Yearly Archives: 2020

What we did in 2020

 

What we did in 2020

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Dear friends and supporters,

Because of the coronavirus, this year we have not been able to travel to Lebanon, for the first time since 2008.

The year 2020 has been difficult for everyone, but really bad for Lebanon.

A severe economic crisis – coupled with the Syrian war – has destabilised the economy. The currency has lost 80% of its value; prices have skyrocketed. Middle-class people have become poor, and the poor have become destitute. Currently, more than half of the population of the country is below the poverty line. Of the Syrian refugees, 90% live in “extreme poverty”.

The coronavirus has of course taken its toll in Lebanon, too, with the added tragedy of very scarce economic means.

Then, on August 4th, a terrible explosion killed more than 200 people, injured thousands, and inflicted billions in damage. No-one has taken responsibility for the 2750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate that had been left in the port of Beirut, without safety measures, for nearly 7 years.

In this scenario, what we can do is really a drop in the ocean. But still more than zero.

In total, we sent 25’000 dollars, part to FAID, the school for deaf children that we have been supporting since 2008, and part to our partner Association Najdeh, working in Lebanon’s refugee camps.

FAID used the funds to

  • create 76 individual education packs (covering 8 weeks of schooling) to support students to study at home, with tailor-made speech therapy exercises for the kids. It was a big piece of work by 13 teachers, the social worker and the psychologist, who follow those families where problems exist.
  • finance a speech therapist, who teaches the deaf children to speak and lip-read, giving them the chance to communicate with the world and build an independent life for themselves.

Najdeh was able to

  • prepare & distribute 256 food parcels for the neediest refugee families in the camps of Shatila and Burj El Barajneh, especially those headed by single mothers or with children with special needs (for a total of 1156 people)
  • buy educational materials and books for the refugee children of the kindergartens we support

Teaching the deaf children at FAID:

Distribution of food packages in the refugee camps, funded by us and executed by Association Najdeh:

This year, given the special situation, we thought we really had a big mountain to climb in terms of raising funds. One of our friends, in fact, climbed three of them all in the same day – and raised 4’000 euro for Lebanon Trust in the process! We also had Bingo nights, street collections, an artist selling cat portraits, a friend donating in memory of a loved one, another donating part of her severance pay, another getting us into Amazon’s charity donation scheme, and many just quietly donating. To all, a huge heartfelt THANK YOU.

The “3 Peaks 3 Crosses” Challenge by Kevin Boyle:

Cat portraits, proceedings donated to Lebanon Trust:

A rainy Bingo night in Dublin, for intrepid supporters of Lebanon Trust:

Street collection in Tralee:

Financial Report

Income: donations to Lebanon Trust (Euro) (Dec 1st, 2019 – Nov 30th, 2020)

Fundraising events & initiatives, private donations, corporate sponsorships
Total 14573.54

(Year close Nov 30, 2020; EUR/USD/CHF currency exchange rate: as applied by our bank in Ireland)

Expenditure: Donations to the supported institutions, expenses (Euro)

Bank and other fees (*), web hosting & domains 406.08
Donation to FAID 11385.93
Donations to the refugee camps (Association Najdeh) 10510.08
Total 22302.09
Difference -7728.55

(*) Permanent TSB Forex, PayPal, JustGiving, Benevity

A donation of USD 5000 from Amazon has been arranged for next year (many thanks Mick!).

Our gratitude to the friends who helped this year (Dec 1st, 2019 – Nov 30th, 2020):

  • Kevin Boyle (Tralee) for his fantastic generosity & mountaineering skills
  • All the friends who sponsored Kevin
  • Mick Halpin & family (Dublin & USA), for their unwavering support and generosity
  • Diederik Brasser (NL) for his generosity
  • Patricia Meade, a truly loyal friend (USA)
  • All the Symantec friends (Dublin)
  • Geraldine McGrath (Dublin)
  • St Peregrines GAA Club (Dublin), for their ongoing support
  • Dublin Dumbbells (Dublin)
  • Paul’s Barber Shop, Crumlin (Dublin)
  • All the generous Walkinstown friends in St Peter’s Crescent and St Peter’s Drive for their constant support
  • McCormack’s Cycle Centre (Dublin)
  • O’Neill’s House of Sport (Dublin)
  • Paul Reid Dental Laboratories (Dublin)
  • Kelly’s Welding & Engineering Supplies Ltd (Dublin)
  • Gerard Kelly (Dublin)
  • All the lads at Bisset Engineering (Dublin)
  • Big Mick (Dublin)
  • Brenden & staff at Lilliput Stores (Dublin)
  • Pat Stafford of Stafford Engineering (Dublin)
  • Dolphin Furniture Sales (Dublin)
  • OK Living Kitchens & Bedrooms (Dublin)
  • ProWeld (Dublin)
  • Griffin Digital Print (Dublin)
  • The Terence Welding Company (Dublin)
  • the many, many “Anonymous” donors
  • Mark Drummond
  • Colin
  • Micheál
  • Leahy family
  • Kathleen Curtin
  • Kieran o Shea
  • Gerardine Cotter
  • Joanne
  • Susan McNamara
  • StaceyDeirdre, Joe, Anton and Mary
  • Don and Siobhan
  • Una and Kieran
  • Kevin & Noreen
  • Uncles and auntie Mary
  • Stephen
  • Kayla and Amelia
  • Sharon O S
  • Christine, Nora & Danny
  • Nicola
  • Karen Condon
  • Dee, Tom H, Mike O’D, Sean, Joanne, Niamh,
  • Shane, Adam, Chris, James, Donie, John, Michael H.
  • Anne and Jerry casey
  • Patrick Sullivan
  • Ken and Lisa
  • Joan & Peter
  • The luckiest son in the world
  • Mum
  • Ken and Liz
  • Mike Higgins
  • Bryan and Gráinne
  • Aidan and Sharon
  • Gary, Judy, Lauren and Kerri.
  • Pen and John
  • Monika and the kids.
  • Ryan Boyle
  • Grainne
  • Damien Ginty
  • Michele and Fergus
  • Tracy O Keeffe
  • Sandra and Sean O Keeffe
  • Peter White
  • Trevor Devereux
  • Marion O’Mahony
  • Andrea and the O’Donoghues
  • Gerardine Gardezi
  • Sam
  • David
  • Bernie
  • Anna Galli (Genoa, Italy)
  • Fasciolo (Arquata Scrivia, Italy)
  • Fabio Minotti (Lentate sul Seveso, Italy)
  • Giorgio Margotti (Livorno, Italy)
  • Silvana Falaschini (Livorno, Italy)
  • Fam Zappavigna (Marina di Massa, Italy)
  • Romilda Cocurullo (Genoa, Italy)
  • Enrico & Lilli Bertolotto (Genoa, Italy)
  • Parodi (Genoa, Italy)
  • Devia (Genoa, Italy)
  • Vigna-Mori (Savona, Italy)
  • Stefano Cocurullo (Genoa, Italy)
  • F & M Cocurullo & fam (Genoa, Italy)
  • Luca Baur (Zurich, Switzerland)
  • Iolanda Bianchi (Genoa, Italy)
  • Aquini (Arquata Scrivia, Italy)
  • Ricci (Arquata Scrivia, Italy)
  • Gli Amici di Montaldero (Arquata Scrivia, Italy)
  • Bertolotto-Della Penna (Genoa, Italy)
  • Anna Dal Negro & fam. (Zurich, Switzerland)
  • Fam Bertolotto-Della Penna (Genoa, Italy)
  • MC Ferraro & A Bertolotto, in loving memory of Natale Ferraro (Genoa, Italy)
  • Ole Vossnack (Zurich, Switzerland)
  • Fabio Minotti (Lentate sul Seveso, Italy)
  • Adarsh Vishwanath
  • Holly Elliott
  • Helen O’Mahony
  • Killian Sheehan
  • Nathael Turcot
  • Kalid Alkhairi
  • Sai Prasad Veeranki
  • Puteri Yudhita Widyawati (Kim Jisoo donation)

 

 

Education packs for deaf children financed by Lebanon Trust

Tailor-made education packs for deaf children financed by Lebanon Trust

We feel terrible that we cannot go to Lebanon this year, but still we help our friends of course! This year we sent 25 thousand dollars; 5000 were use in Summer to prepare 76 individual education packs (covering 8 weeks of schooling) and tailor-made speech therapy exercises for the kids at FAID, the school for deaf children that we support since 2008. It was a big piece of work by 13 teachers, the social worker and the psychologist, who follow those families where problems exist.

The parents were grateful for this initiative that helped them continue & follow closely their children’s education. The customized education packs gave the teachers a chance to offer each individual child an education specifically focused on his or her needs.

We are happy that we were able to help these families and lessen their burden in these difficult times in Lebanon, thanks to our generous supporters and donors.

We finance a speech therapist at FAID

Lebanon Trust finances a speech therapist for FAID’s deaf children

We can’t go to Lebanon this year – unfortunately – but we finance a speech therapist to teach FAID‘s children how to speak & lip-read. These are essential skills to communicate with the world and build an independent life.

FAID is a school for deaf children in Beirut that we help since 2008. The financing of the speech therapist for them is part of the 25 thousand dollards that we sent to Lebanon this year, thank to our generous friends and supporters.

Lebanon Trust helps 256 refugee families

Lebanon Trust helps 256 refugee families

At the beginning of August this year, in a particularly difficult moment for Lebanon (due to the huge explosion that rocked the city on August 4th) we sent 5000 dollars to our partner Association Najdeh. With this money, they prepared 256 food parcels, for as many families in the refugee camps of Shatila and Burj El Barajneh. The families were Palestinian refugees, refugees from Syria and local Lebanese, chosen among the poorest – especially those headed by single mothers, or with special-needs children.

The content was entirely purchased locally. The parcels were distributed over the course of several days, along with some printed material about how people can protect themselves from the coronavirus. In total, we were able to help 1156 people.

Thank you friends for your generosity!

Amazon donates to Lebanon Trust

Wonderful news from Amazon

Fantastic news: thanks to our loyal friend Mick Halpin, Amazon will donate USD 5000 towards Lebanon Trust’s charitable projects! This has been a difficult year for everyone, in Lebanon and everywhere else, but it is so comforting to see that our friends are there in the hour of need.

Thank you Amazon and Mick for your amazing generosity!

Lebanon Trust provides food parcels to refugee families in need

Lebanon Trust provides food parcels to refugee families in need


Last month we sent 10’000 dollars to Lebanon, split between FAID School for the Deaf and the Association Najdeh, active in Lebanon’s refugee camps. With these funds, our friends at Najdeh have distributed 265 food parcels to the neediest families in the refugee camps of Shatila and Burj Al-Barajneh in Beirut.

Thank you to all friends who supported this effort!

A great Bingo night for Lebanon

A great Bingo night in Dublin’s St. Peter’s Crescent for Lebanon

Despite the rain, on Saturday Sep 5th a great bunch of people who live on St Peter’s Cresent and in the surrounding area came out to enjoy a night of open-air Bingo and to support Lebanon Trust’s projects in favour of the children’s institutions that we support.

It was a brilliant night, with friends and supporters clad in their rain gear, standing in doorways or sitting in car booths, raising a total of EUR 941! EUR 170 went towards the Bingo prizes and the hiring of a sound system, leaving a whopping total of EUR 771 for Lebanon.

Paul Horace, the organiser and Lebanon Trust’s Treasurer, would like to thank all those who helped and participated, and in particular Luke Creagh, Eileen Creagh, Amy Whelan, James Laughran, Rachael Dempsey.

Thank you friends!

A little help to our friends from Najdeh

A little help to our friends from Najdeh

Just before the terrible blast that destroyed much of the city of Beirut and killed and wounded so many people, we were able to send a donation of USD 5000 to our friends at Association Najdeh. Now, help is more crucial than ever.

In the hour of need, this donation – thanks to our donors and supporters – will feed 100 families for nearly a month.

Explosion in Beirut on August 4, 2020

Explosion in Beirut on August 4, 2020

To all our friends and supporters who worry because of the recent explosion in Beirut: all our volunteers and our Lebanse friends (at least those we managed to reach so far) are safe. But of course most buildings have been very heavily damaged, and also the school and the refugee camps we support, despite the distance from the blast site in Beirut’s port. In the pictures below, a city street and the grain silos (credit: AFP / Patrick Baz and AFP/STR)

 

Kevin’s success

A resounding success for Kevin and for Lebanon Trust

Dear friends,

not that anyone ever doubted it – Kevin made it!! Here is his message:

The 3 peaks-3 crosses one day challenge was completed yesterday in tough conditions on each of the three mountains. Thanks to all who helped make the challenge possible, and thank you for all your generous donations that made this event a fundraiser rather than just a tough day in the mountains. Your money will make a direct difference for the better for the children in Lebanon supported by our Charity. Every day is a challenge for them, and you have all helped in a big way to help them.

Thank you so much..

Kevin

Kevin’s very generous friends

A huge THANK YOU to Kevin’s generous friends

Kevin, the hero of the “3 peaks-3 crosses one day challenge” is raising funds for Lebanon Trust’s projects. Many friends have responded generously to this great initiative. We would like to express our immense gratitude to them: (in inverse chronological order)

the many, many “Anonymous” donors
Mark Drummond
Colin
Micheál
Leahy family
Kathleen Curtin
Kieran o Shea
Gerardine Cotter
Joanne
Susan McNamara
Stacey
The Halpin Family
Deirdre, Joe, Anton and Mary
Don and Siobhan
Una and Kieran
Kevin & Noreen
Uncles and auntie Mary
Stephen
Kayla and Amelia
Sharon O S
Christine, Nora & Danny
Nicola
Karen Condon
Dee, Tom H, Mike O’D, Sean, Joanne, Niamh, Shane, Adam, Chris, James, Donie, John, Michael H.
Anne and Jerry casey
Patrick Sullivan
Ken and Lisa
Joan & Peter
The luckiest son in the world
Mum
Ken and Liz
Mike Higgins
Bryan and Gráinne
Aidan and Sharon
Gary, Judy, Lauren and Kerri.
Pen and John
Monika and the kids.
Ryan Boyle
Grainne
Damien Ginty
Michele and Fergus
Tracy O Keeffe
Sandra and Sean O Keeffe
Peter White
Trevor Devereux
Marion O’Mahony
Andrea and the O’Donoghues
Gerardine Gardezi
Sam
David
Bernie

How FAID keeps educating its students

FAID, the school for deaf children we support, keeps up its important mission even in these difficult times

Due to the Coronavirus crisis, FAID sent the students home in early March, but remained open. Initiatives such as the outreach program for refugees had to be suspended or postponed – but the teachers would prepare classes and homework for the students, and ask the parents to collect the material at the school. As the situation worsened, the school was forced to close entirely. This pushed the teachers to tap their creativity & available technology, and start to deliver classes and homework to the children via Facebook private groups.

Also, with the collaboration of the Ministry of Information, FAID created a short video for Lebanon’s deaf people, explaining the dangers of Coronavirus and the precautions to take.

FAID helps their students’ families

FAID, the school for deaf children we support since 2008, helps their students’ families during this unprecedented crisis

In October 2019, an unprecedented economic crisis in Lebanon caused wide unemployment and a 60% devaluation of the Lebanese currency. As Lebanon relies on imports, prices have more than doubled, and many people find it challenging to buy even basic food items. Coupled with the instability of neighbouring Syria’s 10-year war and the coronavirus crisis, this situation has pushed the country to its knees.

FAID, the school for the deaf we support, helps the most impoverished families among their students. With the help of a NGO, they prepared food parcels and distributed disinfectants to those in need.

The Three Peaks Challenge – an update

An update on Kevin’s Three Peaks Challenge

Dear friends,

not even a global pandemic can stop Kevin and his challenge (described here) – this daring  adventure has just been delayed by a few weeks. It is now going to take place on Saturday July 25th, 2020.

We hope that many of you will support Kevin’s fundraising to help our projects, especially in this difficult time: Lebanon has been hit not only by the Coronavirus pandemic, but also by a terrible economic crisis which has seen its currency lose a staggering 60% of its value. Prices have become sky-high and a large part of the population cannot afford basic goods. Of course, the poor and the refugees – the most vulnerable – have been affected disproportionally hard.

You can donate on Kevin’s  Just Giving page or directly here.

Many heartfelt thanks to Sam, Gerardine Gardezi, Andrea, Marion O’Mahony, Trevor Devereux, Peter White and the many anonymous friends who have donated generously so far! The world is wonderful because you are in it.

Thank you!