Every month we give 25-30 needy families food to the beneficiaries of the Shepherd Society, especially the families with no breadwinner and widows/widowers. Due to hard times, since the beginning of 2024 until now we distributed over 900 food packages besides the monthly distribution. In addition, the food kitchen provides 35 hot meals three times a week to the elderly and sick. We pray to multiply the meals to reach 70. Over 170,000 USD were spent on meals and food packages for the Christian minority in Gaza and its surroundings. The need for food and humanitarian aid is still high.

In times of war, many people lost their jobs, so we started a project called “Job Creation”. Many who work in the tourism field or work in Jerusalem lost their jobs. We were able to engage around 170 individuals from Bethlehem churches, organizations, and small communities. We started this project a year ago and are hoping to continue to give hope to those who lost their jobs.  It is also important to provide with dignity rather than just give for Charity. We have 16 paid volunteers in Gaza where they are helping with education and humanitarian aid. We aim to hire another 10 for the same purpose.

For many years we have had a program where any family from the world can sponsor a needy family in Bethlehem and donate $50 monthly to them. In this year, 76 poor families were sponsored. We aim to reach 200 families in the year 2025.

Giving grants to the people who have the ability and the will to run their own projects is one of the main programs to let the people rely on their own income and develop the community. This year we successfully gave a woman to run her own project as a cook in her house and gave her the opportunity to prepare the meals for our “3 days per week meals” project. We aim to provide 10 similar projects in 2025.