In 2021 your extraordinary generosity exceeded any year in AFEDJ’s history |
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As another challenging year came to an end, it was clear that the wide community of American Friends have not let the uncertainties of our time prevent you from showing your care for the Christian witness of our brothers and sisters in the Holy Land.
Your donations enabled AFEDJ to send more than $2.1 million to support the schools and hospitals of the Diocese of Jerusalem last year - more than any year in our history.
Giovanni Anbar, founder and director of the Technological and Vocational Training Center in Ramallah, told us recently, “Thank you so much for all you do for the diocese and specifically for ETVTC. Your continuous love, support, and prayers have changed the future of many people over the years.”
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Aida, a culinary arts student at ETVTC, presents a dessert as a class project. |
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Advanced audiology services come to Palestine with help from the Dorothea Haus Ross Foundation |
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A generous grant will enable Jerusalem Princess Basma Center to offer advanced audiology services for children in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. |
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In early 2021JPBC received a grant from UNICEF Norway to purchase state-of-the-art audiology equipment and create the first advanced Audiology Unit in Palestine. However, they needed funding to recruit, train, and certify professional audiologists and build a referral network among the many community-based organizations, hospitals, and physician practices they work with across the West Bank.
The Dorothea Haus Ross Foundation awarded AFEDJ a grant on Princess Basma Center’s behalf that will allow JPBC to hire six audiologists and provide them with training to obtain certification in advanced audiology. The Auditory Unit initially will offer evaluation and auditory services to 80 students at JPBC’s Inclusive School and 250 children referred from across the West Bank and Jerusalem. JPBC plans to expand the number of children served over the next few years.
The long-term goal for the Auditory Unit is to establish a sustainable model for delivering early-intervention audiology services and professional development, which will benefit children, families, and medical professionals at JPBC as well as at partner centers across the West Bank through outreach, capacity building, and care coordination.
Congratulations and thanks to the JPBC team for their ongoing efforts to expand services to Palestinian children with disabilities.
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Your partnership in seeking grants means the world to children and families in Gaza, Jerusalem, and the West Bank |
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AFEDJ worked with Episcopal parishes and dioceses to raise more than $89,000 for vulnerable children and their families through diocesan global mission grants. |
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In 2018 American Friends began to seek partnerships with parishes to apply for diocesan global mission grants.
What we envisioned as a small effort with a few parishes grew, in 2021, to include 27 parishes and dioceses with 14 awards totaling $89,344 in support of the Mother Empowerment Program at Jerusalem Princess Basma Center and the Children’s Trauma Clinic at Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza. Grants ranged from $1,000 to $12,000.
In 2022 we hope to partner with more parishes to win diocesan support through grants. AFEDJ staff make it easy to say yes! We work with parishes to craft the grant application and assist with reporting and publicity once the grant is awarded.
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Children and their therapist during a group session at the Children's Trauma Clinic. The treatment provided is in great demand in Gaza. |
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Thanks to our 2021 partners in the dioceses of West Missouri, Western North Carolina, Texas, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New York, Olympia, Rochester, Western Massachusetts, Maryland, North Carolina, Newark, Maine, and East Tennessee.
Interested in learning more about partnering with us to make an impact in the Holy Land? Please be in touch with AFEDJ Communications Director Heidi Shott at hshott@afedj.org or 207.592.7353 to start the conversation.
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Archbishop Hosam Naoum joins Christian leaders in Jerusalem in raising alarm about the threat to the Christian presence in the Holy Land |
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Each Advent the Patriarchs and Heads of Churches in Jerusalem, the Christian leaders of the Holy Land, issue a Christmas message. On December 13, in addition to their message of hope, they released a statement to call out attacks on Christians in Jerusalem and other parts of the Holy Land and call upon political leaders to take steps to safeguard the Christian community and the Holy sites in the region. Archbishop Hosam Naoum joined leaders from 12 other Christian traditions.
The statement began, “Throughout the Holy Land, Christians have become the target of frequent and sustained attacks by fringe radical groups. Since 2012 there have been countless incidents of physical and verbal assaults against priests and other clergy, attacks on Christian churches, with holy sites regularly vandalized and desecrated, and ongoing intimidation of local Christians who simply seek to worship freely and go about their daily lives. These tactics are being used by such radical groups in a systematic attempt to drive the Christian community out of Jerusalem and other parts of the Holy Land.”
Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, wrote, upon reading the statement, “The patriarchs and Heads of Churches in Jerusalem have issued this unprecedented statement – a cry of the heart about the future sustainability of the Christian presence in the Holy Land. The churches of the Holy Land are a gift to all communities. They contribute greatly to the common good of the region. Their deep sense of grief and fragility must be heard by all of us.”
Read the statement linked here. Scroll down the page for the full text.
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AFEDJ offers a safe, secure channel to make gifts to support the work of the humanitarian institutions of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem. |
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American Friends of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem | 203.655.3575
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