- DATE & Place 1: Kaa and Deir el Ahmar, Bekaa Valley (Dec. 14th 2006)
- DATE & Place 2: Tyre, South Lebanon (Dec. 18th 2006)
- DATE & Place 3: Dahieh, Beirut suburbs (Dec. 21st 2006)
- DATE & Place 4: Rmeich, Aain Ebel and Debl, South Lebanon (Dec. 26th 2006)
- TYPE OF PROJECT: distribution of toys for children
- RECIPIENTS: underprivileged children, ages 7-10 years old
- PARTICIPANTS : volunteers from MBC,COG “Sioufi”,“Ashrafieh” & “Ras Beirut”
- PARTNERSHIP: “Just For Kids” team
DESCRIPTION
Heart for Lebanon visited schools in the Southern Suburbs of Beirut, Bekaa Valley (north east of Beirut , near the Syrian border) and South of Lebanon (near the Israeli border) during the Christmas season - the 14 th , 18 th , 21 st and 26 th of December 2006. Heart for Lebanon 's goal was to distribute toys for underprivileged children, hoping to share the loving message of Christmas with them.
Some of the locations we chose to visit rely mainly on agriculture as their source of income and have a bad economic situation. In addition to this, the July 2006 crisis which destroyed the crops aggravated the situation. As a result, some parents are now unable to afford the school tuition fees of their children or offer them gifts for Christmas.
Taking into consideration that children were the ones most affected by the latest hostilities, we decided to help the young ones smile again and heal them from the wounds of their last summer. Therefore, the toys selected were a mixture of fun intellectual mind games as well as creative arts and crafts to please everyone.
For two weeks, after church, volunteers from MBC, Church of God Sioufi and Ashrafieh got together to wrap 1740 toys. With enthusiasm, our volunteers distributed the gifts to children 7-10 years-old from Christian and Muslim backgrounds, after watching a performance of a funny, yet powerful Christmas play performed by a drama team, ‘Just For Kids' (JFK). The team is a part of the ‘foundation Grain de Blé' who have access to the schools throughout Lebanon . Our partnership with the team made it possible for us to build a relationship with several schools and carry on with our project.
We thank the Lord for the doors He opened to us to serve Him this way. It brought joy to our hearts to see these kids happy again and enjoying the Christmas season.