AUS wins prestigious Emirates Red Crescent Aoun Award

The Community Services Division at American University Sharjah (AUS) won the Emirates Red Crescent Aoun Award for Community Service in the Higher Education Category, at a special awards ceremony held in Abu Dhabi on July 2. AUS won the first place award of AED 30,000 for its portfolio of humanitarian voluntary work focusing on the welfare of orphans.

To qualify for the Aoun Award, Emirates Red Crescent required the establishment of a Red Crescent Student Club at the university. All entries were evaluated based on the quality of collaborative efforts of student volunteers, creative and innovative projects that support the country’s annual theme, project documentation, publicity of initiatives, creating an awareness of Emirates Red Crescent and the university’s support towards Emirates Red Crescent’s projects and initiatives for the underprivileged.

As part of the evaluation process, representatives from Emirates Red Crescent visited AUS to meet with students from the newly established Red Crescent Student Club and to learn from student volunteers about their first-hand experience in the university’s voluntary and charitable initiatives and projects.

The winning AUS projects were carried out throughout Academic Year 2018–2019 and included the Hand in Hand Project of Renovating Orphan Homes, Adopt an Orphan for a Day, Sharing Happiness with an Orphan Bride, Toy Stories Workshop, Orphans’ Trip to Sharjah Space Center and Orphans’ April Birthday Celebrations, among others.

Baha El Din Abo Mahdi, a volunteer and junior in civil engineering, said:

“The Aoun Award acts as an incentive for us students to deliver our best. As volunteers from AUS, we are very proud to win first place at the university level of the contest, and we consider this victory a great honor and privilege for all the volunteers and all those involved in the implementation and success of the various activities and charitable work. We will always strive to be the pioneers in the field of charitable and humanitarian work and contribute greatly to providing various humanitarian services that serve all segments of the community.”

The AUS Community Services Division intends to allocate the award of AED 30,000 towards its Hand in Hand Project of renovating an orphan home in the Fall 2019 semester.