Community Services at the AUS Office of Student Affairs launched a campaign on campus in support of Sharjah Social Empowerment Foundation's (SSEF) "Sidreh of Wishes," an initiative to fulfill the Eid wishes of orphans.

The campaign was launched on the first day of classes with the Charity Used Book Sale to generate funds to support the initiative. Additional funds were raised from cash donations contributed by members of the community. The funds generated were used to fulfill a wish list from 23 orphans under the care of SSEF. The wish list included laptops, game consoles and tablets.

The gifts were presented to the representatives of SSEF in a special ceremony held on September 27 at the university's Student Center. The handover ceremony was attended by Dr. Moza Al Shehhi, Dean of Students and officials from the Office of Student Affairs.

"Our student volunteers felt very emotional in this campaign. They worked hard to raise funds to reach their goal of fulfilling the wishes of orphans and making them happy this Eid. I am very thankful to our students for their thoughtfulness and for keeping up with the spirit of giving and sharing. Giving can be in different ways, it's not always the material things that count but the time and effort spent to care and support the less fortunate. I hope to see more of our students engaged in meaningful activities such as this one," said Dr. Al Shehhi.

Student volunteer Laila Hassan said, "If you wake up every day to make someone else's day a better one, then you have accomplished what I call the goals of life."

The joint campaign was organized by Office of Student Affairs and Sharjah Social Empowerment Foundation with the support of more than 60 AUS student volunteers.