BATON ROUGE - The Saint Charbel Maronite Catholic Church held it's second annual Lebanese festival at the Goodwood Library.The goal of the event was to raise money for not only the church, but to spread awareness and help out those being affected by the ongoing war in Lebanon.While last year's event raised money for the church and St. Jude, this years fundraiser had a different cause."In Lebanon, there's a war going on and there's a lot of misplaced people, civilians that have had to leave there houses. So a lot of our proceeds will go to the Caritas which is a Catholic charity of Lebanon," Festival director Sany Jean said.At each stand, you'll find a different way of helping out the people of Lebanon."I'm working the breast cancer awareness booth in Lebanon for cancer patients with breast cancer in Lebanon. We help pay for the treatments with chemo and radiation and these donations are really helpful for them," Vendor Jezabelle Roman said.The rest of the proceeds would go to fund the church and its events.The festival serves as an introduction to Lebanese culture for many and the celebration of the Maronite church."Their have been Maronites and Lebanese in Louisiana for 150 years because of the port in New Orleans. Starting as people trading," Father Alex Harb of St. Charbel said.It's a church with a long history."I have to explain to them that it's in the Middle east and what it is and then they'll be like is they're  Christians there and I'm like yes there is a lot of Christians there. We are Maronites," Jean said.This year's event had even more people than their first. WBRZ spoke to several kids who say they very much enjoyed their time there."I honestly think it's really cool to be able to celebrate my culture with all these people here," Festival attendee Anna Saab said.Permalink| Comments