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Syrian Refugee Crisis
Since the beginning of the Syrian Civil War, about 1.5 million Syrian refugees have lived in Lebanon. The COVID pandemic, coupled with the political and financial crisis in Lebanon, has led to a humanitarian and food crisis for the local Lebanese and the Syrian refugees. Because of the political turmoil in Lebanon, there is a lack of civil and government services for the masses. The People in Need team has been giving out food baskets to the locals in Zahle, Lebanon. We use a room on the property of St Georges Syriac Orthodox Church of Zahle as a temporary food distribution and storage facility.
Meeting Physical Needs in Jesus' Name
We aim to meet the physical needs of local Lebanese and Syrian refugees by reminding everyone of God's love for them. Fady is accustomed of saying, "this is a gift from Jesus." People in Need will carry out the relief project in the following arrangement:
a) Fady Youssef, the director, leads this relief project. Sister Fadew Alset, a staff member of the Orthodox Church, and other volunteers, work with Fady in the distribution efforts.
b) St Georges Syriac Orthodox Church of Zahle offers its facility that will host a food distribution center in Zahle
c) Calvin Ho serves as the fundraising coordinator (volunteer) in the USA.
d) People in Need will be responsible for visitations to the needy families, the purchase of food and other aid supplies, and the operation of the food distribution process. The project fund will be used to cover:
- food and supplies purchases,
- fuel costs for transportation of supplies and staff visitations.
- medical assistance to families that need help with medical bills and surgeries.
- staff salary
f) On the day of the distribution, individuals and families will arrive at the church food distribution center to register their information and receive the aid packages
g)The frequency of aid distribution is determined by the amount of donations received. The average interval for each distribution is 3 months. Distribution can be interrupted by civil unrest, and it is at our staff’s discretion to pause the distribution work if it is deemed unsafe for the staff and volunteers to secure supplies, or for the aid recipients to be present at the distribution day. The distribution work will resume as soon as it is safe to do so for all staff, volunteers and aid recipients.