JEDDAH: A local charity is providing a whopping 500,000 people with meals for iftar at 20 locations every day during Ramadan.

Hassan Abbas Sharbatli, chairman of the treasurers’ council of the Hassan Abbas Sharbatli Welfare Foundation for Social Service, said that the meals are provided in air-conditioned tents.

In addition, food parcels are distributed to needy families before Ramadan, he was quoted as saying recently by the Saudi Press Agency. The charity has also started providing free air-conditioned vehicles for those wishing to perform Umrah.

Meanwhile, a Saudi family in Riyadh provides iftar meals for 760 people in the Al-Rayyan locality in Riyadh, an online news website reported.

This is an initiative in the memory of the late Sheikh Hamad bin Khalaf Al-Adhdhadh launched by his wife and his sons. This is the second year it has been operational.

According to a secretary of the family business, only 300 people were hosted for iftar last year. It is an open buffet, with people allowed to choose their meals and eat in a tent nearby.

Some people prefer to take their meals home. Women can enter the building and take food, but are not allowed to eat in the tent, he said. The residents of the area have also started contributing meals, he said.

He said many people come to the tent because it is clean and they are treated well. Sweets would be handed out on the morning of Eid Al-Fitr, he said.