PACES Charity supporting AUB students and cancer patients at the medical center
June 3, 2021
Within hours of the August 4, 2020, explosion in the Beirut port, AUB launched the AUB4Beirut Disaster Response seeking support from its alumni and friends for the urgent needs in our community and on campus. The response was extraordinary. Thousands of alumni and friends – including a record number of first-time donors – responded.
The Palestine Association for Children’s Encouragement of Sports (PACES Charity) was among the many institutions and individuals that contacted the university seeking to help. PACES’s support is providing scholarships to bright and dedicated students so that they can continue their educations at AUB – a university that provides a life-changing education. Among the 19 students who are benefiting from PACES Charity scholarships is Sarah, who is studying electrical and computer engineering. “I wasn’t sure how I was going to manage to continue my education in these difficult circumstances.” she says. “This scholarship is helping me achieve my goals.” Rayan, who is majoring in chemistry, says that the PACES scholarship she is receiving “is taking me one step closer to my dream of becoming a doctor.”
Like so many other students at AUB today, Rayan’s family is facing unprecedented challenges due to the economic situation in Lebanon. “My parents are still getting paid at the old dollar rate of 1515 LBP even though nothing in this country is still at the 1515 rate,” she explains. The father of mechanical engineering major Fares, who is retired now, lost all the money he had worked hard throughout his life to save due to the financial crisis.
Many scholarship recipients go on to become scholarship donors, providing future students with the same opportunity that they are so grateful to receive. First-year mechanical engineering student Franco, for example, says that one of his goals after he graduates is to “be able to support students who need assistance.” Hadi, who is majoring in computer science, says that PACES’s philanthropy “has inspired me to help others and give back to the community wherever I can. I hope one day I will be able to help students achieve their goals just as PACES has helped me.”
In addition to supporting exceptional AUB students, PACES Charity is also providing assistance to patients at the AUB Medical Center receiving chemotherapy treatments. “We are very grateful to donors like PACES Charity that recognize the exceptional needs in our community at this time,” said VP for Advancement and Business Development Imad B. Baalbaki.