AG Café, the master franchisee of the Tim Hortons brand in the Middle East – a joint venture entity owned by Apparel Group, a global fashion and lifestyle retail conglomerate, and Gateway Partners, an emerging markets alternative investment firm – signed a memorandum of understanding with Sanad Children’s Cancer Association. Attending the event were Hesham Almekkawi, CEO of AG Café, Aamir Allibhoy, CMO of AG Café, Asim Khan, Senior Marketing Executive of AG Café, Reem AlHegela General Manager for Sanad Children’s Cancer Association, and her team members, Sarah Al Othman Partnerships Officer, Dalal Abdulelah AlKhalaf Head of Public Relations and Marketing, and Suad Abdullah AlHumaidi Director of Program Services. This collaboration comes as part of Tim Horton’s ambition to support charitable and humanitarian organizations in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and fulfills the common interest of all parties. The memorandum stipulates that Tim Hortons in KSA, and in cooperation with Sanad Children’s Cancer Support Association, will carry out a long-term campaign which contributes to reducing the medical bills and overall financial impact for children with cancer, where each riyal, or more, donated by Tim Hortons customers will be allocated to Sanad Children’s Cancer Support Association. This MOU aims to fortify the means of cooperation which are in line with the directives of Tim Hortons as a brand, to mobilize community services and support societies through volunteering and joint contributions conducted by a set of charitable initiatives and activities. The collaboration highlights the need to spread hope among young cancer patients by showcasing inspiring stories of other patients who were able to overcome this disease and recover from it. This best practice will enable the moral and psychological support of patients and help children with cancer regain faith in their ability to recover, which would ultimately boost their energy levels and amplify their efforts to fight the disease. Spreading hope is an integral part of the treatment and one of the main objectives for launching this campaign. Hesham Almekkawi, CEO of AG Café the master franchisee of Tim Hortons brand in the Middle East, said that: “As an active charitable organization, we believe in the importance of social efforts and launching initiatives that aim to give back to the communities in which we are operational, in addition to our continuous commitment to improve the quality of life of our customers. We are pleased with this long-term collaboration with Sanad Children’s Cancer Support Association, which is keen on improving people’s lives, and are honored to contribute to the collective and social efforts that aim to fight cancer among children in KSA.” Almekkawi stated that: “The cooperation and coordination with charitable organizations and institutions in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is essential to improve the quality of charitable and humanitarian work, and to reach the largest number of beneficiaries in the country. Our memorandum with Sanad Children’s Cancer Support Association reinforces the connection and communication between both sides, as we look forward to fortifying this relation by supporting works of charity in the Kingdom.” Reem AlHegelan, General Manager of Sanad Children’s Cancer Support Association, said that: “We seek from this agreement to enhance the quality of community services provided, invest further in research, achieve better results, and increase charitable activities. Our purpose is to support children with cancer and improve their chances of recovery. We’ll be also working on consolidating all humanitarian efforts in KSA and setting a general framework to organize them in a way that best serves the strategic goals and sets the Kingdom as a world leader in charitable and humanitarian services.” AlHegelan extended her gratitude to Tim Hortons for its continuous and long-term dedication in supporting the efforts of Sanad Children’s Cancer Support Association and expressed her eagerness to collaborate within the framework of this new memorandum to save and improve people’s lives. She stressed that the signing of this memorandum will enhance the means of cooperation and help in achieving the association’s goals and vision to serve children with cancer. Tim Hortons is Canada’s largest coffee chain and started its international expansion in 2011 with the UAE’s first Café & Bake Shop opening in Dubai by the iconic retail group Apparel. Since then, global expansion has become an increasing priority for the brand across many countries. Over recent years the brand has introduced its well-loved offerings to guests beyond Canada and the United States. Currently Tim Hortons has over 5,100 restaurants across 14 countries and regions, including the Middle East, China, the UK, Mexico, Spain, Thailand and the Philippines. Today, under AG Café, the brand has expanded in the GCC to reach more than 220 locations and recently opened its first restaurant in India.