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Lebanon is facing a major food crisis. Struck by an unprecedented economic meltdown, nationwide protests, and the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, in the small Middle Eastern nation, , are struggling to afford staple foods. On Aug. 4, with Lebanon already on the brink, massive destroyed the only large grain silo in the nation and the main entry point for essential food imports, exacerbating existing shortages. As the Lebanese people grieve the , famine looms.

As , a grassroots network of Lebanese organizations, with support from thousands of volunteers and contributors, is coming together on the ground to fight the looming food crisis.

鈥淲e鈥檝e been helping map the people who were affected 鈥� making meals, and delivering food boxes,鈥� says Maya Terro, co-founder and executive director of FoodBlessed, a nonprofit organization founded in 2012 and based in Beirut. 鈥淭he nature of what we do hasn鈥檛 changed as much as the load,鈥� she explains.

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FoodBlessed operates several meal centers and a community kitchen in Beirut, from which a host of volunteers prepare and deliver almost 1,000 meals every day to families in need. Volunteers also pack and deliver about 400 boxes of nonperishables to people across Lebanon every week. 鈥淔oodBlessed delivers food assistance to anyone in need,鈥� says Terro.

Lebanon鈥檚 combined challenges already had strained the country鈥檚 food security infrastructure to the breaking point. The explosion threatened to push the country over the edge.

鈥淲e are looking at a catastrophe in the making,鈥� says David Beasley, the executive director of the , who visited the blast site on Aug. 10. WFP estimates that by early September, and has identified more than 5,000 in need of food assistance. But even before the explosions, food security in Lebanon was becoming a serious concern.

Shada Moghraby, a spokesperson for WFP, told Devex this month that 鈥渢here has been a very ever since the last year or so.鈥� The nation was struck by an economic crisis last October, and, as the situation worsened, protests against the government, , broke out nationwide. By April, 45% of the , according to the World Bank. The past 30% in June. The since October, and as the lack of purchasing power has affected imports and local agriculture alike.

Even with its meal centers closed to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, FoodBlessed has increased its weekly goal for delivering food assistance packages. The organization has provided more than 5,000 packages to people in need since it closed its meal centers in March.

FoodBlessed鈥檚 database of beneficiaries includes migrant workers, addicts, disabled people, and members of the LGBTQ+ community, and weekly delivery routes take the volunteers through neighborhoods of refugees in southern Lebanon and to low-income districts in the North.

Matbakh elBalad, another volunteer-run organization based in Beirut, was forced to shelve its plans to open a community kitchen in March amid a to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.  The organization has since shifted its attention to delivering food assistance packages and hot meals. A group of protesters and volunteers started Matbakh elBalad last October.

鈥淲e decided to hand out food for protesters who were sleeping in tents and who were spending the whole day on the ground in downtown Beirut, next to Martyrs鈥� Square,鈥� says Karma Soueid, who has volunteered with the group since its inception. As the crowds of protesters grew larger, Matbakh elBalad scaled up to serve as many as 1,000 meals every day. The group shifted its focus as protests waned, and now it distributes food assistance packages to more than 500 families across Lebanon every month. The organization also has started to hand out sandwiches to volunteers clearing rubble in Beirut, and hot meals to people who lost their homes in the explosion. 鈥淲e鈥檙e distributing to the houses [that have] been hit the most,鈥� Soueid says of the volunteers鈥� recent work, 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 beat a warm meal. It鈥檚 comforting, even if you don鈥檛 have anything.鈥�

While the people of Beirut face an urgent need for aid in the aftermath of the blast, organizations in Tripoli, Lebanon鈥檚 second-largest city about 50 miles north of Beirut, are doing what they can to support their neighbors to the south.

鈥淲e have diverted 60% of our activities to Beirut,鈥� says Rida Sayadi Dassouki, president of , which has been transporting volunteers and supplies from Tripoli to support relief operations. Sanabel Nour was founded in 1985 and regularly operates several programs to provide education, food, and medical care to vulnerable families in Tripoli. But since the economic downturn last year, the organization has redirected its efforts almost entirely to combating hunger.

There is a huge food security gap in the North.

鈥淭he situation has become really difficult,鈥� Dassouki explains. 鈥淎fter the [October] revolution, people lost their jobs, unemployment rose, and there was no work, so food became our priority.鈥� Before the downturn, the organization regularly distributed food to 4,000 families in northern Lebanon. These days, they distribute food to about 9,000 families, and hundreds more apply every day. 鈥淲e accept almost all of [the new applications],鈥� Dassouki says, 鈥渂ecause we know that the situation is really that hard. Anyone who had savings has spent [it] already, and then came the coronavirus.鈥�

Tripoli is the capital of the North Governorate in Lebanon, which borders the Akkar Governorate to its north, which, in turn, borders Syria. This is Lebanon鈥檚 most impoverished region. According to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, more than . Because of its proximity to the Syrian border, thousands of people migrated to the area during the Syrian civil war. There are now about 140,000 Syrian refugees and 51,000 Palestine refugees among those living in poverty in northern Lebanon. And some of the 鈥攄efined as those with high levels of poverty, poor infrastructure, and high refugee concentrations鈥攁re just outside Tripoli.

鈥淭here is a huge food security gap in the North,鈥� says Diana Kobayter, who has a history of working on development projects in the region with groups such as the U.N. Development Program and the European Commission. The gap is widening in the wake of the blast in Beirut, Kobayter explains, 鈥渁s most NGOs shifted their interventions to Beirut, and most have used the stock available in the North to reallocate it to Beirut.鈥� While Tripolitans and contributors from around the world support Beirut in its time of need, there is a fear that the North will be marginalized and overlooked in the coming months. Kobayter is part of a group of Tripolitans living abroad, who are working to make sure that doesn鈥檛 happen.

It鈥檚 time to work hand in hand to find solutions for our community.

鈥淲e all felt the same,鈥� says Adib Nachab茅, whose brother, Rabih, came up with the idea to start a charitable initiative to combat hunger in Tripoli. 鈥淲e both work in the advertising industry, and we have a background in marketing. We thought that we need to utilize our experience to help people in Tripoli,鈥� Adib says. Adib lives in Canada and is one of an estimated 15.4 million . Rabih recently moved back to Lebanon, after working abroad in the United Arab Emirates. Adib and Rabih named their project Wehed鈥攎eaning 鈥渙ne鈥濃�攁nd along with Kobayter and a half-dozen other Tripolitans in the diaspora, the group now manages several social media pages and a website to raise awareness of the crisis and funnel contributions from around the world into their hometown.

Wehed partners with several NGOs in Tripoli to maximize their impact, including Sanabel Nour. 鈥淸Before Wehed] we did not have any contacts outside the country,鈥� recalls Dassouki, 鈥淲ehed has made receiving donations from abroad easy, so we can serve more [families].鈥� Wehed has helped raise more than $50,000 for organizations in Tripoli since the group started its work in April. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 time to work hand in hand to find solutions for our community,鈥� says Rabih of his inspiration for Wehed. And from the damaged neighborhoods of Beirut to the impoverished districts of northern and southern Lebanon, these organizers and thousands of volunteers are doing just that.