My friends – I hope all of you and your families are well.

I hope all of you can join me in making our 25^th DLS 1985 class anniversary and the DLS college 60^th anniversary a very special event. Mr. Gabi Ghazzawi, the school principle, needs our help per below and we should help him and the school at our 25^th anniversary. Please read Gabi’s thoughtful email and you will notice the important initiatives he is undertaking which I believe will position the school to be recognized again as the premier school in Jordan as it was during our days.  This is an opportunity for all of us to act, give back and invest in DLS and its future.   

Let us please start with the following if possible:

1-       Let us please attend the reunion and pay the 20 JD or more as each sees fit. All of us, especially those in Amman or will be in Amman this Sunday should attend and celebrate our 25^th reunion. This will be a wonderful opportunity for all of us to visit and have good times as brothers and friends. I certainly have nothing but high regards for all of you and appreciate each and every one of you and will look forward to seeing you all. I am also adding three of our good old friends to our list, Shukri Matta, Samer Spasioti and George Farajallah. Please call those you know but not on this email list and ask that they join us this Sunday.

2-       Let us please help DLS raise 100,000 JD that can be dedicated to good causes. We can establish this fund in name of our entire 1985 class. Mr. Ghazzawi stressed below his interest in partnering with us and I believe he/his school board will value our commitment. Please don’t look at this as giving money away as we all work hard for our money and we will not give money away or waste it. Please look at this as an investment in the school, its teachers, its students and I believe Mr. Ghazzawi and the school board will reward each investment made.

Many of us are blessed and very successful and we should make this investment. This amount doesn’t need to be raised at once and can be spread over two years or more if that will help. If 50 (or more) of us can commit 1,000 JD each per year over 2 years (total 2,000 JD), that is 100,000 JD my friends. I know that some of us can commit much more and this is the time for giving my brothers. Funding can be in the form of cash or corporate sponsorship (either the company you own or you work for). A committee of our friends in Amman along with Mr. Ghazzawi can be formed to distribute and manage this DLS 1985 100,000 JD Fund making sure it is going to good causes like a teacher reward program, the disabled program, the co-educational program or other programs of mutual interest of DLS 1985 and the school. If you like, some of this money can go to help even some of our DLS 1985 friends that may be facing hard times or terminally Ill. All thoughts and ideas are encouraged on this and anything else you feel we can do to give back to DLS.

With our DLS 1985 25^th anniversary, it will be shame on all of us if we stay silent and don’t act helping our school at this time. I urge all of you to go back to the good memories of 1985 and the fun we all had as true brothers and friends and let us please do good giving back to our school in 2010.

On a personal note, some of you may know that my cousin, David Nino, passed away from a tragic accident this past May in Los Angeles. He was a classmate of some of us in elementary school before immigrating to LA. He left behind 3 young kids. He was our age – 43. Life is short my brothers and friends; let us all do good including for our school at our 25^th anniversary.

Gabi – I will help you establish and fund the teacher reward program. I also like what you are doing incorporating technologies such as interactive boards in each classroom and will help you connect with Texas schools and discuss possibilities. It will be a pleasure to host you in Dallas next time you are there (or in Denton). I will see you in Amman this Sunday but need your help making this event a special one for the 1985 class as it is our 25^th anniversary. Please reserve a block of tickets and tables/seats dedicated to our class and share (or ask one of those you are working with share) with all of us time/location and details for this Sunday’s reunion. We appreciate your work and wish you a successful event.

Again, my brothers and friends, let us all attend this Sunday, ask other classmates to attend and let us please raise 100,000 JD in the name of the DLS 1985 class. Let us do good for the sake of good old times and for the sake of a future full of hope and promise. God bless.

Ghassan Nino