In celebration of its 10th 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 17th. 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 10th 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, audio producer Walid Sarrouh and editor Marwan Ziadeh, Broumana High School, Printania Garden, UFA and Metro al Madina. The challenge will soon be launched on all media platforms.
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About Beirut for the Ethical Treatment of Animals BETA:
BETA is a Lebanese registered non-governmental organization (Charity #205/AD) established to improve the lives of animals in the region. We provide rehabilitation and a safe haven while striving to find the loving, permanent homes these animals deserve. Through education and direct action, we work to prevent animal overpopulation and cruelty, and encourage a society that treats animals with compassion.
Our mission is to strive towards ensuring that one day all animals in Lebanon will get the chance to live safely and securely. It’s our goal to educate individuals and take direct action to help animals in Lebanon live the life they deserve, for we all belong to this planet and it is home to all of us.
BETA is one of the most active animal shelters in Lebanon and also the first to initiate and start rescuing dogs, cats and other species of wildlife in its founding country. Rescues often take place in life threatening situations for the animals and are most often at times dangerous or difficult to accomplish, yet BETA strives to make every mechanism of their rescues a success.