that the campaign had reached 10 bakeries in upscale and middle-class west Amman neighbourhoods such as Sweifieh, Wadi Seer and Marj Al Hammam.

By Monday, however, the campaign had expanded to include establishments throughout the capital and its outlying areas, as well as Zarqa.

In the west Amman neighbourhoods of Bayader and Wadi Seer alone, the campaign has reached 11 bakeries, she said, enough to make free bread available to underprivileged families all throughout both areas.

“The bakers liked the idea,” Maayeh told The Jordan Times in an interview on Monday.

Ghassan Muammar, another organiser, noted that the aim behind launching the campaign in West Amman was to inspire wealthy people there to donate to bakeries in other, less upscale parts of the capital.

“We’ve received phone calls from wealthy people or businessmen asking to donate to bakeries,” he told The Jordan Times.

Muammar described the initiative as a “social collaborative campaign” rather than charity, owing to the approach of letting people contribute bread directly at the bakery rather than soliciting donations.

“We have the vision that all members of society will contribute to this. Anyone who goes to a bakery and pays to give free bread to people in need becomes a member of our campaign.”

Muammar said that when he began contacting bakers to persuade them to join the campaign, he found out that many bakeries in Jordan were already distributing bread to underprivileged people.

“I didn’t know this before,” he said.

Rakan Abu Raghib, the owner of Al Anees Bakery in Bayader, said his bakery had been giving underprivileged people free coupons to help them get free bread for the past 15 years, so he was happy to participate when the campaign organisers approached him last month.

Midhat Farouq, an employee of Abu Raghib’s, said the bakery was also placing its own donations of sweets and other baked goods on the free shelf.

“Jordanians, Egyptians and Syrians benefit from the campaign,” added Farouq.

Muneer Abu Rassaa, one of the owners of Bayader’s Al Basha Bakery, said that his customers liked the idea of a free shelf and were eager to participate in the charity initiative.

Abu Rassaa said his bakery had also been providing charitable societies with free bread for a long time.

Hani Al Shurafa, another owner of Al Basha, expressed hope that the pace of donations would pick up as more customers learned about the campaign.

Abu Raghib, who is a member of the Bakery Owners Association, worried that the campaign might have trouble convincing some bakers and their customers to participate at a time when many Jordanians do not have much money to spare.

“I think it might be financially difficult for the organisers to cover all 1,300 bakeries in the capital,” he said.

Maayeh said that the organisers were planning to conduct a study to find out which bakeries in Jordan receive the most traffic, so that the campaign could focus on the places where it could do the most good.

Maayeh added that the campaign had received a very positive response from beneficiaries as well.

“One day, a lady called me to thank the campaign members. She told me that thanks to the campaign, her children slept happily for the first time,” she said.

The organiser expressed hope that in the coming days and weeks, the campaign would be able to include more bakeries around the capital and in other parts of the country.