Khalda’s Jewel Bakery was opened in 1986 by Khaleef Al-Sukkar. It has had three different owners since then, but its concept has never changed: bread is free for whoever can’t pay.
Khaleef also gave away land for the construction of a school, and funded the construction of Khalda Street, on which the bakery sits.
Today the bakery is owned by Abdalrahman Shaneneh. Abd told me that many customers want to donate money to subsidize the bread that the bakery gives away, and that he often turns it down because the donations end up totaling more than the cost of the bread.
Abd hopes to eventually implement the same system for clothes, and to open another bakery that operates on the same principle of giving.