'Lent Madness' Raises Thousands for Horizons Program

The Episcopal Church has a tradition of donating money saved during Lent (the 40 days before Easter) to a cause that promotes the building of God’s kingdom. Timothy Seamans, Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School (HIES) Lower School Chaplain, added a twist to that tradition by having first through fifth-grade homerooms compete to see who could raise the most money in a new annual event called Lent Madness.

This year, the students raised a whopping $6,800! The recipient will be the Horizons Program for economically disadvantaged children, a community-centered, education program that operates outside the traditional school year. Horizons’ long-term program offers students deep engagement and opportunities to help put them on a path to success, both in school and in life.

“Lent Madness certainly sparked a spirit of generosity with the students,” said Lower School Principal Terri Potter. “They were thrilled to help the Horizons students have books and other resources they may need.”

Two out of every three children in Georgia cannot read proficiently by the end of third grade, according to state statistics, and a contributing factors is the lack of opportunities in summer, which causes students to fall behind. Horizons mitigates this “summer slide” by providing economically disadvantaged public school students with a six-week academic enrichment program housed on HIES’ Lower School campus.

“When I spoke to the Lower School students, I asked three third-graders to come up with me and told them that if they were representing all the third-graders in the state of Georgia right now, two of them wouldn’t be able to read proficiently,” said Holy Innocents’ Horizons Program Director Christine Brodnan, who kicked off Lent Madness by speaking to students about the issue of education inequality in Georgia. “I asked them why they thought third grade was so important and explained that after third grade you have to be able to read to learn and the teachers aren’t able to catch students up and go back to the basics.”

A major portion of the Lent Madness dollars will be used to purchase guided readers for Horizons students. As one Horizons teacher commented, “This is very exciting, and the kids are really going to enjoy the books. It will truly help with their reading fluency and comprehension!”

To learn more about Horizons at HIES, visit http://www.horizonsnational.org/atlanta