Monasteries Construction Projects Robbed...

We are two Orthodox Christian monasteries:

St Macarius the Great Orthodox Sisterhood - a monastery for nuns (women)

St John the Baptist Orthodox Brotherhood - a monastery for monks (men)

These two organizations co-own a property in Casa Grande, Arizona.

Last year the sisters of St Macarius Monastery and the brothers of St John Monastery hired a contractor to construct a building for each monastery. Construction began and was progressing well; however, suddenly our contractor had severe health issues and remained unconscious in the hospital for three weeks and then died on February 2. During his illness and after his death, the contractor’s wife and son did not answer most of our questions or requests. Finally, they met with us on March 1 and told us the contractor’s company had no money in the bank and they presented to us unpaid invoices from subcontractors and suppliers. This was exceedingly shocking for us because we had already paid the contractor for most of those bills. Also, we had already paid him large sums of money for upcoming work. They apologized and said that they have no idea what happened to the money. They indicated that the contractor was probably using our money to pay for debts on other projects. The situation clearly involves lying and cheating which makes it difficult to know the truth. Another issue is that the structures already built were not left at a safe stopping point and have already suffered damage from the weather. In total, the two monasteries have lost over half a million dollars from the theft and subsequent damage to the buildings. We are in contact with lawyers and other professionals, but they have already indicated that we will not be able to get back all that was lost.

We are hoping to raise at least $500,000 which is hopefully just enough to get us out of the current problem.

All donations will go to our sister organization Shine International, then Shine International will distribute the funds to the two monasteries. Shine International supports the ministry of the monasteries and raises funds for construction.

Nuns building:

Monks building:

Thank you, the Lord bless you.