One-day telethon raises funds to renovate Jerusalem homes, schools

AMMAN — The Jordan Engineers Association (JEA) on Monday held its annual fundraising campaign with the aim of collecting money to renovate old houses and schools in Jerusalem, a JEA official said. 

Bader Naser, the campaign’s supervisor, noted that the telethon, held in cooperation with Hayat FM, is an annual activity and was not launched only because of Israeli violations at Al Aqsa Mosque. 

“This is the fifth year that we have held such an event... we have managed to raise JD1.8 million that enabled us to cover 39 projects, which included the rehabilitation of 68 buildings and two schools,” he told The Jordan Times over the phone.

“A total of 326 Palestinians have benefited from these projects,” Naser added. 

The renovation of the schools has had a positive impact on their 150 students as well, he said.

Naser explained that the fundraising aims at preserving the Arab and Islamic identity of Jerusalem and further supporting the steadfastness of Arab Jerusalemites.

By midday, the organisers had raised JD300,000.

“We hope that that the figure will reach JD1 million,” Naser said. 

He added that the telethon, which started at 7am and was scheduled to conclude by midnight, was receiving promising support from Jordanians who wanted to show solidarity with Palestinians. 

“Palestinians whose houses were renovated as part of the campaign also expressed their gratitude to Jordanians.”