Volunteers in Ghaziyeh have converted a local high school into a 24-hour community kitchen to feed families displaced by Israeli strikes [1, 2].
The initiative addresses critical food insecurity in southern Lebanon, where mass displacement has left thousands without reliable access to meals. By utilizing a public school as a refuge and food hub, the community has created a sustainable lifeline for those fleeing conflict.
The kitchen is staffed by local residents and migrants, including Myra Aragon [1, 2]. These volunteers work around the clock to prepare and distribute food to the displaced population seeking shelter in the school. The operation relies on collective effort to manage the high volume of people arriving from strike zones.
Aragon said the ingredients used in the cooking process during a feature on the operation. “These are bay leaves,” she said, “These are anise …” [2].
This local effort exists alongside larger international humanitarian responses. World Central Kitchen has expanded its operations in the region and aims to potentially feed more than one million additional displaced families in Lebanon [3].
The Ghaziyeh kitchen serves as a model for grassroots resilience. By integrating migrants into the volunteer force, the project uses diverse community skills to meet the immediate nutritional needs of the war-displaced population [1, 2].
“Volunteers in Ghaziyeh have converted a local high school into a 24-hour community kitchen”
The emergence of 24-hour community kitchens in southern Lebanon demonstrates a shift toward grassroots mutual aid when formal infrastructure fails during conflict. The involvement of migrant populations in these efforts suggests that social integration is occurring through shared humanitarian crises, while the scale of international goals—such as those from World Central Kitchen—underscores the massive magnitude of the displacement crisis in the region.
