To Beirut From Canada

Co-organized

CanadaHelps Beirut and 5 others are organizing this fundraiser.

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On Tuesday, August 4th, 2020, a massive explosion ripped through Beirut City rocking the port area, killing hundreds of people, injuring thousands, flattening buildings and leaving many homeless and hopeless. In Beirut, searches for survivors continue. Many survivors were found buried under the rubble while some were found fighting for their lives after being hurled into the sea. Mothers were seen pleading for the return of their missing children and many children were left as orphans. While it remains unclear exactly what caused this devastating explosion, it is for certain that many Lebanese families need your help to recover and move on after this terrible tragedy. To make matters worse, Lebanon has been suffering from a collapsing economy. This explosion, the worst in all of Lebanon’s History, strengthened the blow of the collapsing economy. On the night of August 4th, 2020, Ayman Mohyeldin posted on Instagram “Tonight people in Beirut are going to sleep in shattered homes, during a deadly pandemic, with a collapsing economy led by corrupt politicians, surrounded by countries that have attacked & threatened them and a world that has abandoned them and their refugees. They deserve better”. It is no longer a fear that the 1915-1918 famine will repeat itself, it is an inevitable truth if the Lebanese people are left to suffer alone.

“What we are witnessing is a huge catastrophe,” the head of Lebanon’s Red Cross, George Kettani, told the Beirut-based news network Al-Mayadeen. “There are victims and casualties everywhere”. The blast, so powerful it could be felt more than 150 miles away in Cyprus, leveled whole sections of the city leaving nothing but twisted metal and debris. The Lebanese Red Cross raced to set up temporary shelters with food, hygiene kits, and basic needs to house up to 1,000 families who lost their homes, although that will help only a small fraction of the estimated 300,000 people who were displaced by the blast.

CanadaHelps is a group of University of Toronto students hoping to collect help from Canadians to support the residents of Beirut during these horrific times. We hope to collect money to send to Lebanon to purchase and distribute food, clothes, and other basic necessities. We will maintain complete transparency with all of our donors. We will collaborate with trusted non—government organizations only and share every step with you.

With our unity, this too shall pass.