11848€

Nation Station Beiruts applies the principles of a circular economy and empowers the inhabitants of Beirut to recover from the destruction. The volunteers achieve this by providing infratructure and education so that the community can become self-sustaining again in terms of food, repairs and work skills.

In the wake of the catastrophic detonation of the port of Beirut – which has displaced hundreds of thousands and threatened the livelihood of many more – entire communities have plunged into poverty. These communities are now struggling to recover amidst an economy already strained by recession, coupled with sudden, drastic inflation, and topped off by consecutive lockdowns and curfews.

By applying the principles of a circular economy, Nation Station chooses empowerment as a sustainable alternative to charity following the principle of a self- sustaining community.

Nation Station’s vision is to replace the void left by governmental incompetence through active promotion of community involvement underpinned by targeted empowerment.

Therefore, they aim at

• securing the livelihood of a community by harnessing the potential of the community’s idle workforce,
• tackling root cause issues through community involvement and empowerment,
• and creating a self-sustaining community using the principles of a circular economy.

The volunteers began by mapping the entire area and dispatching small teams of volunteers to assess the needs of the community, street by street, building by building, case by case. The data resulting from these assessments were stored in a central database, enabling them to effectively provide aid to the community in several ways:

1. Nation Station provides the community in Beirut with a steady source for affordable food through establishing a community kitchen. The Great Oven Initiative has donated one of its ovens to Nation Station, with a capacity to process two tons of food daily. Elderly women from the neighboorhood cook at the station, using resources provided by Nation Station’s network of local suppliers. The produced meals are provided at cost-basis, generating a source for low-cost food while also financing its own operation in a self-sufficient cycle.

2. Furthermore, the Beirut Explosion has left a need for large-scale repairs on entire neighborhoods. Due to the economic repercussions of the current crisis, many residents have been unable to bare the cost of financing repairs and materials. All the skills required to rebuild the neighborhood can be found amongst ist residents. The assessment of households resulted in data regarding the hard-skills in the neighborhood, revealing a large network of builders, carpenters, plumbers,and electricians, most of which were currently seeking employment. Nation Station is empowering this idle workforce by supplying resources and wages. The money from these investments remains and propagates within the community, while simultaneously financing its reconstruction.

3. Lastly, Nation Station helps at upskilling. Through a cooperation with Jobs for Lebanon and the data collected in the asssessments, Nation Station is in a unique position to provide opportunities for the local workforce to provide their goods and services to the international community. This provides an injection of fresh dollars into the local economy, perpetuating prosperity and promoting development. Nation Station also promotes knowledge sharing by connecting individuals with similar background and thus creating economies of scope.

In doing the above, Nation Station integrates hundreds of formerly inactive members of the community back into the workforce. Through selective injections of capital and provision of aid, Nation Station not only tackles multiple challenges at once, but sets an example for the greater Beirut region on how communities can effectively and cooperatively work to ensure their own livelihood and promote long-term development.

Paul Schlag will bring the money personally in cash to Beirut in order to guarantee that it gets where it belongs.

We can track exactly, what the money is used for and will show an overview here after the event.

The advantage of such a small grassroot organization is, that the money is not wasted for administrative overhead and that end-to-end tracking of donations is possible.

If you are interested to know more about the initiative and the blast, you can find several press releases and their own grant propsal here:

• https://www.npr.org/2020/08/27/905811376/after-beirut-blast-lebanese-volunteers-deliver-relief-the-state-fails-to-provide
• https://www.fluter.de/beirut-aufbau-nach-explosion
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Product-Service/Nation-Station-641401956507317/

As a company, you will be featured on a big banner with which we will take a picture at Zugspitze at the end of the run. We will post this on several CDTM social media channels and our website and link you there. You will also be mentioned with your logo in the donator section of this website.

For all other donators and, of course, the companies, you will help the people in Beirut to get back to a more normal life and support a charitable cause. Moreover, you contribute to make the first charity run in CDTM’s history happen!

Day of the run: The run is organized as a relay race where each group runs a leg of the whole route and then hands over the baton to the next group. You have to get to the starting point of your part by public transportation (the route is designed in a way that this is easily possible) and then run your chosen distance while tracking it with your favourite app. In the end you should make a selfie of you or your group and upload it together with the tracking in our Strava Community.

After that you can, depending on the time you are running, go home or go directly to Garmisch Partenkirchen, where we meet up with all organizers and participants for some food and drinks.

There will always be a car next to the route so that you are safe in any case of emergency and get some drinks and snacks after the run.

Please note that the run will also take place if the weather is not perfect (rain etc.), so please wear clothes suited to the weather conditions on that day. The organizers don’t take resonsibility for the timing and weather conditions on the day of the run. Naturally, there can be delays when participants run slower that expected and we can also not guarantee for good weather.

However, we do our best to ensure a smooth process and pray for nice weather 🙂