The Armenian community in Carrollton has grown substantially over the past decade, thanks to the people who have volunteered their time to make the St. Sarkis Armenian Orthodox Church what it is today.
The church recently won U.S. Building of the Year 2022, which members hope will help bring awareness to the history of the 1915 Armenian Genocide and the current Azerbaijani blockade where 120,000 Armenian people have lived in Nagoro Karabakh with no access to food, medicine, or supplies for over two months.
“I have a family,” said Lusine Meeks, a member of the St. Sarkis Church. “I talked to my family in Armenia this morning and it's amazing how they keep up with the spirit and they smile and chit chat and they plan for the future when they haven't seen a single medical or food truck come their way in 60 plus days.”
The Armenian community in Carrollton has been working to raise awareness on the issue locally and Meeks has even been in contact with the ambassador of Armenia in Washington D.C. to see what they can do to help.
Several members of the Armenian community were staying up late waiting for the news to drop that the St. Sarkis Church had won U.S. Building of the Year 2022 in the hopes to bring awareness to the humanitarian crisis in Armenia.
“We had an inkling that this would happen, but we couldn't post it on our social media or discuss it in group chats because you know, it's still in the works and then finally they published and then the 20 of us who actually stayed up, started posting like crazy,” Meeks said. “It's a big deal. It's a big deal simply because it's in Dallas and having a building of that magnitude that was recognized all over the U.S. is a big deal and it’s Armenian.”
The St. Sarkis Orthodox Armenian Church was consecrated on April 23, 2022 and held its first Sunday service one day later, on April 24, which is the traditional day to commemorate the 1.5 million victims of the 1915 Armenian Genocide.
The U.S. Building of the Year 2022 poll was open during the month of January and St. Sarkis Armenian Church won by a 64% margin of the roughly 8,500 votes cast.
For more information on the St. Sarkis Armenian Orthodox Church, visit https://www.stsarkis.org/.
https://starlocalmedia.com/carrolltonleader/armenian-community-in-carrollton-raises-awareness-of-the-humanitarian-crisis-back-home-through-st-sarkis/article_c1769abe-ac8c-11ed-a6d2-2baa6fdd0ed2.html