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Give Now to Our #GivingTuesday Campaign
This year, St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary (SVOTS) is once again participating in #GivingTuesday, set for November 27. And this year, SVOTS will tithe 10% of the funds raised on #GivingTuesday to our select non-profit partner for 2018: The Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church Kerala Flood Relief Project.
The seminary partners with a non-profit each year for #GivingTuesday. Last year, SVOTS teamed up with the Pro Vita Association for the Born and Unborn in Romania and donated $13,000 to the organization. This year’s partnership with the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church project was formed out of pressing needs in that church’s ancient homeland in the Indian state of Kerala—which this summer suffered the most devastating floods the region has seen in a century.
“It is a matter of greater consolation to know that our sister Churches are concerned with the situations we face,” said His Holiness Baselius Marthoma Paulos II, the Supreme Head of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church of India. “It gives us good motivation that we are not alone in fighting the perils and calamities with which our people are affected.”
The worst flooding and landslides in Kerala—the land where St. Thomas the Apostle is traditionally believed to have evangelized starting in A.D. 52—occurred in August. As a result of the disaster, more than four hundred people were killed, 750-800 thousand people were displaced and put in relief camps, and more than 220 thousand people were left homeless.
After the flood waters eventually receded, massive rebuilding efforts began. The Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, among other organizations, has launched a flood relief project.
“Our Church has already charted and launched several rehabilitation programs. We are joining with the common communities in organizing programs of rehabilitation in several regions of Kerala which were critically affected,” explained His Holiness.
Those programs include reconstructing homes for one thousand families, providing food, clothing, medical help, and trauma and rehabilitation services, participating in clean-up efforts, and offering financial aid to people who have lost livestock.
To support SVOTS’ #GivingTuesday campaign with a gift of any size:
1. Give online between 12 a.m. and 11:59 p.m. EST on November 27, 2018
2. Give over the phone – we’ll be here at 914-961-8313 x 317 between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m. EST (send an email to GivingTuesday@svots.edu after 10 p.m. EST)
3. Mail us your check dated November 27, 2017, to 575 Scarsdale Rd, Yonkers, NY, 10707 (it would help us if you write “#GivingTuesday” on the memo!)
4. Give now online, and your contribution will be counted with what is raised on GivingTuesday
Funds raised on #GivingTuesday also support seminarians, programs, and operations of St. Vladimir’s Seminary.
