Other items in today’s column include:
*Online fundraiser for 10 Balboa Park institutions
*Recommended viewing and reading
SAN DIEGO — The Encinitas, California-based Leichtag Foundation expressed shock and sadness over the Aug. 4 explosion that destroyed most of the port of Beirut, Lebanon, killing more than 150 people and leaving thousands homeless.
“Responding hospitals, already stretched thin due to COVID-19 are now at overcapacity,” reported Charlene Seidle and Sharyn Goodson, respectively the Foundation’s executive vice president and vice president for philanthropy and organizational development.
Seidle and Goodson noted that “in a country that imports 80 percent of its food supply,” the explosion destroyed the major wheat silo. “The toll on human life and infrastructure is massive.”
The Leichtag Foundation recommended four organizations through which donations may be made for Lebanon relief. The four organizations were “vetted with trusted partners on the ground. No overhead will be taken by these organizations when you specify Beirut Relief Efforts.”
The organizations are:
InterAct, under the leadership of trusted friend Aziz Abu Sarah, is working directly with the largest volunteer organization in Lebanon to deploy direct resources. Leveraging this existing network of tens of thousands of volunteers, this effort will provide direct and immediate humanitarian relief, including food, shelter, clothing, sanitary supplies and medical assistance.
Impact Lebanon has set up a crowdfunding campaign to help organizations on the ground and is helping to share information about people still missing after the explosion. The group has raised over $3 million as of Wednesday (Aug. 5) and donated the first $100,000 to the Lebanese Red Cross.
International Medical Corps is deploying medical units and will provide mental health care to those affected in Lebanon. The humanitarian aid organization also provides health services to Syrian refugees in Lebanon and vulnerable Lebanese.
Lebanese Food Bank is putting together food baskets and partnering with hotels and restaurants to distribute desperately needed food. The organization is leveraging its connections with farmers and food suppliers in other parts of the country to immediately begin mitigating food shortages. The group is also distributing sanitation and safety supplies.
Israel also has offered to send humanitarian aid, despite the fact that the two neighboring countries, have only an uneasy truce in decades of warfare.
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Online fundraiser for 10 Balboa Park institutions
From Sunday, Aug. 16, through Thursday, August 20, Friends of Balboa Park will be hosting on online fundraiser to help 10 non-profit institutions locted in the park.
The institutions, in alphabetical order are:
–Fleet Science Center
–Mingei International Museum
–Museum of Photographic Arts
–San Diego History Center
–San Diego Junior Theatre
–San Diego Museum of Art
–San Diego Museum of Us
–San Diego Natural History Museum
–The Old Globe
–Timken Museum of Art
While not disclosing the specific financial situation of any of the aforementioned museums, Friends of Balboa Park did provide a summary by the American Alliance of Museums on the impact that COVID19 has had on museums across the nation.
33% of museum directors confirmed a “significant risk” of closing permanently by next fall, or they “didn’t know” if they would survive.
87% of museums have only 12 months or less of financial operating reserves remaining; 56% having less than six months left.
75% of museums stepped into their pivotal role as educators providing virtual educational programs, experiences, and curricula to students, parents, and teachers.
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Recommended viewing and reading
*Stephen Bryen, PhD reports in Asia Times on the myriad of questions investigators need to ask if the cause of the massive explosion in Beirut on Aug. 4 is to be found.
*Ira Spector forwarded to us the video shown above on Jewish contributions to the world of music. While he enjoyed the piece generally, he said it lacks a segment on opera, with such Jewish stars as Beverly Sills, Richard Tucker, Robert Merrill, Jan Peerce, and Roberta Peters.
*Ken Stone of Times of San Diego reports that a young woman with a White Pride and swastika tattoo on her back created an unpleasant stir at the Costco in Mission Valley.
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