“I’m a first generation Lebanese American. My parents both escaped during the Lebanese Civil War to find a better life. My mom says a lot of the French Quarter reminds her of Beirut - especially the Achrafieh neighborhood. Lebanon is probably the most beautiful country in the world… I’m definitely biased! And the people are super kind and resilient. But it’s a country that has forever experienced so much heartache…
Right now, I’m balancing working in the hospital (in New Orleans) and working on this campaign that my brother Peter and I started. At first the campaign was an effort to raise money for our family and neighbors in Beirut, Lebanon after the blast, because their neighborhood was significantly affected. But it got so successful within a couple of days that we expanded our efforts to helping more families devastated by explosion.
We have a couple of my cousins in the neighborhood identifying people who really need help and money - and we’re sending them money directly. It’s pretty awesome. They basically find these people that our family knows, or that have been identified by the UN or NGOs that haven’t been able to help to them yet. They send me their case, their name, pictures of their destroyed homes, and then I text them on WhatsApp or call them and I’m like “Hey, this is George - I’m with the campaign that my cousin Lea just showed you. I’m going to send you $500 through Western Union right now."
There is this one old woman who was very close to my grandmother - she used to play with me and my brother when we were little. Her family’s house got destroyed. Right away, we called the family and said ‘We’re sending you money right now.’ She sent me this really nice voice message over WhatsApp… 'Thank God, I can’t believe this. We have just been praying every day.’ I wish I were there right now because I want to help in person, but it feels good to do what we can from afar.”
– To learn more about the GoFundMe fundraiser, visit https://gf.me/u/ynjiag (link in bio). #nolabeings #neworleans
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