FOR the past two years, many communities in the United States have come to rely on a trusted set of volunteers to help brighten their day. Philanthropy and volunteering is very much part of the American way of life, so it is not unusual to see people donating their time to help those less fortunate – and you see it everywhere from the famed New York City, to rural states such as Oklahoma, Kansas or Idaho. But what has been unusual for the average American to see is that the people who have been volunteering their time in communities in more than 40 states are from Saudi Arabia. That is all thanks to one person who has helped lead, inspire and influence areas and issues which need addressing. That person is Adham Gari. He is now 28 and was born in Jeddah. While studying Strategic Marketing at the University of Akron in Ohio, he decided he wanted to establish an organization that would enable students from Saudi Arabia interact with local residents by volunteering their time. So in 2013, he founded “Us to US,” which aims to promote and support social initiatives from Saudi students studying in the United States. “Us to US,” works under the Saudi Cultural Mission just outside Washington D.C., and as Adham told the Saudi Gazette: “These activities are from Us to the US community no matter what of the religion or the race. “ The United States is a country of over 380 million, so trying to stay in touch with people living there is not always easy. Knowing how active Saudi students and youth are in social media, Gari made social media a key to their success in ongoing community outreach. So far Saudi students have helped rebuild homes for those effected by hurricanes; fed people who are homeless; and even did some gardening for some old people who didn't have family to help them keep their home clean. In a wide ranging interview Adham told the Saudi Gazette: “Keeping high quality projects with high impact through just online communication is the biggest challenge we face. There are more than 2,000 volunteers who have participated with us in the past 2 years. Those volunteers are from around 40 states. We did it all without any face to face meetings. Social networking became the master key for us. We became highly focused to effectively manage the programs through online ways that keep all the teams from different cities in the same page.” Over 30,000 students from Saudi Arabia are currently studying in the United States, so Gari looked at each one of them as ambassadors for the Kingdom, setting up offices of “Us to US” across campuses nationwide. Within two years “Us to US” expanded to also motivate students from the Kingdom to look into volunteering “as part of a habit, so that understanding others becomes part of our culture too.” The organization also hosts “US Day,” the largest Saudi student festival in America; “US Plus,” a yearly conference which aims to enrich the volunteering and social thoughts for active volunteers through workshops and specialized lectures given by experts in the field of volunteerism; and the “US Award,” which is given to the most outstanding Saudi volunteer in the United States. Reflecting on the immense achievements of the organization in the past two years, Adham said: “We feel that we are like a social responsibility department for the students because of the trust we have gained within communities around the United States, and the great encouragement we get from those communities. They are really happy with what we do.” Saudi Gazette interviewed many of the students from the Kingdom who have volunteered their time, and they all spoke in unison on the appreciation of Americans to see people helping those in need. Gari expressed that sentiment this way while speaking to the Saudi Gazette: “We have a friendly culture and amazing values that need to be presented in a good way. American society admires Saudi students who work to gain knowledge from universities and give back to community that hosts them.” Adham Gari recently moved back to the Kingdom to accept a job as a Corporate Social Responsibility specialist at Al-Turki Group. “I hope that I make a difference here and add value to the people of my country. We can positively impact the world by enabling and empowering human beings to grow and flourish by relying on for pillars: ?knowledge, values, capabilities and effectiveness?. I believe CSR is a new field in the Kingdom that needs to be improved and inspired for human development. If the past two years is anything to go by, Saudi Arabia is very lucky to have Adham back home.
