Sir Knight Hikmat Dandan
Christian Refugee Relief Director
Holy Land and Persecuted Christians
Ontario State Council / Knights of Columbus

To our very dear Ontario State Director, Sir Knight Hikmat Dandan, and all the sponsors, Councils, the Knights of Columbus members and their Ladies
We, at The Melkite Catholic Patriarchate School, would like to thank you for your generous donations that has helped our Christian students greatly over the years. Your donations have allowed our Christian students to keep getting the best education possible in a Christian school in the Holy Land. It has also helped in reducing the financial burdens on their families by covering part of their tuition fees. So far 24 students have been sponsored until graduation and all are pursuing higher education.

We really appreciate the C$ 30,000, we got from you by the end of the scholastic year 2019-2020, and the recent C$ 15,000 which helped us a lot during the very bad financial situation.

During these hard times of the Covid-19 pandemic, our school’s financial hardships have increased. This is due to the lack of donors and the very difficult situations that most of the parents in the area are living in. Especially that the economy of our city relies mainly tourism, which has been shut down completely since March 2020. Not to mention the increase of Covid-19 cases among the families of our students, which has led to their parents being stopped from work. Accordingly, our school offers both face-to-face education and online education for our students. This means that we have to double the efforts in order to provide an excellent and efficient education to the students, and to be able to monitor it.

Therefore, in this year of fear and difficulties, we still aim to give the best and the most efficient education possible. Nevertheless, in order to achieve this, there are several things we have to cover. Our students are in desperate need for help in covering their tuition fees. In addition, in order to give face-to-face education, we had to decrease the number of students in each classroom. To do so, we had to divide each grade into two or three sections. We also had to get rid of our 2-student desks in order to provide social distancing in school.

Not to mention that most of our chairs are old and uncomfortable. Therefore, now we have a real issue with desks and chairs in school. In addition, we have a shortage of sanitizing materials. Therefore, it would be of great aid if you can help us provide enough desks, and enough cleaning and sanitizing materials.

Thank you again for all the Knights of Columbus for your cooperation and generosity.

School Principal
Mrs. Sawsan Istephan

To sponsor the education of a needy Christian student in the Holy Land which will strengthen the Christian presence (now less than 2%), and to earn credits towards your Columbian or Star Award, visit the website: www.jerusalemstudents.org or email: [email protected] or call SK Hikmat Michel Dandan 416-893 8060