JDC Relief Commitment to Lebanon Reaches $1 Million

Donations of over $325,000 in cash and an estimated $700,000 in gifts-in-kind have brought the total committed to Lebanon relief by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) to an estimated $1 million, according to Henry Taub, JDC president.

The executive vice president of the overseas relief agency, Ralph Goldman, who recently visited JDC programs in Lebanon, reported that the JDC had the “cooperation of Lebanese and Israeli authorities,” and that “the major concern now is the provision of suitable winter shelter and clothing for the homeless.” He described the problem as being “of such proportions as to require an international response by governmental and voluntary agencies.”

Goldman noted that in recent weeks JDC had delivered 20 tons of winter clothing collected in Jerusalem, had “helped inoculate 60,000 children under age three against polio and distributed 5,000 packets of Oral Rehydration Solution, as treatment for dysentery.”

Previously, he observed, JDC had distributed 3,000 foam rubber mattresses and 900 cartons of cooking and eating utensils, 6,000 woolen blankets, 6,000 sets of underwear, 17 tons of powdered milk for babies, baby bottles, baby clothes and antibiotic syrup for children.

Goldman said JDC purchased medical supplies, including five kidney dialysis units, to resupply and help reopen hospitals and medical clinics in southern Lebanon. He said JDC was also funding the construction of a prefabricated building on the grounds of the Sidon Government Hospital to serve as a treatment center for malnourished Lebanese and Palestinian children.

“JDC Lebanon programs,” he added, “are being operated in cooperation with the Lebanese Ministry of Social Welfare, the Lebanese Ministry of Health, the Israel Ministry of Social Welfare, UNRWA, Caritas (Catholic), Tyre and Sidon municipal officials, the Lebanese Red Cross, and other local agencies.