Alice's grandkids are getting three meals

For Alice Harant Gobanian, a 65-year-old widow in Lebanon, food vouchers make it possible for her family to eat nutritious food.

One of Alice’s daughters and seven grandchildren live with her in a small three-room apartment in Nabaa, a neighbourhood in Beirut.

Alice’s husband died ten years ago. Her daughter Maria, a single mom, cleans houses in the neighborhood for about $33 a month—not enough to cover the family’s expenses.

Before receiving the vouchers, the family’s daily diet consisted of one or two meals per day, depending on availability and consisted of bread, thyme and very basic food items.

The food vouchers, which cover 90 per cent of their food expenses, have allowed Alice to buy nutritious food like meat, chicken, milk, fruit and a variety of items that she couldn’t buy before.

According to Alice, this has greatly improved the children’s health, especially one child who was very thin and had vitamin deficiencies caused by malnutrition.

Now she is thankful they are able to have three meals per day consisting of food full of iron and vitamins. 

Funds for the vouchers came from the Humanitarian Coalition’s Lebanon Crisis Appeal, and were distributed in Lebanon by Popular Aid for Relief and Development, a local partner of Mennonite Central Committee, a member of Canadian Foodgrains Bank.