Office of the
Executive Director
Dear Friends,
Blessed Advent!
Since this time last year, the Foundation has sent over $1.9 million to Bethlehem University. Together we have established three new endowed funds that will provide perpetual support to Bethlehem University and have added $432,000 in gifts to the Endowment. The Foundation also increased the Annual Fund by $157,246. This support and growth would not be possible but for the generosity of donors. Thank you for your generous support of Bethlehem University Foundation.
This Christmas, I come asking for your financial assistance for the construction of the
Georgette Salameh Center.
This new complex will serve as a much needed expansion for the fitness and sports facilities and serve as a place of welcome for the 2,500 annual visitors to Bethlehem University. The Center will provide a new conference center and lecture hall, house a permanent display on life in Bethlehem, afford necessary gathering space, and provide desperately needed car and bus parking.
In his June 2018 letter to the Dicastery for Laity, Family, and Life, Pope Francis lauded sports as a “meeting place where people of all levels and social conditions come together to reach a common aim. It is a privileged space…
of unity and encounter.”
The Pope called sports
“a very rich source of values and virtues that help us to become better people.” The Holy Father beautifully describes what the Georgette Salameh Center will offer to the community of Bethlehem University as it will provide a place for personal growth via athletic development.
With a student population that is 79% female, women’s sports have been a source of pride at Bethlehem University. Creating and supporting women’s athletics grew out of the belief in the importance of empowering women in Palestinian Society. Even with its current limited training facilities, the women’s team won the Palestinian Universities Women’s Volleyball Championship. Other women’s teams placed in badminton, karate, basketball, and soccer championships.
Please help make the dream of The Georgette Salameh Center a reality by supporting this Christmas appeal. Let us work together to create for the students, faculty, and staff at Bethlehem University, this place “of unity and encounter” of which Pope Francis speaks.
Please
click here
for
a brochure on the
Georgette Salameh Center
which includes naming opportunities and ways your gift can make a difference. You can make a tax-deductible gift towards the construction of the
Georgette Salameh Center
by clicking the "Donate" button below.
Please know that the names of all donors will be placed on the altar in the Chapel of the Divine Child during the Christmas Mass at Midnight. Your intentions will be remembered by the grateful students, faculty, and staff of Bethlehem University in the heart of the town where Christmas was born. Thank you again for your support!
Merry Christmas!
John
John L. Schlageter, Esq., KCHS
Executive Director
