Los Gatos, CA – The Armenian International Women’s Association-Bay Area Affiliate (AIWA-SF) is exceptionally touched by the proactive actions taken by a 2nd grander, Nicole, who launched a fundraiser through her school after her second trip to Armenia. Nicole will use the funds raised to purchase school supplies and computers for orphanages and disadvantaged schools in Armenia.
She writes:
My name is Nicole and I am in 2nd grade.
I have been to Armenia two times with my family and my Grandma who I call “MetzMama”. Each time I go I spend time at orphanages. The first time I went to an orphanage, I spent the entire day with 150 kids who stay there. I had so much fun playing with them. I noticed that they don’t have the same things we have. At first, I thought the kids were there for school, but no one came to pick them up. Then I learned that they don’t have homes and they stay at the orphanage because they don’t know their parents. This made me very sad.
I spent a lot of time at the orphanage and did everything the kids did. During class, I was surprised to see how little they had. For example, they don’t each have their own desk with a box of supplies. And the teachers didn’t have boxes of supplies with things like glitter and glue. The crayons and pencils were really short because they used them so much. Their classrooms are very simple. They are not like the fancy classrooms we have. They didn’t have any nice computers or cool learning tools like we do. Many of the teachers are volunteers.
During lunch, everyone got one bowl of soup. There were no options. After lunch, my family and I passed out 150 ice cream sandwiches. When the leader of the orphanage announced this, the kids got so excited! I was surprised to see how excited my friends were and what a rare and special treat ice cream was for them.
At the orphanage, I made a lot of friends and I want to help make their classrooms better. I went to Armenia because my Mom is involved in a non-profit named AIWA-SF. I would like to ask for help as I raise money for my orphanage friends. With the money, I want to help get them computers and supplies for their classroom so they can learn.
I hope you will help me.
Love,
Nicole
Details: AIWA-SF is the Bay Area Affiliate of the Armenian International Women’s Association (EIN #: 04-3113182). Please make checks to AIWA-SF and specify Nicole’s project in the memo. You can also make a donation online by visiting http://www.aiwasanfrancisco.com/. Donations are tax deductible. Please mail checks to: AIWA-SF 15559 Union Ave #227 Los Gatos, CA 95032.
AIWA San Francisco 
So proud of you Nicole!!!
Thank you!