Boys wave at the Arab Evangelical-Episcopal Home and School in Ramallah, Palestine. Photo: AFEDJ
[The Episcopal News] Amid suffering and tensions escalated by the Oct. 7 Hamas attack against Israel, support for charitable projects in the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem is doubly appreciated. Concrete initiatives include replacement of the 57-year-old furnace at Ramallah’s Arab Evangelical-Episcopal Home and School.
Donors are invited to join Bishop John Harvey Taylor and others in the Diocese of Los Angeles in contributing via this secure link on L.A.’s diocesan website to assist the $60,000 furnace replacement project, increasingly important as fall weather gives way to winter cold.
Fundraising efforts – highlighted by the Rev. Dr. Fadi Diab, rector of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Ramallah, and his wife, Ruba Gammoh, during their visit to the United States this past summer – have succeeded in raising nearly $20,000 toward the effort, with additional gifts from congregations and individuals requested to meet the goal.
Donors are invited to join Bishop John Harvey Taylor and others in the Diocese of Los Angeles in contributing to the new furnace via this secure link on L.A.’s diocesan website.
Describing the Ramallah institution’s ministries, Diab notes, “The Evangelical Home for Children has provided a safe haven for thousands of orphans, underprivileged children, and refugees for nearly 70 years now. Programs currently include a nursery school, after-school program, academic enrichment programs, summer camps, and a dormitory for volunteers and women in the workforce in Ramallah. There is an urgent need to install a new eco-friendly heating systems which will cost $60,000.”
Located on the West Bank, the Ramallah parish, school and home are part of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, with which the Diocese of Los Angeles has shared a companion relationship since 2005. Companion ties were deepened in 2022 with the visit of Jerusalem Archbishop Hosam Naoum to Diocesan Convention.