As a significant crisis unfolded in the Middle East in the fall of 2023, numerous people were displaced from their homes. Lebanon faced an escalating need for humanitarian assistance to help 1.5 million refugees and displaced individuals.
Many lost their belongings and needed even the most basic of supplies — such as food, water, hygiene items and sleeping materials.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints responded to the situation by working with the Union of Relief and Development Associations, known as URDA, to provide support and essential relief items, especially in the southern part of the country.
URDA is a Lebanese non-governmental organization dedicated to ensuring the human rights of the most vulnerable groups in Lebanon.
Sleeping kits offered comfort and security for displaced families staying in shelters. Hygiene kits gave a baseline of well-being and prevented the spread of disease. Ready-to-eat food and clean water addressed immediate nutritional needs and health concerns, explained the Church’s Middle East Newsroom.
The Church of Jesus Christ has worked with URDA on multiple projects in Lebanon in the past — like providing backpacks filled with school supplies for 1,500 elementary school children. Stacey Knight, humanitarian program manager of the Church for the Church’s Middle East/Africa North Area, spoke about working together.
“We are grateful for the chance to engage in these meaningful projects to assist those in desperate need,” Knight said. “While the situation of many of these people breaks our hearts, we want to do all we can to provide relief. The Church is engaged in this and other projects throughout the region and is committed to doing its best to serve all of God’s children.”
The initiative in South Lebanon is one example of the Church’s efforts to care for those in need in the region and around the world.
For example, the Church’s Caring for Those in Need 2023 Summary says that in line with its stated aim to provide humanitarian assistance, including in areas of conflict, the Church collaborated with multiple international relief agencies in Gaza and Israel to provide significant financial resources for critical medical and mental health care, among other needs.
A Church-supported nursing training center recently opened in Iraq’s Kurdistan region. The Church helped to build new wells in Iraq, provide warm winter clothing and shelter materials in Syria, and distribute food kits in Dubai.
In 2023, the Church engaged in 4,119 humanitarian projects in 191 countries and territories in 2023 — with 6.2 million hours of volunteer work and $1.36 billion in expenditures.
