Food for Families voucher program nourishes some of Beirut’s neediest families

In the wake of recent bread shortages caused by Lebanon’s dependency on Ukrainian wheat, your support for hungry families has put food on the table where there was none.

One year ago the first round of monthly food vouchers – funded by many American friends and a grant from the Holy Land Christians Society (HLCS) – helped feed more than 200 vulnerable families in Beirut. This fall the funding from the initial donations and two subsequent grants from HLCS will run out.

According to Archdeacon Imad Zoorob, rector of All Saints Church and St. Luke’s Rehabilitation Center in Beirut, the need for financial support to stem food insecurity in the midst of Lebanon’s financial crisis remains high. 

Earlier this month he told of a long-time member of All Saints who asks each week when the next voucher will come: “I was preparing the altar before the service and saw our accountant in the back of the church with the elderly parishioner – someone I have known my whole life. As he signed his name for the voucher, I thought the accountant must have told him a joke. I thought he was laughing, but then I realized this gentleman was crying from the relief of receiving this support.”

Fr. Imad added, “It was like seeing your father or uncle break down in tears. It is devastating to see members of our own community suffer the consequences of our economic crisis. To say we are thankful for your support doesn’t begin to express our gratitude.”

Watch this moving one minute video of Fr. Imad describing current conditions and what gives him hope.