The Birthday Fund began in March 2014 when Stephanie LeGrand’s daughter, Fiona, was dismayed to learn that not all children get to celebrate their birthday. Fiona suggested giving her birthday gifts to kids who don’t get any – an idea that led to the creation of the SOAR Birthday Fund. The Birthday Fund is a program whereby parents request donations to SOAR in lieu of gifts for their children’s birthdays. The funds are used to host monthly birthday parties for the children at Nakashian Children’s Support Center (House of Hope-Mer Hooys) and the residents at Warm Hearth. Nakashian Children’s Support Center and Warm Hearth will coordinate the monthly birthday celebrations, with each resident receiving gifts of their choice.
If you would like more information about an “in lieu of gifts”
donation to SOAR, please contact:
George Yacoubian at gyacoubian@soar-us.org
If you are attending a party and would like to donate, we offer two methods by which you can make a donation:
by check and online.
Please make your check out to the Society for Orphaned Armenian Relief,
and either give it directly to your party host or mail it to the following address:
Society for Orphaned Armenian Relief
ATTN: Birthday Fund
150 N. Radnor Chester Rd. Suite F200
Radnor, PA 19087 USA
Please include your party host’s name in the memo.
GO HERE to make an online donation.
All donations made to SOAR are tax deductible.
A special thank you to Veronica who, after she visited Nork during the adoption of her brother Luke, she saw the older children who weren’t adopted. She clearly understood that those children didn’t have families let alone birthday parties! She became very committed to doing something for those kids still there and has proudly asked her friends and family to donate to the SOAR Birthday Fund in lieu of gifts for her. She has done this every year now!
Thank you to all those who have generously decided that, instead of receiving gifts for yourselves, you would request donations to Naghasyan Children’s Support Center (formerly Mer Hooys), the SOAR Transitional Centers (Gyumri and Yerevan), and Warm Hearth (3rd village, Arinj, and JAG, Armenia) so that their residents can enjoy year-round birthday celebrations.