DES MOINES, Iowa — The blasts in Beirut, Lebanon rocked the middle eastern country and they have sent a shockwave of emotion that can be felt right here in Iowa. A local Lebanese Café is raising money to help its home country.
“It’s hard to put in words when you see something like that, you know, it’s, it looks like something out of a horror film or, you know, a war documentary,” Open Sesame Manager Brandon Ghazali said.
Ghazali watched in terror, as videos of massive explosions in the capital of his family’s home country, blew up online.
“One of our aunts was actually in Beirut for a procedure, and you know I messaged her first… and she saw the shock wave felt the shock wave, but she was able to get out safely. So, you know, we’re lucky. A lot of people were not lucky, and they need a lot of help right now,” Ghazali said.
That’s why his family’s restaurant, Open Sesame, is donating 10% of all sales this month to the Lebanese Red Cross.
“10% of our sales is not going to obviously bring back people that were lost people that aren’t found, they’re still looking for people, even beyond what happened yesterday, the month ahead are going to be even more challenging. People are homeless now. Hundreds of thousands of people, people are facing loss and on top of already what the country was facing,” Ghazali said.
The fundraiser started on Wednesday, and within minutes of opening, already drew in a customer.
“I’m a regular customer my favorite place and I’m spending more money because of the fundraiser for Lebanon,” Open Sesame customer Mark Burch said.
“We feel that here in Des Moines and, you know, we take some of that benefit that we’ve had from such a great group of Iowans supporting us, you know, at least help our country just a little bit in this crisis,” Ghazali said.
Click here to donate directly to the Lebanese Red Cross.