D.C.-area restaurant chain Lebanese Taverna is stepping up to help the people of Beirut after a deadly explosion that leveled the city’s port and numerous buildings.
The explosion happened last Tuesday in Lebanon’s capital, killing at least 160 people and injuring about 6,000 others. After seeing images of the destruction and speaking to loved ones in the area, Grace Abi-Najm Shea, who owns the restaurant along with several members of her family, decided they needed to act.
“By Wednesday morning, we knew that we had to do something, because the devastation was too great,” Grace Abi-Najm Shea said.
The family began by starting a GoFundMe page to raise money for the Lebanese Red Cross. The page raised more than $64,000 as of Monday evening.
Abi-Najm Shea said her family, which immigrated to the United States in 1976, didn’t stop there. They then teamed up with World Central Kitchen, and her brother and co-owner of the restaurants, Dany Abi-Najm, is headed to Lebanon to help prepare food for those in need.
Also, the family said $1 from every order of hummus at their restaurants will be donated to World Central Kitchen.
“The immediate need right now is taking care of the people that are there that don’t have a place to live and need something to eat,” Grace Abi-Najm Shea said.
She recently visited Lebanon and said many places she knew well are gone.
“It is particularly real when you see places you’ve been or places you were at just not too long ago that are no longer there,” she said.
A home her grandparents once lived in was among the buildings destroyed. Before it was sold, the home was in the family for more than 100 years.
Grace Abi-Najm Shea said the family opened its first Lebanese Taverna restaurant in 1979 and has grown the business to include several locations. The family also owns LEBTAV, fast-casual restaurants, in the region.
