Help our friends rebuild Athletes Anonymous Beirut
The massive explosion destroyed Beirut on August 4th, counting more than 170 deaths, 6000 injuries and around 300,000 people who lost their homes. At the heart of the blast, the buzzing Mar Mikhael neighbourhood suffered tremendous damage. The timing couldn’t be any worse as the country was already suffering high unemployment rates, the collapse of its economy, and the devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mar Mikhael is the beating heart of Beirut. It is where our youth have started up their small businesses in an attempt to make this country flourish. It is where our artists express themselves. It is where the people of Lebanon go out to be together and enjoy a good time.
This fundraiser is an attempt to help one of these small businesses get back on its feet, and start contributing to the Lebanese economy as soon as possible: Athletes Anonymous – Not Your Regular Gym – is located around 1km away from the center of the blast… Staff and members alike were injured, and everyone is left completely traumatized.
Resilience being the strength of Lebanese, A/A Fam has already started rebuilding. The physical damages consist of all their glass facades, windows, doors and partitions on their 3 floors; some of the wooden doors and cabinets, gypsum board partitions and ceilings, lighting, juicebar and reception equipment, nutrition and physiotherapy machines, curtains and rolling shades, ventilation ducts and pumps, along with paintworks for a lot of walls, ceilings, wood surfaces and doors & other miscellaneous damages. The rough estimate of the works on this 750 sqm premise is somewhere around 30,000$.
I am Lebanese myself, now living in Washington DC. I always workout there with both my sisters and our husbands whenever we’re in town. A/A is the second-home of many locals and expats, with friendly staff and passionate trainers who truly care about the health and well-being of others. I’m setting up this Go Fund Me page to support my friends Nathalie, Mardig, Wassim and A/A Fam to fix all the destruction and reopen their awesome place.
Next week, A/A will be offering online classes ranging through all types of activities: the ones that will help you release the stress, let it all out, soothe you, challenge you and comfort you.
The schedule will be posted this Saturday on their Instagram page @aabeirut and website athletesanonymous.com The funds will be going to my account in the United States. I will transfer the money directly to A/A. This is the fastest and safest way to get the funds to them and to avoid any restrictions from the failing Lebanese banking system.
Join me in response to this devastating tragedy. I encourage you to attend their online classes. Every donation, no matter how small, counts more than you know.
