A call to compassion: Helping Lebanon’s less fortunate this Christmas

On a chilly December morning in Hamra, volunteers are sorting bags of clothes and boxes of canned goods and medicine as Beirut wakes up. Christmas is nearing, still for thousands of Lebanese families, the season brings more angst than holiday cheer. 

There is a very real tendency to lose sight of the true meaning of the season, getting wrapped up in the festivities, the gift-giving and the rest of the cherished traditions. These traditions lift spirits, but they are not at the heart of the holiday.

Lebanon is rampant with homeless people, elderly who have no family, orphaned and abandoned children, poor souls who can’t afford a warm meal. How can they celebrate the birth of Christ when they are consumed by pain and despair? If no one gives them a second thought, they will feel their hunger, chills and loneliness twice as much during the holiday season.

Kelna la baad 

The “Kelna La Baad”, All Here for Each Other campaign is orchestrated every year at Christmas. Currently under the Healio organization, it is a humanitarian effort gathering donations from food items, clothing, shoes, toys, blankets, school supplies, and medicine. “This campaign is for all Lebanese families without exception’, says the initiative’s leader Nidal Assaf, “it is held in Hamra being a convenient meeting point for all”. 

On the ground, the smallest of donation helps many people and makes a difference in their lives, and Assaf has faith in the power of solidarity.

The campaigners are present in many points to gather donations, which will be delivered to over 200 less fortunate families on Sunday the 21st of December 2025 from 9:00 am till 4:00 pm.

Today, many are fighting the cold in Lebanon, students are without supplies, sick people without medicine, this was the instigator of the Kelna La Baad campaign. “Our mission is to bring warmth to as many hearts and homes as we can”, adds Assaf, “we urge all who are able to join in this humanitarian cause. It is our goal to spread joy this holiday season, especially in the hearts of children”.

Serving for love

Meanwhile, Elissar Tannoury Hobeika is a volunteer in the “Naamal Lel Mahabba”, Serving for Love association, and the wife of Father and founder Jean-Paul Hobeika. She highlights the crucial nature of extending a helping hand amidst the crises Lebanon is going through and the pressures faced by parents. “Even necessities like food and clothing become difficult to secure. This is where benevolent activities become essential to give people a security blanket, a form of reassurance that they are not on their own”. 

This aid provided in two locations in the Naccache area will release the pressure valve on the emotional pressure they are under, giving five hundred families some room to breathe. She goes on to insist that “the act of giving is always a win, a mutually beneficial win. The families in need win acts of love and generous individuals win the favor of God”. 

This Christmas, their program involves distributing essential food items to families, from grains to oils, and cleaning products as well. Not to mention Christmas presents and candy for three hundred kids, to whom they dedicate a yearly festive celebration centered around God’s worship, the reason for the season. This above all else is the deep meaning they want to engrain in children with a christian play, followed by entertainment and Santa Claus handing out gifts.

Maryam’s kitchen

In similar pursuits, Father Hani Tawk and his family have been active in feeding the needy for twenty-five years. Four days after the Beirut explosion, he decided to go on the grounds and feed the volunteers and people who lost their homes. “We grew into taking a depot in the Karantina neighbourhood and securing 250 plates per day. In 2021, 600 plates; the year after that we cooked 800. In 2023, we had 1,000 plates and we reached 1,500 in 2024”.  During the war, they made 5,000 plates, Nowadays, they cook 3,000 plates daily for people from all sects, regions and religions, no discrimination here. Anyone can come for a meal or take one home, aside from the fourteen organizations who pick up meals to distribute to their registered individuals.

During Christmas time, a mobile kitchen will travel the country to feed 1,000 people daily. They are always looking for volunteers to help in cooking the meals or generous benefactors to donate the ingredients for the meals such as rice, bulgur, sauces, spices, oils and grains. Financial donations and prayers are welcome as well. “We want to reach as many people as possible to come to their aid. Any poor individual or soul in need of our support,” affirms Father Tawk.

Teta w jeddo

Lebanon’s elderly don’t have anything to fall back on if they lack savings. This is where the Teta W Jeddo organization comes in. They support the elders and make certain their dignity remains intact. Christine Malkoun, Vice President and Treasurer, shared that they also started out after the Beirut explosion. “We picked up brooms to clear the broken glass in people’s homes and that’s where we found abandoned elders. In their delicate state, they couldn’t leave the house to receive the meals that were being donated.” 

In that circumstance, the idea for Teta W Jeddo started, and they delivered food to their doorstep. They provided many services thanks to the donations received to fix shattered homes, doors, glass, install solar systems and elevators. After which, they checked in on the elders regularly, providing moral and material support.

“By taking care of our elders, we are taking care of our future. Once just like us, social and productive, they are now alone and devoid of everything, including the will to live”, says Malkoun.

Last Christmas, the volunteers took a personal initiative and visited the elders who lived alone to spend time and share a meal with them. Seeing as it was very well received, even more than outings, and special requests were made, the initiative will recur this year. Small groups have the opportunity to be the family of the Teta w Jeddo elderly during the holidays. 

“One our volunteers gave a man a bath, changed his sheets, flipped his mattress and had dinner with him. He needed the company as he wasn’t feeling well”, revealed Malkoun. “The next day, they came over with food and found him deceased in his bed. This goes to show that it’s not about providing food, it’s about caring for them like our own Teta W Jeddo”.

Ultimately, the ways in which people can help the 225 elders are through financial contributions, medications, and specific good quality groceries. Volunteering is encouraged too. Physiotherapists are needed, doctors, psychologists and mere companionship.

It is favourable to bear in mind that financial donations play a crucial role in all these efforts to sustain logistics and to keep their work afloat.

A jarring image

A few months back, an old, respectable-looking man made his way from car to car, offering cold water to drivers and passengers waiting at the traffic lights in Sed El Bauchrieh. The image was jarring to say the least. No older man should be put in that position. Our elderly need to be taken care of and their dignity salvaged. The less fortunate families are in dire need of support, and through such organizations that can be accomplished.

Christmas means looking toward others and lending a helping hand, it is a chance to give back to the less fortunate, to give of ourselves, to instill happiness, feel true joy and a real sense of satisfaction from doing good deeds. To make an impact this holiday season, explore these noble efforts on their Instagram and Facebook pages.