When the YMCA of Lebanon was first established, it was concerned solely with the promotion of Christian values amongst its Christian membership. In the 1950s, the YMCA of Lebanon began to function much like other YMCAs around the world. It became increasingly concerned with the experiences of youth in the country. To this end, the YMCA of Lebanon had developed youth programs that are traditionally
associated with the YMCA - such as summer camping, leadership training, health clubs, water safety, aquatics, and gymnastics - and also worked amongst Palestinian refugee youth. However, it was the outbreak of civil war in 1975 that demanded the most rapid and drastic changes in the YMCA of Lebanon's history. With the increasing chaos, danger, and suffering of war, it became both impossible, and indeed undesirable, to continue to organize recreational and educational activities for the youth. Thus, the YMCA of Lebanon was faced with an important choice: whether to suspend all of its activities for the duration of the war, which nobody knew how long it will take, or to fundamentally reorient the organization's mission towards working with the war-affected, the displaced, and the needy. The YMCA chose to work where the need was greatest, and where its experience and expertise could be of most use to the country. It was at this juncture, therefore, that the YMCA of Lebanon repositioned itself as a leading national NGO, and began serving all of the regions and the people of Lebanon. During the war (1975-1990), the YMCA's committed team of staff and volunteers became actively engaged in carrying out a number of high priority and strategically needed programs in both relief and rehabilitation. An emergency relief program oversaw the distribution of food, clothing, and medicine to the destitute and war affected. Rehabilitation efforts focused on the training of young men and women in vocations to offer them an alternative to joining the fighting militias or the illegal income generating activities. Furthermore, assistance was offered to social service institutions to help them repair their physical infrastructure damage caused by the war, and to train their volunteers and staff in more efficient management methods to better meet the overwhelming needs of the population.
