Everyone in Nanton knows her as 'Nana.'

She works at the local bank. Her husband Andy runs a family restaurant in town, the Sweet Queen. The couple have two grown-up children.

Joumblat is a fierce advocate of both her tight-knit town, which sits an hour south of Calgary, and her Middle-Eastern homeland, which was thrown into further turmoil last month following an explosion in Beirut's port. She still has family there.

Ammonium nitrate that had been in storage for years blew up, killing hundreds and destroying homes and businesses. Lebanon had already been in crisis before the explosion following the uprising there last fall, leaving the country in political and social tumult, made all the worse by skyrocketing COVID-19 cases.

Joumblat prefers to talk about Lebanon's culture, history, the beautiful scenery and its cosmopolitan capital in happier times.

Watching news reports out of Lebanon in the days following the explosion, Joumblat grabbed some chickpeas and her blender and began making hummus, along with traditional rice pudding and mammoul, a sweet pastry stuffed with dates, with a plan to sell her food to friends and neighbours and maybe raise a few dollars along the way.

She says it was the only way she could think to help. Her sister, Nesreen Macdonald, was doing the same thing in her community of Spruce Grove, west of Edmonton.

And it seems residents in Nanton were more than happy to oblige, swapping cash donations for batches of Joumblat's Lebanese cooking.

"I love Canada and I'm a Canadian but Lebanon is huge part of my life," said Joumblat.

She started her drive with a simple Facebook post. Within 10 days she'd already raised more than $1,000, which will be matched by the federal government through the group Humanitarian Coalition.

"Nanton has been incredible. We counted $1,374 in the first 10 days," said Joumblat. "It's not a huge amount but it was everything to me," she said.

"And everyone was asking us 'how's your family? How are you guys doing? Is there anything I can do to help? I'm so sorry.' Nanton really came together for us," said Joumblat.

She said she's lost count of exactly how many tubs of hummus she's sold. Money and orders are still coming in, along with messages of support.

"I'm lucky. People that come from the city into a small town, they think it's cute and quaint but I know any family who's had any kind of trouble or setback here, everyone's jumped right in," she said. "In the city you lose that."

Friends and neighbours all want to know when the next batch of hummus is coming.

They're not at all surprised to hear about all the support in town.

"We love Naeem's hummus and all her cooking. It's been really great for us and for the people in Beirut," said Pam Woodall.

"They are community-minded people and they really work hard to make this a fantastic community," said Woodall.

"This is what makes Nanton fantastic. It's a community filled with people who react to an emergency. If something happens to one of our own or across the world we're quick to react and often it's about food," Woodall said.

Woodall says it's what their small town does best.

Nana is busy squeezing lemons and blending chickpeas, making her next batch of hummus. It won't last long.