Pierre Issa (Jamhour ’75), cofounder of Arcenciel, served as guest speaker for Jamhour Alumni U.S. 14th annual charity dinner. Arcenciel is an active player in finding sustainable solutions for a variety of issues in Lebanon, including the garbage crisis, medical waste management, ecotourism and the integration of persons with disabilities. Issa inspired the 200 attendees, who enjoyed hearing about his aspirations and achievements.
The Jamhour Alumni U.S. dinner, held at the Current at Chelsea Piers in New York City in October, is a tradition for Notre Dame de Jamhour School alumni and friends residing in New York City. It brings together some successful members of the Lebanese diaspora in the United States — leaders in a variety of fields, including medicine, technology, research, business, finance and academia. JAUS has attracted guest speakers from across the spectrum of the Lebanese diaspora, as well as Lebanese who have distinguished themselves in their fields and made a difference in society, like Issa.
“An educated nation never dies.”
The nonprofit alumni organization was founded in 2003 by a group made up of mostly Jamhour alumni with the purpose of helping education in Lebanon. The founding members were the Chairman of the Board Dr. Gabriel Sara, Ronald Kfoury, Bud Zehil, Dr. Christian Rizk, Dr. Nagi Bustros and Nada Sara. Salim Daccache, who was rector at the time, established a scholarship program that provided assistance to students in need. Since its inception, the charity has raised more than $2 million and helped sponsor about 1,000 students across Lebanon in Jamhour’s different branches.
Today’s rector of Notre Dame de Jamhour School, Charbel Batour; association president Bassel Kikano; vice president Carine Assouad; and treasurer, Cynthia Hajal, discussed the main mission of the association, evaluated past projects and shared some future projects.
All the speeches focused on one and only one idea, that investment in the education of Lebanon’s youth is crucial to our HOMEland. The hope is that it would provide young people in Lebanon with the knowledge, attitudes and skills they need to transform the country, that this investment will lead to prosperity, peace and success.
“We fundamentally believe that education is key to fighting ignorance and poverty, as well as extremism. It is our contribution to help keep Lebanon a beacon of hope in an otherwise troubled part of the world,” said Bassel Kikano, JAUS president and current member of the board. “This is reflected as well in our motto: ‘An educated nation never dies.’”
For more info: http://jamhourus.com
To support the mission of Jamour Alumni U.S., please visit http:// jamhourus.com/donate/. In addition, when purchasing on Amazon, you can select Jamour U.S. as your charity at smile.amazon.com for .5% of your purchase to be donated, at no cost to you.
