The annual Sunday School Lenten Drive of the Diocese of the Armenian Church of America netted more than $15,000 in 2009, to be shared equally with FAR’s Project Smile and UNICEF’s anti-malaria bed net campaign. Students put their heart and soul into raising these precious funds, participating in sports-a-thons, Bible verse-a-thons, Easter basket sales, spaghetti dinners, and a host of other personal and community efforts that gave Lenten almsgiving a decidedly 21st-century spin. Especially popular this year were creative posters and custom-designed collection canister
Sunday School funds helped launch the Fund for Armenian Relief’s Project Smile two years ago, and this year’s second contribution promises to give an additional boost to the surgical program for children with cleft palates. UNICEF’s drive to provide families worldwide with life-saving anti-malarial bed nets likewise proved an inspiring cause to Sunday School staffs, students, and families.