US charities raise millions following Beirut blast

American charities are working to gather and ultimately airlift critical medical and pharmaceutical supplies and equipment to Lebanon following the blast at Beirut's port that killed nearly 200 people, injured more than 6,000 and caused billions of dollars in damage.

Santa Barbara, California-based humanitarian aid organization Direct Relief has sent more than $20 million in medicine, personal protective equipment and supplies to Beirut, $11 million of which was delivered via a FedEx-donated airlift that also included relief supplies from the American Task Force on Lebanon and the Lebanon Relief Project.

"People were just waiting to help. They just wanted something to immediately give to, they wanted all that pain to basically get out and give something positive," said Manal Saab, a Lebanese American from the Flint, Michigan, area, who founded the Lebanon Relief Project with her daughter. "They wanted to turn all that negative energy into something that will give them some satisfaction that they're able to reach Lebanon somehow."

The cause of the explosion still is not known, but it is widely seen as the culmination of decades of corruption and mismanagement by Lebanon's ruling class. It came on top of an unprecedented economic crisis. Poverty and unemployment are soaring, made worse by the coronavirus pandemic.

The dire situation has drawn intense interest in Michigan, which is home to one of the largest concentrations of Arabs outside the Middle East. U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib lauded the "strong effort" to raise money. "Even if you are not Lebanese, just being an Arab American … I felt the connection in a big way to what happened and the need to help," said Maha Freij, director of the Dearborn-based Center for Arab American Philanthropy. CAAP has partnered with the ATFL/Lebanon Relief Project with fundraising to support the expense of logistics and shipments. All involved say more needs to be done to assist Lebanon. "If we don't (help), who will? I don't know who would," Saab said. 

(Image Credits: AP)