You reached around the world with Christ’s love in 2021. Thank you. Here are just a few examples of what you’ve made possible this year: 

• IOCC Foundation funding provided a greenhouse, seedlings, fertilizers, and technical assistance and expertise, as well as embroidery and knitting material for occupational therapy, for more than 180 residents of a care home for girls and young women with disabilities in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
• An ongoing partnership with the World Health Organization reached hundreds in Georgia with COVID-19 prevention training, including essential workers and leaders of various faith communities.
• Equipment and training to 8 agricultural associations in Greece helped 164 farming families, while similar support for 20 microbusinesses helped over 85 families improve their incomes and quality of life.
• In Gaza, 270 young adults completed vocational training at three community centers, preparing them for in-demand careers and improving their chances of earning sustainable incomes.
• In Syria, IOCC provided psychosocial support to more than 17,375 people in need and their families to improve emotional well-being, equip them with positive coping strategies to protect and care for themselves and their families, and to enhance their resilience amid crisis.
• In Montenegro, IOCC support is expanding a Church agricultural facility that in turn provides produce and income for an Orthodox Church humanitarian kitchen that serves over 450 cooked meals per day to people in great need.
• More than 23,800 families of children enrolled in public schools throughout Lebanon received family food rations through school-feeding programs amid the economic crisis and the pandemic.
• Quilts, school kits, and hygiene kits reached over 9,000 people in Serbia, including migrants and refugees from the Middle East and COVID-19 patients.
• IOCC’s microcredit program in Bosnia and Herzegovina disbursed over 880 loans worth more than $1.3 million, creating nearly 100 new jobs and allowing over 190 people to attend higher education.
• Improved water infrastructure in rural Ethiopia now directly serves 1,200 people (nearly half of them under age 18) with reliable access to safe water, helping them protect their health and better care for more than 1,500 domestic animals, an important source of income.
• IOCC provided access to continued formal education for more than 3,250 school-age children in Syria, including Iraqi refugees and children with disabilities.
• In Kosovo, continued work with the Church has expanded agricultural productivity at the Church farm estate, most recently through a new engineering facility for weighing out animal feed and live livestock.
• Across Lebanon, over 196,500 caregivers of children learned about infant and child nutrition and routine immunization, while over 33,200 pregnant and nursing women received awareness and support related to infant and young-child feeding and COVID-19.
• Tailored disability-related programming (health, education, and livelihoods) reached over 8,800 people in Jordan through screenings, treatment, providing hearing aids and glasses, supporting surgery or specialized medical treatment, speech therapy, special education, employability training, and more.
• In Jordan, IOCC provided cash assistance to over 2,200 people, including rent assistance for more than 1,880.
• Long-term recovery efforts in the US included repairing 9 homes damaged in Hurricane Irma, with 13 volunteers putting in over 1,000 hours of work.
• After the Beirut explosion, IOCC reached more than 153,000 people with emergency and longer-term aid. IOCC supported the rehabilitation of St. George University Hospital and repaired more than 545 homes and apartments, more than 125 small businesses, two hospitals, seven primary health centers, five schools, one Sunday School, and its educational facilities.
• In Armenia, people in need, including families displaced by conflict, received 20,000 hygiene kits, 1,500 school kits, and 820 blankets.
• More than 80 high-school students in Bulgaria attended workshops addressing issues such as low self-esteem, negative emotions, substance abuse and addiction, and eating disorders, equipping them to shape brighter futures.
• In Ethiopia, over 13,350 people with podoconiosis and lymphatic filariasis received treatment, and over 53,000 people were trained in podo awareness and prevention.
• In Greece, 350 families with young children and limited income received prepaid grocery cards to purchase fresh food each month. Over 1,000 families received monthly dry-food parcels, and an IOCC-supported soup kitchen served about 1,300 weekly meals to people experiencing homelessness in Athens’ city center.
• Over 4,000 preschool-age children in 12 Gaza kindergartens and their communities received health and nutrition screening, referral, and treatment, while more than 3,600 parents attended 230+ sessions on health, nutrition, and hygiene.
• In Romania, 15 Church foster care homes and 15 families in need received new cooking stoves to improve their quality of life.
• US emergency response—muck outs, debris removal, and in-kind distribution—took place in Louisiana, Tennessee, and Texas, while 16 Frontliners provided emotional and spiritual care through 60 Care Calls to parish priests throughout Texas following severe winter storms.

Everything listed here is just the beginning of our efforts to help others improve their lives. And today, you can help this work continue around the world. To celebrate the end of the year, you can double your impact through 12/31, with all gifts now matched, up to $10,000, thanks to the generosity of Frank and Anastasia Catrickes. Thank you for your continued support and we look forward to what’s to come.

DOUBLE MY IMPACT