A leading charity association joined hands with McDonald’s to organize a sports event for orphans.

The Insan charity association, which provides financial, educational and social support to orphans, and the Riyadh International Catering Company (RICC) held the opening ceremony for the “olympic” events at the association’s social club on Friday in the presence of hundreds of orphans, said Waddah Omran, PR manager of RICC, on Saturday. The charity cares for more than 3,000 male and female orphans through its five branches in Riyadh and eight other branches around the Kingdom.

Local Olympic star Fayez Al-Malki was also present at the event.

The RICC, meanwhile, operates McDonald’s chains in three of the Kingdom’s regions.

“McDonald’s Arabia prides itself on being a local member of the community and has been committed to being a responsible corporate citizen since its very inception in the Kingdom,” he said.

“McDonald’s supported various humanitarian causes through different charity initiatives in the Kingdom, including the Insan charity association, which helps and rehabilitates orphan children in the Kingdom.”

McDonald’s is also involved in various sports events that promote an active lifestyle, such as kids’ marathons, the Hail rally, the olympic day run and many more, he said.

Insan called upon private sector companies to come forward and help orphans and stressed the importance of caring for orphans.

The charity hosts annual ceremonies to honor talented young orphans in the educational arena to encourage students to improve in the scientific field.

Its educational programs include enrolling orphans in private or public schools and sending school dropouts to technical institutes.

The charitable society also helped more than 200 students travel abroad as part of the King Abdullah Scholarship Program in collaboration with the Ministry of Higher Education.

Established some 14 years ago in Riyadh, the charitable organization is keen on enhancing orphan child care through reiterating the importance of education in order to make orphans self-reliant.