Meet the people setting up initiatives and collecting aid donations to help Lebanon's displaced community fleeing Israel's attacks

On September 24, the day after Beirut’s southern suburbs were showered by Israeli missiles with an intensity unlike ever before, Ghena Sandid posted a story on Instagram that would start a significant campaign of support.

“The story showed Lebanon’s skies and a statement inviting followers to get in touch if they wanted to join me in helping fellow Lebanese who were displaced,” the social media influencer told The New Arab.

And so people did.

Within hours, the sheer number of responses she received led to the creation of a WhatsApp group with over 200 members who said they were ready to assist, in any way, the exodus of displaced Lebanese people fleeing Israeli airstrikes wiping out villages and killing people in the hundreds.

This is in addition to around 500 volunteers who are around to help when needed.

“Our days have, since then, begun at 5:30 am, when volunteers gather at the warehouse and by 6 am, we'd post on social media what the internally displaced people (IDPs) needed and we lacked,” said the dietician with a follower base of over 372,000 followers on Instagram.

“It’s always surprising the amount of aid that comes in from then onwards, roughly 100 vehicles loaded with everything the IDPs need except medication,” she said.

This initiative is one of many that have sprung across Lebanon over the past two weeks by volunteers providing support to more than one million people who were uprooted from their homes since the uptick in violence on September 23.

While the Lebanese government struggled to keep up with the influx of the wounded amid a debilitated health sector and tried to open centres to accommodate the ongoing stream of IDPs, ensuring essential items were available in stores, many families found themselves without the important items needed and were unable to buy them anywhere.

Even before Lebanon became entangled in the regional conflict through Hezbollah picking arms against Israel in support of Gaza, the tiny country was already struggling with a staggering economic crisis.

In August 2023, the UN predicted that about 1.4 million people — or nearly a quarter of the overall population, including Lebanese as well as Syrian and Palestinian refugees — were experiencing high levels of acute food insecurity.

With the local lira losing 98 percent of its value since 2019, many in Lebanon were already struggling to make ends meet.

‘Around the clock’

The support and aid that Ghena and her crew offer is a much appreciated respite to many. 

“By noon, cars are loaded with everything from toothbrushes to mattresses and they head to various centres," Ghena tells The New Arab.

"We then hand these items over to their supervisors, or directly to the IDPs in need, and we go back to the warehouse, documenting what we have. We usually go back home around 10 pm or sometimes go on for longer hours into the night. We then do it all over again the following morning,” she added. 

Donations, she added, are made through Western Union as well as online money transfers, including a GoFundMe link set up at the start of the campaign.

“Our volunteers visit the schools (where many displaced are staying) to have a feel of people’s needs and the ages of the IDPs. Two young volunteers answer phone lines dedicated to receiving requests from refugee centres,” Ghena adds proudly, explaining that they cover all the refugee centres in Beirut, and have been receiving enough to also cover Al-Bekaa as well as some villages in the southern regions where not all residents have fled.

“In one day, we managed to reach 60,000 IDPs and provide their every need, distributed around 150 schools,” she said proudly. Ghena also noted that most of the volunteers are mothers with their children, with some of the displaced as young as 12.

The influencer shared that many celebrities, including actors, had made regular donations, which helped them gather the large amounts of aid they had been able to provide.

Despite the heartwarming responses and show of solidarity and support they have received, Ghena revealed that the task has not come without difficulties. “One of the Israeli airstrikes struck the Al-Ramla al-Baidaa neighbourhood, hitting the building right behind our warehouse. We were petrified, but we kept on going. Lebanon deserves this of us,” she said.

‘The little we get goes a long way’

Similarly, days have blended into nights for Nesreen Al-Areedi, a resident of Baissour who has set up a homegrown initiative named Sanad (Support).

She has been working around the clock to offer aid to those displaced from their homes. “Through the donations that we have collected from donors abroad, we were able to provide children in three refugee centres with fun activities and entertainment, including colouring books and balloons,” she told The New Arab by phone. 

Nesreen and the small team she works with distributed the goody bags to roughly 70 children among the 340 people staying in the Baissour High School after they were served lunch meals supplied by other civil society organisations in surrounding areas.

“The real challenge is to obtain sufficient funding to meet the growing demand as more and more people get displaced and the needs grow as the displacement gets longer,” she said, noting that Sanad’s next round of donations will focus on getting warm clothes, undergarments, women’s sanitary towels and baby nappies. 

“Perhaps we don’t receive enough donations to offer the help in the volumes and frequency we would love to offer them in, but the little we get goes a long way,” she said. 

Restaurants are also doing their part.

Several diners have been offering free food to IDPs as the majority fled their homes in haste to avoid Israeli shelling and therefore did not bring any food.

Owner of the Beirut-based t-Marbouta diner, Elie Ghassan, said they put the experience they had acquired from the 2006 war into use.

“We serve multiple courses as a buffet in schools, including hot meals, salads and fruits, in addition to sandwiches, and this way, we ensure that we’ve reached out to as many people as possible,” Elie told The New Arab.

Stressing the importance of collaboration and coordination among the multiple parties involved so that resources are distributed efficiently, Elie said that his restaurant was able to distribute hot meals to 650 people, in addition to 500 sandwiches across the Evangelical School in Ras Beirut, a school in Wata al-Musaytbeh and one in Basta.

He also noted that the closure of the restaurant’s branches at the American University of Beirut and the Lebanese American University meant they had the manpower to meet this need.

“We only do our duty, and the goal of the hot meal is to make them feel as close as possible to their homes,” he concluded.

Suzanne Abou Said is a journalist based in Lebanon

This piece is published in collaboration with Egab