On the first day of December in Aleppo, Syria, Maurice Abdalla and his two sons walk carefully among the ruins of their once thriving neighborhood. They are on their way to a water well near the St. Francis friary of the Holy Land. With the war all around them, the utilities that we take for granted have been shut down or may be available intermittently. Imagine…no running water, electricity or heat. Through generous donations to the Franciscan Missions, a well and water reclamation project initiated by the local Franciscan mission has sustained the community in this time of great need.

Abdalla’s family and many others collect and store water in portable containers given to them by the missionaries. The Franciscan Missions also supplied Abdalla’s building with a rainwater collection tank. His gratitude to our donors, so far away, for their generosity and prayers makes this humanitarian project and many others like it worth the extraordinary effort. God bless those who give generously to our mission and may the Lord be with you always.

“You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”

– Mahatma Gandhi