Help GBES students stay in school

This GoFundMe page is created for Greater Beirut Evangelical School.

About Greater Beirut Evangelical School

Greater Beirut Evangelical School (GBES) is a non-profit K-12 school with approximately 380 students. It sits at the heart of Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, a region in the Middle East, the cradle of some of the earliest civilizations.

The school was founded in 1929 by the Atchinaks, a devoted Lebanese American couple whose objective was not only to provide children with an excellent education, but also to teach them the Word of God. Over the years, Greater Beirut Evangelical School has served as a beacon of hope and care. It has equipped so many students from diverse social and religious backgrounds to forge a bright and successful future, doing so by providing personalized care and attention, with many students, past and present, considering it as their second family.

Throughout the years, the school has managed to keep its doors open despite multiple setbacks and political turmoil in the country. The 15-year-long civil war that started in 1975 threatened to shut GBES down when militia forces broke through the school’s main gate to use its premises as offices and training grounds. Members of the administration had to spend nights sleeping on the benches of the school hall to stop armed troops from advancing any further. Recovery from the war was short-lived as other conflicts followed, prompting more challenges for the school to overcome.

More recently, the Covid-19 pandemic and the 2020 port explosion that left Beirut in ruins and damaged the school’s building put yet again GBES in great difficulty. However, with a devoted mindset and an unshakable faith in God, the school has fought back and stood strong despite it all.

Today, GBES finds itself facing yet another obstacle that puts the school’s livelihood at risk like never before.

The crisis in Lebanon

Lebanon is almost three years into an unrelenting and crippling socio-economic and financial crisis that, according to the World Bank, is one of the World’s three worst crises since the mid-19th century. It is the outcome of years of state/political corruption, nepotism, waste, mismanagement and unsustainable financial policies.

The Lebanese pound has lost more than 95% of its value, driving up prices and demolishing purchasing power in the import-dependent country. A teacher's monthly wage, the equivalent of $2000 pre-crisis, is now worth less than $100. This value is expected to continue to drop because of the daily depreciation of the local currency. Poverty rates have sky-rocketed in the population of about 6.5 million, with around 80% of people classed as poor.

Frozen funds in the banks have jeopardized people’s life savings. Endless electricity cuts, threatening shortages in gas, fuel, medicine and basic needs such as water and

bread, have made everyday life a constant struggle. Several businesses, hospitals, schools, and organizations have been forced to shut down.

The rapidly escalating economic and financial disaster, along with rising poverty, bodes a humanitarian crisis and severe civil unrest, provoking a spike in violence and insecurity. The country is on the brink of total collapse.

To learn more about the Lebanese crisis, visit: Reuters, WorldBank, ACLED

Students need your help

The depreciation of the local currency has led to gross inflation. This has driven schools to up their tuition to be able to increase their staff and teachers’ salaries, which is key to retaining them, and afford the running costs that have risen by more than 15-fold.

This raise in tuition is a menacing factor in that most families are struggling to make ends meet. Sending their children to school becomes a choice rather than a necessity, and that should never be something any parent needs to face.

The struggles this year are compounded considering that last year parents could hardly afford the tuition without help.

Education is a right, not a luxury. The notion that many innocent children will find themselves without an education, victims of devastating circumstances, has urged us to appeal for donations.

We are reaching out to you to help our students pay their tuition to ensure that we keep them in school, to make their right for a good quality education that enables them to fulfill their potential a reality.

Thank you for joining us in our efforts. You would be helping us shape a brighter future for Lebanon’s generations to come.

Learn more about the school

To learn more about GBES, check out the school’s Instagram page.

*All donations made to personal charitable GoFundMe pages, as opposed to 501(c) charity fundraisers, are considered personal gifts – which are not guaranteed to be tax deductible