Lebanon Disaster Relief
Donation protected
We are Lebanese-American families that are raising funds to directly help families affected by the tragic explosion that took place in Beirut this week.
Our hearts are broken. We’ve spent the last couple days trying to see what we can do for the families and people of Lebanon that deserve so much more. After talking with family and friends in Lebanon, we have decided to create this GoFundMe to donate to various non-government organizations that we believe will make a huge impact in relieving the devastation that the Lebanese people have endured. Through contact with our Lebanese brothers and sisters overseas, we are taking what we believe is the best approach to directly help the families and citizens that have been affected. We are in constant communication with these organizations to ensure that the funds will be distributed to the families that need this the most. If you are able to help & donate in any fashion, it is MORE than appreciated and we are going to do our best to play a part in helping expedite the relief efforts. Any amount helps!
If you are not able to donate, we ask that you please keep the country of Lebanon and its citizens in your prayers!
I will leave you with a couple thoughts to further see what Lebanon has been through:
From a Lebanese-American family member:
“They say that trauma is passed down from one generation to the next. In just my lifetime the Lebanese people have endured civil war, multiple foreign occupations and bombings, the influx of millions of refugees, assassinations of political leaders and public intellectuals, environmental degradation, rule by an criminally negligent thugocracy, hyperinflation, the collapse of the banking sector (and the theft of people’s life savings as a result), the devaluation of the lira, a global health pandemic, food shortages, 20-hour black outs, and now what is most likely the most destructive non-atomic explosion in history.”
Theguardian.com:
“Two days later, and we are still counting the dead, accounting for the living and digging for the buried alive.
Two days later, and every waking hour, every sleepless minute is punctuated by the sound of broken glass: cracked window panes crashing, shards being swept, piles of shattered glass dumped on street corners. More glass, more shards in our hearts.
Two days later, and no minister or government official has even apologised to the Lebanese people. None have bothered to visit hospitals to meet the wounded, or surveyed the damage to residential neighbourhoods.”
A Post from online:
“When you’re Lebanese and a first generation American, you’re never really American. Your language and your math and your manners are Lebanese. Your friends are Lebanese... your parents’ friends are Lebanese. Your music is Arabic and two-stepping looks different when we get together. Your hospitality is Lebanese. Your hair is, too. Your curse words are Arabic, as are your prayers, because some things you just don’t have the same feeling in English. When you grow up Lebanese in America, you’re never really American.
Until you are.
Until you’re watching your capital explode on your fully charged smartphone. Until you’re scrolling down your Instagram posts, laying in bed after a hot shower. Until you’re listening to the news on the way to the job that you still get to go to. Until you come home to a hot meal that didn’t cost half your paycheck.
It’s hard to explain this feeling. The feeling of being too whole to be broken. My heart is covered in ashes, somewhere in those 10,452 km^2... while it beats 11,972 km away.”
Any and all help is appreciated and thank you all!
Our hearts are broken. We’ve spent the last couple days trying to see what we can do for the families and people of Lebanon that deserve so much more. After talking with family and friends in Lebanon, we have decided to create this GoFundMe to donate to various non-government organizations that we believe will make a huge impact in relieving the devastation that the Lebanese people have endured. Through contact with our Lebanese brothers and sisters overseas, we are taking what we believe is the best approach to directly help the families and citizens that have been affected. We are in constant communication with these organizations to ensure that the funds will be distributed to the families that need this the most. If you are able to help & donate in any fashion, it is MORE than appreciated and we are going to do our best to play a part in helping expedite the relief efforts. Any amount helps!
If you are not able to donate, we ask that you please keep the country of Lebanon and its citizens in your prayers!
I will leave you with a couple thoughts to further see what Lebanon has been through:
From a Lebanese-American family member:
“They say that trauma is passed down from one generation to the next. In just my lifetime the Lebanese people have endured civil war, multiple foreign occupations and bombings, the influx of millions of refugees, assassinations of political leaders and public intellectuals, environmental degradation, rule by an criminally negligent thugocracy, hyperinflation, the collapse of the banking sector (and the theft of people’s life savings as a result), the devaluation of the lira, a global health pandemic, food shortages, 20-hour black outs, and now what is most likely the most destructive non-atomic explosion in history.”
Theguardian.com:
“Two days later, and we are still counting the dead, accounting for the living and digging for the buried alive.
Two days later, and every waking hour, every sleepless minute is punctuated by the sound of broken glass: cracked window panes crashing, shards being swept, piles of shattered glass dumped on street corners. More glass, more shards in our hearts.
Two days later, and no minister or government official has even apologised to the Lebanese people. None have bothered to visit hospitals to meet the wounded, or surveyed the damage to residential neighbourhoods.”
A Post from online:
“When you’re Lebanese and a first generation American, you’re never really American. Your language and your math and your manners are Lebanese. Your friends are Lebanese... your parents’ friends are Lebanese. Your music is Arabic and two-stepping looks different when we get together. Your hospitality is Lebanese. Your hair is, too. Your curse words are Arabic, as are your prayers, because some things you just don’t have the same feeling in English. When you grow up Lebanese in America, you’re never really American.
Until you are.
Until you’re watching your capital explode on your fully charged smartphone. Until you’re scrolling down your Instagram posts, laying in bed after a hot shower. Until you’re listening to the news on the way to the job that you still get to go to. Until you come home to a hot meal that didn’t cost half your paycheck.
It’s hard to explain this feeling. The feeling of being too whole to be broken. My heart is covered in ashes, somewhere in those 10,452 km^2... while it beats 11,972 km away.”
Any and all help is appreciated and thank you all!
Organizer
John Faddoul
Organizer
Cleveland, OH