WCK Activates in Beirut, Lebanon
On Tuesday, August 4, a massive explosion devastated Beirut, Lebanon. The city is covered in broken glass and hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced from their homes — all while families have been navigating the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic and economic collapse.
The WCK Relief Team is on the ground to provide support. In the first 24 hours, we worked alongside Kamal Mouzawak and his team at Tawlet to prepare the first 800 fresh meals for people at local hospitals, seniors isolated at home, and first responders.
On our first day, the team prepared hummus sandwiches and Molokhia, a traditional Sunday meal that reminds everyone who knows it of home. Molokhia is made with chicken (or other meat) and a leafy green called nalta jute with a healthy amount of garlic! Additionally, the team prepared kefta sandwiches – made with yellow onions, sumac, parsley, and hummus.
Today we served over 2,000 meals. We now have four restaurants — Tawlet, Gala Catering, Mezyan and Batchig — cooking nourishing meals for people in need, and will be activating more in the coming days.
By working with restaurants in the community, we can support the local economy, which is especially critical now as small businesses have struggled so much during the pandemic and the financial crisis. The Lebanese lira has lost over 80% of its value and many stores cannot even afford to keep food on the shelves.
The next step in our emergency response will be getting a larger commercial kitchen up and running to increase the number of daily meals our team can serve. Working with partners on the ground, we will continue to identify families most in need of help throughout Beirut.
The situation on the ground is changing quickly, for the most up-to-date information, please follow WCK on Instagram and Twitter.
