Beiruting News

In celebration of its 10^th anniversary, the NGO Beirut for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, BETA, held a Gala Dinner in the Gardens of Sursock Palace on Saturday, September the 17^th. This yearly event has become a ritual where animal lovers come together to raise funds and awareness against the mistreating of animals. A line-up of influential people and celebrities were present to support BETA in their endeavors, including Member of Parliament Nadim Gemayel, Former Minister Selim Jeraisati, the Ambassador of Italy Massimo Marotti and his wife, the Ambassador of Canada Michelle Cameron, the Ambassador of Holland Hester Somsen, Consul of Cyprus Kyriakos Pogiatzis, General Consul of France Cécile Longé, Politician Tracy Chamoun, General George Khamis and Singer Nancy Ajram, Mikaella Stephan and Latoya. The Gala Dinner was an evening of musical entertainment with the amazing Daly Gana and his band and a banquet of delicious food and beverages as well as a closer look at BETA's activities. This event couldn't have been possible without all our sponsors, and especially our platinium sponsor Fidus.

As part of the 10^th anniversary celebration, the organization launched "The Howling Challenge". The idea behind the challenge is that a person cannot be compassionate towards humans only. A compassionate heart will care for both humans and animals, and will consequently raise the voice against any kind of abuse. A cry of gathering or distress will be raised, a howl of a sort; then people will be nominated to join in and howl with you. The more people accept the challenge the louder the cry will be. A special promotional video was created for this initiative and will be dispatched to local media outlets.

The entire work was donated by a team of volunteers consisting of Director Elias Haswany who came up with the idea of the challenge and produced the video, the painter Joumana Haswany who produced the initiative and gathered the necessary resources to ensure its success, and finally Noise s.a.r.l who took charge of the media exposure of the project. A special thanks goes out to singer Mikaella Stephan, assistant director Reine Sili, Brummana High School, Printania Garden, UFA and Metro al Madina. The challenge will soon be launched on all media platforms.