AL-KHOBAR — In collaboration with the Al-Khobar district municipality and volunteers from Giving Hands, Rawabi Holding Group employees joined a campaign over the weekend to clean the city's main roads. The “Pick It Up” initiative, the second of its kind organized by the group, was part of a sustained environmental awareness campaign involving Rawabi Holding employees, students and the city's residents. Seventy participants showed up at Al-Khobar Corniche to join the effort. Rawabi Holding's employees who could not participate directly on the ground helped by donating plastic shopping bags for volunteers to use during the campaign. Abdulaziz Bin Ali Al-Turki, Group Chairman of Rawabi Holding, expressed his gratitude to community associations such as Giving Hands by saying: “When we did our first cleanup we knew that this would start affecting the youth positively only if we sustained our efforts to prove the importance of preserving our environment. “If we are to develop our environment and keep it safe, we must change habits and we cannot do it unless we insist on putting them into action.” He said the initiative also aimed at strengthening civic sense as reflected in the campaign's slogan, “One street at a time.” “This cannot be achieved unless we work as one hand. So let's treat our cities like our own homes as Islam teaches us,” Al-Turki said. Al-Khobar Mayor Assem Abdullatif Al-Mulla said: “Such initiatives actually enhance the spirit of volunteering, which is much needed in our country. “Pick It Up reflects on the municipality's direction to both enhance volunteering and preserve the environment.” The volunteers wore branded T-shirts and caps and helped clean many facilities on the Corniche. A leading industrial player with international partners from more than 25 countries and representing over 100 companies worldwide, Rawabi Holding provides a full array of products and services in fields ranging from oil and gas to consumer products. Rawabi Holding's corporate social responsibility program took off with the group's founding three decades ago. — SG
