Between 1984 and 1988, there was a pioneering experience at the Lebanese Red Cross Center-Mreijeh by the social worker in charge who gathered around forty field volunteers from the local community, who left their parties and volunteered in the humanitarian relief sector, which soon developed into development work to enable individuals and families to cope with the difficult situations left behind by war:
- From distributing bread to families to securing flour, establishing a cooperative, providing the supplies of the Saj bread industry in homes, facilitating their sale at the supermarkets, and ensuring an additional income to the families.
- From purchasing crutches and distributing them to people with special needs, establishing a cooperative to produce crutches and sell those left: hence the income goes back to those involved.
- From helping children with special needs stay at home to their integration into district schools and urging their families to participate in extracurricular activities and other health care or preventive activities.
It is worth mentioning that this center was one of the first to launch awareness campaigns to prevent breast cancer and heart diseases.
What was prominent in all those activities was the activation of the municipality’s role and urging it to contribute to these projects.
