PRESS RELEASE
July 2008

The Hope Fund is proud to announce that seven students from the Palestinian refugees camps—all sponsored by the Hope Fund--have been accepted for admission on full four-year scholarships by partnering generous colleges:

1. Samer Anabtawi will be going to Illinois College in Jacksonville, ILL. Samer is from Jenin, the West Bank. Samer spent his junior year in a US high school living with an American family under the YES Program.

2. Rayyan Yassin will be going to Illionois College in Jacksonville, ILL. Rayyan graduated from the UNERWA Galilee high school.

3. Maisaa Rantisi will be going to Bridgewater College in Bridgewater, VA. Maisaa is 18 years old from Ramallah. Maisaa spent her junior year of high school in a US high school living with an American family under the YES Program.

4. Akram Sublaban will be going to Roanoke College in Roanoke, VA. Akram is 18 years old from Jerusalam. He attended British and French schools in Jerusalam. He is fluent in french and has reasonable command in English.

5. Bashar Zarzour will be going to Manhattenville College in New York City. Bashar is 18 years old from Ramallah, West Bank.

6. Mariam Ashour is attending summer school in Columbia College for Women in Columbia S.C. Mariam is from Gaza and she will enroll in the regular Fall Semester in Columbia College in September.

7. Yahia Abu Hashem is attending summer school in Roanoke College in Roanoke, VA. Yahia is from Gaza and he will enroll in the regular Fall Semester in Roanoke College in September.

HOPE FUND SCHOLARS ALREADY IN PLACE

In addition to the three young ladies who will be arriving in the fall of 2006, the Hope Fund has five other students already in place:

1. Marwa Abd al-Latif from Lebanon in her Senior year at Randolph Macon Woman’s College (arrived Jan. 2005). Major: Biology and Mathematics

2. Malek al Haj from Jordan, in his Junior year at Washington and Lee University. (arrived Sept. 2005). Major: engineering

3. Abed al-Raheem from Damascus, Syria in his Junior year at Bridgewater College. (arrived Jan. 2006). Major: Arts

4. Manal Zaher from Wavel refugee camp, Lebanon in her sophomore year at Bryn Mwar College. (arrived Sept. 2006). Majors: Biology and Mathematics

5. Hiba Assi from Wavel refugee camp, Lebanon in her sophomore year at Washington and Lee (W&L) University. (arrived Sept. 2006). Major: Physics.

6. Shireen Abu Khairan from Arroub refugee camp, West Bank in her sophomore year at Bridgewater College. (arrived Sept. 2006). Major: Political Sciences.

HOPE FUND GRADUATES
Currently there are four graduates from the Hope Fund.

1. Khaled al-Nemr from Burj al-Barajneh camp in Beirut, Lebanon. Khaled enrolled at Roanoke College in August 2001 and graduated CUM LOUDE in May 2005. Khaled graduated with Physics and Mathematics degrees. Currently, Khaled in enrolled in the engineering graduate program at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

2. Hanan Dahche from the refugee camp at Ain al-Huleh in Lebanon. Hanan enrolled at Roanoke College in August 2001 and graduated CUM LOUDE in May 2005. Hanan graduated with a BioChemistry degree. Currently, Hanan is finishing her Phd at Virigina Tech BioChemistry department.

3. Mohammad Haroun from Rafah in the Gaza Strip. Mohammad enrolled at Bridgewater College in January 2004 and graduated in August 2008. Mohammad graduated with a physics degree.

4. Mohamad El Charfa from Beirut, Lebanon. Mohamad enrolled at Roanoke College in January 2005 and graduated in August CUM LOUDE 2008 with Computer Sciences and Mathematics degrees.

SCHOLARSHIP RAISED

The Hope Fund was established in 2001. During the short period of five years, we have raised more than $1,400,000.00 Dollars in scholarships-- including over $600,000 in 2006 alone-- from generous partnering colleges. We expect more colleges to join us in this humanitarian adventure in 2007 and beyond.

OUR MOTTO

We build lives one student at a time, one step at a time with the vision of building a whole society and a more peaceful world.

752 Forge Road
Lexington, Virginia 24450 USA
Tel: (540)261-7232
Fax: (540) 261-8928
Email: fiq@ntelos.net