The Lebanon Relief Project

In August 2020, after the terrible explosion in Beirut, Board Director, Gemma Pirondini, and I decided to launch this project. In Lebanon, we were able to rely on the help of two contacts.

 The following steps had to be taken first :

• Request support from the IW International Governing Body.
• Conduct inspections of the badly damaged hospitals by helpful friends in Lebanon. We specifically wanted to support a non-governmental hospital, which accepted sick people from all walks of life and all health insurance companies
• Request our Switzerland-Liechtenstein District Executive Committee to provide us with an IW donation account for this special purpose.
• Create e-flyers and send them to all members of the IIW Executive Committee as well as to all Board Directors and to as many Past Board Directors and National Representatives as possible with a request for onward distribution and support.

 Almost everyone contacted did their best to help our appeal. Donations started arriving from all over the world soon after. I was particularly proud of the very generous donations from the Swiss IW Clubs.

In January 2021, we had an account balance of CHF 68,000. Based on detailed lists of urgently needed medical instruments or objects that the two selected hospitals, Geitaoui and Sœurs des Rosaires sent us (at our request), we were able to order the following:

Both the purchase orders and the corresponding instruments and invoices were reviewed several times on site by various professionals. Payments were checked, approved and settled by our District Board of Directors.

We – Gemma and I – thank all Inner Wheel members for their fantastic support and solidarity.