NEW YORK: February 19, 2018
Appeal by Metropolitan Hilarion of Eastern America and New York to Parish Rectors, Directors and Teachers of Parish and Sunday Schools

Beloved in the Lord Parish Rectors, Directors and Teachers of Parish and Sunday schools

With our blessing and in the framework of the initiated program “School Piggy Bank”, The Prince Vladimir Youth Association, together with the Synodal Youth Department, is organizing financial assistance to the St. Elizabeth special needs orphanage in Minsk, Belorussia. Most of the children never had a home and do not know parental warmth. Many of them have complex diagnosis but are given loving attention by the sisters of the St. Elizabeth convent.

During Great Lent, this good deed will take the form of a program known as the “School Piggy Bank”. We appeal to to help support these poor orphans. Every penny donated by your children will mean a great deal. Collected funds will be of great us and support to these parentless children. They will especially happy to know that children their age provided the needed assistance.

Christian love is expressed in actions and thanks to your efforts last year we were able to build a needed playground for orphans outside of St. Petersburg Russia. (www.youthpv.org). We hope that this Great Lent your children will express their love for God and their neighbor by helping the needy children of Minsk, which will also be a stimulus to Christian growth..

Donations should be collected up until Palm Sunday, inclusively. Checks should be written out to The Prince Vladimir Youth Association and sent c/o Archpriest Andrei Sommer 75E 93rd st, NY, NY 10128 no later than April 20, 2018.

All parish schools will be provided with a report on how their collected donations were used.

+Hilarion
Metropolitan of Eastern America and New York
First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia