Dear Fellow Pilgrims -
I hope that this email finds you and your loved ones safe and healthy during this pandemic. Our connections to one another are so important right now, which is why I continue to be grateful for your support of Pilgrims of Ibillin.
“We need Pilgrims more than ever,” I recently heard someone say. It was last week, during a webinar with students, teachers and administrators from Mar Elias Educational Institution that we learned that connections to Pilgrims is more important than ever for them.
One student, Aseel, said that coming to MEEI from her old school was “like coming to a different world, where teachers cared about you and more than just as a student.” One of the teachers, Luma, described commuting over an hour to MEEI but declared, “It is so worth it. For this school, these students, it is worth it.” Elias Abu Ghanima, the principal of the high school, spoke of the passion that his teachers, so many of whom have masters degrees and PhDs in their fields, bring to their work and the impact they have not just on students but on their whole families.
We need Pilgrims more than ever!
About all of this, Abuna Elias Chacour said, “We need Pilgrims more than ever.” Abuna was speaking of the annual scholarships, critical support like our recent grant to help with technology for remote learning during COVID, the purchase of new computers to help students do their final exams remotely and, of course, large projects like renovating the original high school (now almost 40 years old).
Pilgrims board provides matching grant
“We need Pilgrims more than ever.” This is why some members of the Board of Directors have pooled their pandemic stimulus checks to create a matching grant. We are matching donations to Pilgrims in the coming 2 weeks to a total of $3000. This money will be go to MEEI to assist them in their ongoing response to the pandemic.
Please join us in making a gift;
You can give online at
or by mailing a check to:
Pilgrims of Ibillin
c/o Jitasa
1750 W Front St, Suite 200
Boise, ID 83702
Thank you for all of your support for Pilgrims and MEEI. Together we are fostering peace and justice in Israel and Palestine through education. Together, we are transforming lives and enabling teachers with passion to nurture students of all faiths as they create a more just and peaceful region and world.
