10/5/2022
Alumni and friends in 16 countries around the world took part in AUB4Beirut Run 2022 raising more than $80,000 for AUB initiatives, including student scholarships and patients seeking care at the AUB Medical Center. The 2022 run was the third annual AUB4Beirut Run, which was organized for the first time in 2020 – shortly after the catastrophic explosion in the Beirut port on August 4, 2020. Sixteen alumni chapters participated in the inaugural AUB4Beirut Run in 2020. This number increased dramatically in 2021 as 30 Worldwide Alumni Association of the American University of Beirut (WAAAUB) chapters participated last year. Thirty-three WAAAUB chapters participated in the run in 2022.
“What’s really special about the AUB4Beirut Run,” said Associate Vice President for Alumni Relations-North America and General Secretary of WAAAUB Lina Jazi, “is knowing that you are taking part in a global event of alumni and friends coming together to support our alma mater – and our Beirut.”
There were 36 organized chapter runs this year – including three in Upstate New York alone. There were also AUB4Beirut runs in more than a dozen locations in North America and in countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and South America. Associate Vice President for Development, Alumni Relations, and University Events Salma Oueida, who participated in the AUB Advancement Team Beirut Run on the AUB campus on Friday, September 16, applauded “our wonderful alumni chapters that responded so enthusiastically and in such great numbers to support AUB4BeirutRun 2022.”
The New England Chapter led the way in 2022 raising more than $17,000 for its recently established WAAAUB New England Chapter Needy Patient Fund, thanks in no small part to the terrific efforts of alumna Amale Hawi (BS Chemistry ’75, MS Chemistry ’78), who was the top fundraiser raising over $8,000. There was also strong participation outside North America as well: The Jordan Chapter received support from 121 alumni and friends. The Australia Chapter, which is less than a year old, raised more than $1,000 from 23 donations. It was one of nine alumni chapters, including the chapters in Turkey, Upstate New York, Switzerland, South Florida, Paris, Oman, Qatar, and Ivory Coast, that participated in the AUB4Beirut Run for the first time in 2022. The alumni chapters in North Carolina, Atlanta, Cyprus, Germany, Montreal, and the Health Sciences Chapter have participated in each of the three AUB4Beirut Runs that have been organized so far.
Even though he spent much of the September 16-18 weekend at airports and on airplanes, AUB President Fadlo R. Khuri also took part in the run tweeting en route: “Please join me wherever you are and run for AUB, run for Beirut.” Looking ahead to next year, Jazi commented, “All united for AUB, all united for Beirut, and we will do it again at our next run in 2023!”