A huge chunk of the UAE population is made up of us expats and it’s  therefore, a transient place where people are on the move non-stop. A result of this is that there’s a huge excess of toys, clothes and furniture that we either grow out of or have to leave behind.

The things we no longer want or need are often useful for others – particularly for those less financially comfortable than ourselves. We’ll often pass things on to housemaids, drivers, nannies and security guards (especially during Ramadan), but with the Holy Month of giving ahead and with some of the recent UAE charity laws casting some confusion, British Mums and fellow mum and Eco Expert, Amruta Kshemkalyani of www.sustainabilitytribe.com, have come up with this list of charities and services in the UAE where they accept your second hand goods and donations and distribute it to the less fortunate people in the UAE and further afield.

Beit Al Khair, Society

You can drop your unwanted furniture, clothing, toys etc at any centre of Beit Al Khair Society, the largest branch being the one right next door to the NMC Hospital in Al Nahda.

Visit http://beitalkhair.org for more info.

Al Ihsan Charity, Centre in Ajman.

The centre is in Al Nakhil, not far from Rashidiya. It might sound a long way but it’s really not far from Mirdif and they help families who have lost their breadwinner due to death, divorce, negligence, jail sentence or deportation by providing families with necessities like furniture, kitchen appliances, clothing, shoes and personal items – in addition to helping them get health cards, medical prescriptions and schooling supplies for children.

For more information, visit www.alihsan.ae

Dar Al Ber Society, Al Manara

Dar Al Ber Society take your unwanted medicines (as long as they are sealed, unused & not expired) as well as your clothing items or even monetary donations for various projects they have at any given time. These include charitable collections for orphans in the UAE as well as places like Somalia and you can drop off your goods and medicines at their centre along the Sheikh Zayed Road. They also accept used household items like furniture.

For more info see www. Daralber.ae

Maria Christina Foundation, Sheikh Zayed Road. The Maria Christina Foundation has a drop off office in Sky Tower, SZR accepting all sorts of items (including clothing and footwear) and can accept furniture items by arrangement as they have personnel in Bur Dubai, Mirdif and Um Suqueim. Funds raised through their sales go to help the underprivileged in some of the poorest countries in the world like Bangladesh.

For more info visit www.mariacristinafoundation.org

The Old Library, Mall of the Emirates 

Located within DUCTAC Theatre, Mall of the Emirates, you can donate all your unwanted books (both adults and Childrens that are in good condition) to The Old Library. Call them at 04 341 4777 or visit www.theoldlibrary.ae

Donate Pet supplies & food

If you have unwanted pet supplies and pet food, you can donate it to any of the animal shelters that are dotted around the UAE. Run largely by volunteers, all shelters including K9Friends and Feline Friends would be ever so grateful for any unwanted pet foods and supplies.

For a list of further animal shelters see this article:

Places to adopt a pet in Dubai: https://britishmums.com/dubai/places-adopt-pet-uae/

Emirates Red Crescent

This is a volunteer humanitarian organisation across Dubai and Abu Dhabi and is a familiar name to us, because we get to see their donation boxes especially during Ramadan. Emirates Red Crescent help other countries during crisis times like natural disasters and will happily accept clothing, bedding and many more items, which they will often specifically appeal for at the time.

For more info call 800RED or visit www.rcuae.com

Rags to Riches

Run by fellow British mum, Barbara Evans, a lovely load of volunteers (and highly talented sewing bees) make clothes for needy children, especially in Syria, out of old bed sheets, pillow cases, leftover clothes, airline blankets and fleeces that are no longer used. They will happily accept your old items and have a range of drop off locations around Dubai. You can find them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/RagsToRichesDubai

Dubai Cares, Healthcare City

This charity is ever so popular for old clothes donations – whether that’s adults or childrens – mainly because they place the huge clear boxes in malls during the time of Ramadan or any crisis. However, all year round Dubai Cares helps 45 countries all over the world with sending donations. If you are looking to volunteer or help people in some of the poorest countries in the world. For more info visit

www.dubaicares.ae

Donate Medicines

Dubai Heath Authority pharmacies, healthcare centers and hospitals (excluding Rashid and Latifa hospitals) accept new, unopened as well as expired medicines. Residents can return these medications to the DHA pharmacies located across Dubai at no cost to them. Expired medicines are disposed off with proper procedures and unexpired unopened medicines are checked and then donated to charities. For more info visit

www.dha.gov.ae

Al Noor special needs training center, Al Barsha

The Al Noor centre offers adults and children with disabilities educational, rehabilitative and therapy services for those with special needs through assessments, intervention and training”. You can donate items (especially clothes and toys) at their Al Barsha facility, just off Al Barsha Road. They generally sell those items during events to raise funds for their special needs training centre.

Glasses to various opticians in the UAE

Your old glasses  are accepted by various opticians across the UAE, including Yateem Opticians & Al Jaber Opticals. They redistribute these to people with poor sight that can’t afford glasses themselves, so don’t throw them away!

Take my junk

This is a private organisation, that collects your old  “junk” from your home and redistributes it to labourers across the city. Some of the junk they sell to keep running their organisation, and the rest thats not so sellable is then recycled. You can call them arrange a pick up and they will come to collect your unwanted furniture and household items, by telling you the day that they will stop by. This service is free, but many British mums tip the collectors as a way of thanking them for recycling for them.

For more info, call 800 JUNK.

Dubai Center for Special Needs, Karama

Tucked just behind the Choithrams supermarket in Al Karama, DCSN will gladly accept shoes, clothes and any unwanted toys as well as household goods. These are then sold in their shop with the funds raised going to help special needs families across the UAE.

For more info visit www.dcsneeds.ae

This isn’t exactly charity, but you can still donate stuff here. However, Dubai Municipality can help you to remove bulky waste such as furniture and appliances from your home instead of you having to throw them away.

For more information visit www.dm.gov.ae

Community Clothes & Shoes Donation Banks

You get to see clothes banks dotted around communities all across Dubai. They are clearly labelled with what to put in where and are convenient places to drop old clothes, shoes, and bags. These items are distributed to needy people or sold at low price to raise funds for charity.

Dubai Mums Helping hands

This Facebook group run by British Mums member Stephanie Sutherland runs various initiatives throughout the year to help the under privileged in Dubai, such as their fruit and vegetable bus that delivers to malnourished workers and collections of cosmetic items for female workers during February.  For more info visit:

www.facebook.com/groups/DMHelpingHands

Ramadan/Sharing Fridges in the UAE

With fridges dotted around neighbourhoods all over the UAE, there are approximately 20,000 members of this Facebook group who encourage their children to stock the community fridges giving back to workers such as gardeners and labourers. Due to it’s resounding success over the Ramadan period, it’s now turning into a grassroots community service to share food amongst the needy.

For more info visit

www.facebook.com/groups/uaefridges

With so many brilliant beneficiaries to choose from, there are so many opportunities for us all to do something good and make a difference.  We hope this will inspire you to encourage our friends, families and particularly our children to learn the values of giving and the joy this can bring to others.

Thrift for Good

Thrift for Good is Dubai’s first online charity thrift shop. Their mission is to rehome pre-loved items to reduce waste and raise funds for children around the world. All profits are donated to Gulf for Good, to support projects in the areas of health, education and housing. Every donation and purchase make a massive difference for the environment and those in need. For more information, please call 05 2531 0905 or email info@thriftforgood.org or visit https://thriftforgood.org/.

Read more:

Stop and Help – A Community Initiative to Help Families During COVID-19

Gulf for Good: Changing the lives of children around the world

Rehome pre-loved items to reduce waste and raise funds for children with Thrift for Good

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