Activities Report of the BLESS Agape Program

The peace, love and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ be with us all.

     I write to you this letter, my beloved, as the Church embarks on the journey of the Great Lent. The days of the Great Lent are the most profound of the year; it is the time when we retreat with the Creator for many hours, pour forth our genuine feelings in humility, control our desires and wants, and elevate our souls to heaven.

     During this holy time of Lent, our hearts are also filled with mercy towards those in need, as we praise with the Church saying:

"Blessed are those who have mercy on the helpless, for they will receive mercy,

And Christ will grant them mercy on judgment day, and fill them with His Holy Spirit."

     Through your love and commitment, the service to the Brethren of the Lord has increased this past year. We were able to provide aid to more people, as well as begin two new services. The first service, which started in October 2000, helps "individuals who have no one to remember them", particularly the elderly and the sick who are unable to go to their local church and ask for help. The BLESS field servants go and seek them and provide various types of assistance including medical care, hygiene education, housing restoration and food distribution. This service is taking place in certain slum and remote areas of greater Cairo.

     The second service, which was started in the summer of 2000, involved making fifty-three roofs for the homes of needy families in poverty-stricken villages. These villages are El-Radeesia (Aswan), El-Aiasha (Koos), El-Rahmania (Dishna), El-Marashda (Nag Hammadi) and Dair El-Naghameesh (Balyana). There are many destitute families that are in dire need of shelter from the harsh elements of nature, so we will continue to work in these villages, as well as expand to other villages. We pray that the Lord help us expand the support to these two new services.

     You may also have noticed that BLESS sends support to our Coptic brothers and sisters in Sudan. This aid goes to H.G. Bishop Sarabamoun (Bishop of Om-Dermaan & Atbara, as well as papal appointee for Khartoum), who distributes the funds on medical assistance, students and marriage expenses assistance.

     My beloved brethren, I wish to thank you for your great generosity and merciful hearts. May our Lord compensate you with the incorruptible instead of the corruptible, the heavenly instead of the earthly and the eternal instead of the temporal.