The Lebanese Student Association is raising funds this semester for a nonprofit organization that supports families following Israel’s ground invasion of Lebanon in late September. 

The organization is hosting fundraising events like an art auction and a festival for Beit El Baraka, a nonprofit that provides financial, food and medical assistance to families in Lebanon, after Israel began an invasion into the country in September, which has killed at least hundreds of people and left thousands of families displaced. Organization leaders said they chose the nonprofit because of its reputation for serving all ethnic communities in the country and plan to host their fundraising events throughout the semester.

The Israeli military has sent airstrikes to Lebanon and invaded the country’s southern border in September, targeting Hezbollah. The Israeli military is estimated to have killed at least 1,400 people in Lebanon and displaced an additional 900,000 since September. Some have sought refuge in nearby countries like Iraq and Syria.

On Sept. 23, Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon killed almost 500 people and injured 1,600 others, making it the country’s deadliest day since the 2006 Lebanon War. LSA released an Instagram statement the next day, expressing grief for students who lost friends and family members and encouraging students to spread awareness about the circumstances in Lebanon if they couldn’t donate.

“The GWU Lebanese Student Association is here to support all of our community members affected by this atrocity, as well as our Palestinian brothers and sisters who have suffered by the same oppression,” the statement reads.

Junior Joud Sleilaty, the co-president of the organization, said LSA decided to fundraise for Beit El Baraka because they felt it was the best way members could raise awareness about people impacted by the ongoing conflict despite a physical separation. 

“We were like, ‘That’s something that’s feasible, that we can do on campus, that we can get not just Lebanese people involved, like people all around campus involved,” Sleilaty said. 

Sleilaty said the organization decided to fundraise for Beit El Baraka because it’s widely known throughout the country for its reputation of helping people during times of conflict, including those from historically marginalized communities like refugees and people with disabilities.

“The money we’re donating is going towards a good cause, and we know it’s not discriminating against any of the marginalized populations back home,” Sleilaty said. 

Sleilaty said she lived in Lebanon with her family for most of her life until the eleventh grade. She said she calls her family back in Lebanon every day, who constantly try to reassure her they are safe but she believes they may downplay the severity of the attacks to comfort her. 

“I can’t stop thinking about it,” Sleilaty said. “It’s something you’re always worried about, especially being so far away and not being able to do much about it.”

Sleilaty said the thought of the organization making a statement about the escalating violence was “a no-brainer” and the executive board had a meeting to create it.

“All we wanted to do is address it, provide reassurance and comfort for the people who are going through it and don’t know what to do,” Sleilaty said. “People who are on this campus, maybe freshmen, new Lebanese freshmen, who are also going through that and didn’t know about the LSA. We want them to know that we’re here and we’re ready to help.”

Sleilaty said it’s comforting to know she has a community of other students who share the same worries as for their family in Lebanon through LSA and they talk and support one another. 

“They all consider Lebanon to be their motherland,” Sleilaty said. 

Senior Ollie Jabbour, the co-president of the organization, said the organization chooses a charity to donate to each semester because LSA is both a cultural and charity-based organization. He said Beit El Baraka reached out to the LSA to ask if they can fundraise for them and that the organization gets “a lot” of Palestinian and Lebanese charities that reach out to them for fundraising support.

He said some of the past charities they’ve donated for include the Lebanese Red Cross because they serve people who are not fully Lebanese and help refugees as well who face discrimination in the country. Lebanon hosts the most refugees per capita in the world with refugees arriving to the country from Syria and Palestinian territories.

“They are confined to live in underdeveloped areas,” Jabbour said. “They’re not easily hired, et cetera, so economically different, ethnically different but still part of Lebanese society in an invaluable way. We love our Syrian and Palestinian brothers and sisters, so we’re happy to include them in our community, and they’re part of the Lebanese community that we love, and love them too.”

Jabbour said the organization plans on hosting an art auction in December with about 10 student organizations like the Chinese American Student Association and WRGW. He said each organization will submit one piece of artwork which will be bid on and likely all proceeds will go toward the nonprofit. 

He said he hopes the organizations intertwine Lebanese culture into the artworks, but he acknowledges it’s up to each organization’s discretion what is included in each art piece. 

“It’s not mandatory,” Jabbour said. “We would appreciate it, but ultimately, I think art should be unrestricted. It’s up to the own person, even if they want to do something super, super abstract. It’ll be hard to tie that into Lebanese identity.”

Jabbour said the organization is also hosting a fundraising event on Nov. 22 with different DMV-based vendors including a clothing shop called Levantinian, a halal barbecue food truck and Bint El Balad — an apparel shop created by a D.C. college student. 

He said the event will be hosted from noon to 5 p.m. in Kogan Plaza, and each vendor must donate a portion of their proceeds to LSA, who will in turn donate the funds to Beit El Baraka. The percentage of profits donated varies per vendor. He added the organization’s minimum donation threshold is 10 percent for food and five percent for clothing apparel.

He said the LSA does not have a minimum amount or deadline to raise money for the nonprofit. 

“It’s like liberating on one sense that we don’t need to worry about a deadline and such, but it’s also like we need to contribute as much as we can, even if it’s just, like, $1 more,” Jabbour said. “We need to always be on the grind, so we really want our events to rake in a lot of dough.”