MARCH 26, 2026 | FREE
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Stranded resident offers aid in Lebanon
LONGMEADOW
Budget presented to Select Board Longmeadow Town Manager Lyn Simmons presented her fiscal year 2027 budget presentation to the Select Board on March 23.
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EAST LONGMEADOW
PFLAG chapter to hold Community Art Festival East Longmeadow’s new PFLAG chapter is propping up artists in the LGBTQ+ community in its first annual Community Art Festival.
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WILBRAHAM
Excellence in Teaching Award goes to three HWRSD teachers Three teachers in the Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District are being recognized with the 2025-2026 Pioneer Valley Excellence in Teaching Award for going above and beyond, in and out of the classroom.
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From left: Hassan Mourad hands food to a child whose family is sheltering at a school. Hassan Mourad talks about the humanitarian need in Lebanon. Smoke rises from a nearby airstrike in Lebanon. Photo credit: Hassan Mourad
By Sarah Heinonen
sheinonen@thereminder.com
BEIRUT, LEBANON — It is hard to be away from home for extended periods. Harder still when one is in a war zone. Hassan Mourad, a Springfield resident who traveled to Lebanon on business in late February, became stranded in the country amid the Iran War. However, he has turned his circumstances into action, working to help displaced people however he can. On March 17, Reminder Publishing reached out to Mourad via
Zoom. He stood in front of a wall of windows. In the background, the setting sun cast a warm, hazy glow over the skyline of Beirut. The haze, he explained, was from the plumes of smoke that rise from the hourly air strikes in Douha, Lebanon, a couple miles south of Beirut. Throughout the course of the interview, Mourad repeatedly looked behind him into the distance as the sound of air raids carried across the city. Mourad, a first-generation Lebanese American, is a 33-yearold business owner and father of
two who was born and raised in Springfield. He went to Lebanon to strike distributing deals for his uncle’s line of hair care products. Less than 48 hours later, the United States and Israel launched surprise attacks against Iran. After Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in the first wave of attacks, Hezbollah, a Lebanese political party and banned paramilitary group, launched missiles at its neighbor and long-time adversary, Israel. Israel responded by stepping up its attacks against Lebanon and
launching a ground invasion. Many Americans left Lebanon immediately after the war began, Mourad said, but a few days later when the American embassy closed, commercial flights largely stopped. The only flights available now are through Beirut-based Middle East Airlines. He had booked a flight to Turkey, but it was canceled. He said if he were able to successfully catch a flight, it would likely take him to Cyprus or Egypt, and he would See LEBANON on page 2
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