It doesn’t take long for donor support to make an impact on students in need.
That’s the experience of alumnus Jade Dagher, BSc’89, DipManTour’92, MBA’98, who worked with a determined group of students to raise emergency funding to support McGill’s Lebanese students left without a financial lifeline after a series of catastrophic events in Lebanon.
The initiative began when Dagher and students from the McGill Lebanese Students’ Association launched a McGill Crowdfunding campaign that marshalled the generosity of 140-plus donors, raised more than $80,000 and generated much needed bursaries for 23 students – like second-year Faculty of Arts student Saf Hakawati.
“Never in a million years did I think that there would be a support system for students like me who had always dreamed and worked hard to chase their dreams but were let down by the circumstances around them,” says Hakawati.
“This bursary helped me pursue my degree despite the severe economic crisis Lebanon is facing, and its repercussions on every individual,” added Jason Daou, BEng’21, who has since launched his career as a software engineer for Amazon. “With the help of donors, I was able to overcome financial difficulties, focus on my studies, and graduate. I am also making it a point to give back to McGill, to honour the generous donors that have helped me throughout my degree.”
The fundraising initiative was launched in September 2020 just after a series of explosions rocked Beirut, causing massive destruction and many deaths. The tragedy exacerbated the country’s severe financial woes and left many of McGill's Lebanese students in dire straits with banking restrictions making it difficult – if not impossible – for their families back home to send financial support.
“It started as a grassroots movement,” says Dagher, a native of Lebanon who retains strong family ties to the country and kick-started the fund with a $12,000 donation. Against the background of COVID-19, Dagher remembers that it wasn’t an easy time to galvanize the community and bring people together.
“It was a challenge to be initiating this fund in times when we could not get the word out to donors in person,” he says. On top of that, timing was critical as Dagher and his crew set a deadline of October 31, 2020, to meet their initial target so that students in need could receive bursaries as quickly as possible.
To publicize the initiative, the intrepid students on the project team managed to get interviews with local media outlets that helped raise the profile of the situation and the fund. Yara-Maria Coussa, a third-year Faculty of Arts student and former vice-president (external) of the McGill Lebanese Students’ Association, worked with Dagher on the campaign. She became an informal spokesperson, appearing on Global TV and TVA, and doing interviews with Lebanese media outlets and McGill’s student media to spread the word and generate support for the fund.
“A couple of people reached out to me on Instagram afterwards and told me they received support,” says Coussa. “It’s heartwarming to know people who actually benefitted from the bursaries.”
Dagher’s alma mater community at the Desautels Faculty of Management also lent their support and Canada’s Lebanese diaspora rallied to the cause from as far away as Saskatchewan where noted philanthropist Dr. Karim Nasser (a native of Lebanon who also happens to be Dagher’s uncle) learned of the fund and added his assistance.
And the outpouring of support and donations was not restricted to McGill. Dagher says the Lebanese community initiated a similar fund at Université de Montréal.
“It was great to see that this initiative wasn’t just limited to one university,” he says.
Now, in 2022, Dagher, Coussa, and project team members are trying to keep momentum going as the crisis in Lebanon worsens and the situation for many of McGill’s more than 300 Lebanese students remains as tenuous as ever.
“Many of the students are scrambling to find jobs or other sources of income to be able to pay for their education because they simply can't rely on family support,” says Dagher. “I encourage fellow alumni to invest in education. By continuing to support our students we can help build a better future for our society.”
Donations to the Lebanese Student Bursary Support Fund can be made here.