'My Home, Armenia': Armenia Fund Launches 11th International Telethon Campaign Teleth

[Pazooki]

Re: 'My Home, Armenia': Armenia Fund Launches 11th International Telethon Campaign Te

There was talk that Kim Kardashian was dating Vanes Martirosyan (Armenian boxer) before. I hope it was true, it will be the only hope for her and her kids remaining Armenian.

Vanesa makoor tegaya. He wont date a xxxx. He's to much of gentlement to date a xxxx like Kim.

[freakyfreaky]

Re: 'My Home, Armenia': Armenia Fund Launches 11th International Telethon Campaign Te

Journalist refuses to get caught up in the ignorant exuberance and questions the pan-Armenian nature of Armenia Fund if the majority of the donations are coming from Armenian millionaires in Armenia and Russia. http://www.lragir.am/src/index.php?lang=eng#top

ARMENIA FUND HAS TURNED INTO A PRESIDENTOMETER

Armenia All-Armenian Fund held its annual telethon during which, according to the official news release, 35 million dollars was raised. It was twice as much as the sum raised in the previous telethons, because the highest sum raised previously had been about 15 million dollars. All the nation can do is to celebrate and take pride in such a growth, especially considering the global economic crisis. If there were not for the crisis, perhaps at least one hundred million dollars would be raised. On the other hand, probably the crisis is the reason why so much money was raised. The point is that perhaps the famous formula has worked which the Armenian government has been circulating recently. It is the formula of the capital which is bothered by the global crisis and is looking for a calm place. Apparently, the wealthy of other nationalities participated in the pan-Armenian telethon as well, who preferred sending their money into Armenia Fund, knowing that it will go to stable Armenia, far from crisis and trouble.

This hypothesis may seem to many to be an unserious approach to the serious pan-Armenian event. However, the problem is that this serious pan-Armenian event is made unserious by those who are organizing it. Many may think that the content of the TV program is meant which is unchanged for many years. Some details change, of course, such as the song and the video. For instance, one year the video is shot in front of North Avenue, the next year in front of the Erebuni Hotel, and the next will probably be shot in front of a newly-built elite apartment building, but the content of the telethon remains the same, with the same faces, the same emotional speeches, the same “Armenian design”, which allows supposing that every year a lot of money is wasted on that program and on air tickets and several weeks of accommodation for the groups of officials, actors, hosts, showmen, since it is enough to show the video of the previous years. For instance, the video of the telethon could be shown for at least three years, and the money that would be saved could be donated for a program that the foundation carries out.

Although I spoke for an entire paragraph, nevertheless the unserious approach of the organizers does not concern the content of the TV program. The problem is the approach towards the telethon as a phenomenon. The impression is that we are competing with ourselves to prove something. The telethons, the pan-Armenian donations have become something like a math quiz where only figures are important. It is important who donated the most, who gives little although could have donated more, what percentage of one’s possessions one gives, and how much was raised in the end to announce another record. And the record should be presented as another merit of the government. For instance, under one president the Armenians raised this much, it means that president is the best. In other words, Armenia Fund has turned into an instrument for measuring the reputation of the president with money, a peculiar presidentometer. More exactly, they have turned it such, thinking that it affects the society. However, the real effect is that the society, the Armenian society, is gradually becoming disappointed with the pan-Armenian donations. Evidence to this is the sums donated by ordinary donators, which is shrinking year by year, and records are set through donations by millionaires. The 2008 telethon is a classic example. 35 million dollars was raised. In fact, however, only 5 million is a pan-Armenian donation in the direct sense of the word, and the other 30 million had been pledged by the Armenian millionaires at a dinner with the president of Armenia a few days before.

Certainly, the millionaires are also Armenians but the problem is that if 80 percent of the pan-Armenian donation is raised by a few Armenian millionaires, and only 10-20 percent has real pan-Armenian geography, serious doubts about the pan-Armenian nature of Armenia Fund occur. More exactly, those doubts occur among the Armenians worldwide, or may already have occurred, since the volume of donations is “sustained” by millionaires only. Why is it so? This is a question which requires a serious study, a serious analysis of the activities of the foundation, reconsideration of approaches, unbiased summary of results. However, it is possible that nobody cares for this because the millionaires are important, with whom the government may always make arrangements, deals on money in return for something, and take care of propaganda. And the practical aspect will be what it will be.

HAKOB BADALYAN
13:26:25 - 01/12/2008

[freakyfreaky]

Re: 'My Home, Armenia': Armenia Fund Launches 11th International Telethon Campaign Te

The spin continues.

But, the Fund acknowledges it has yet to collect almost half the pledges from last year.

Concedes that telethon accumulated 5 million not 35 million but explains the decline as a victory. The fund is staffed by really good weatherpeople. You know the ones, they can never get it right.

Tell you its sunny outside, yet you are really in a torrential downpour.

This whole story is a microcosm of the oligarchy that plagues Armenians in Armenia. The misinformation that is used to paint a loss a victory for the purpose of unifying Armenians everywhere? Really.

Honestly, using a charitable telethon to unify us. What a ruse?

Let the government collect taxes, customs and tarriffs accordingly and not based on relationships and privilege. If the country cannot support itself, why must the diaspora support a government that is run by corrupt or incompetent or inexperienced leaders without equal representation.

http://www.reporter.am/go/article/2008-12-04-armenia-fund-announces-5-million-in-new-pledges-donations-during-telethon

Armenia Fund announces $5 million in new pledges, donations during telethon
by Silva Sevlian

Published: Thursday December 04, 2008


Diaspora Minister Hranush Hakobyan and Armenia Fund (Western U.S.) Chairwoman Maria Mehranian during the fund's Thanksgiving Day telethon. Arka Photography

Related Articles
Armenia Fund announces $30 million in pledges

Hollywood, Calif. - Having announced pledges of $30 million after a fund raising dinner in Armenia hosted by President Serge Sargsian on November 1, the Armenia Fund announced an additional $5 million in pledges and donations during the annual telethon held on Thanksgiving Day.

The fund had announced $15 million in pledges during the 2007 telethon. The acting executive director said $7.7 million of that money had been received in Yerevan a year later.

This year's 12-hour program was broadcast live from the KCET studios in Hollywood and featured musical performances and appeals made by influential members of the Armenian community.

Greg Boyrazian, director of development for the fund, said the telethon experienced a 20 percent boost in participation.

Key participants included France, Russia, Armenia, and the Western Region of the United States, he said.

"It was the most successful telethon because the public's participation was the highest," said Sarkis Kotjanian, executive director of Armenia Fund (Western U.S.)

The largest pledge, made Nov. 1, was a $15 million contribution from Samvel Karapetian, who is based in Russia. But the organizers of the telethon were focused on involving as large a cross-section as possible of the worldwide Armenian community, with more modest contributions.

"There is nothing more important than what Armenia Fund does," said Mark Geragos, a member of the Armenia Fund International Board of Trustees. "All the organizations belong to it. Everyone has a voice."

Mr. Geragos announced the telethon's progress, working with 100 trained volunteers who were by their telephones processing the donations and pledges.

"Armenia stepped up, the diaspora just stepped up," he said. "It is the most amazing feeling in the world seeing all these kids who were born in America spend there whole day here."

Some of the money will be used in Martuni for hospitals, healthcare centers, schools, and water for drinking and irrigation.

"Think of it as a package. We go into a region, we have our professional assessments done by our experts and they tell us the priority of the region," Mr. Geragos said.

The philosophy of the Armenia Fund is that in one day you can unite the Armenian people around the world, said Hranush Hakobyan, Armenia's diaspora minister.

"As diaspora minister, I feel that it is not the amount of money that is donated but the quantity of people that are participating," she said. "How many people are living and are inspired by the Armenian spirit. I feel that for those people who have Armenian blood in their veins, they need to be attentive and collaborate with the fund and get organized -even with 20 cents, 50 cents, or a dollar."

Members of the senior class at AGBU Manoogian-Demirdjian School presented $35,370.87, which they had raised through a variety of events including a fashion show.

"Small donations add up in the end," said Diana Oganesyan, a senior at the school. "There was a girl from the fourth grade at our school who was saving money over the summer in her piggy bank and she saved $48. Even elementary kids are thinking to donate to Armenia."

The mandate of the organization is to strengthen Armenia and it is evident that Armenia is stronger and able to participate at a high level 11 telethons later with its recent donation of $30 million, said Maria Mehranian, chairperson of the Armenian Fund (Western U.S.)

"After 11 years of telethons and 18 years of the Armenia Fund, we matured enough to truly become this bridge to bring Armenia and the diaspora together," she said. "It's a two way bridge."

"Whoever was in Karabagh 15 years ago, 10 years ago, five years ago, and now can see a great contrast, how we have many new achievements," said Archbishop Pargev Martirosian, Primate of the Artsakh Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

Armenia Fund has changed the area by building new roads, renovating schools, hospitals, pipelines, electricity lines, and building new bridges, he said. "The struggle is not only for land, not only for our life, but for our identity and for our future. It was a struggle for all Armenians. It's not a local issue, it's an Armenian issue."

Vahe Karapetyan of Beverly Hills made the largest donation from Southern California, donating $365,000.

Over the past six years, Mr. Karapetyan has donated about $3 million to Armenia Fund, this year he donated $1,000 for each day of the calendar year - a response to the organization's dollar-a-day campaign.

"I'm not giving to an organization, I'm giving to my motherland and to our brothers and sisters who are living there," Mr. Karapetyan said. "Without our motherland we are nothing as a diaspora. Our roots are important and we should be anchored by our roots."
-------------------------------------

--> Without the diaspora, there is no motherland.

[Federate]

Re: 'My Home, Armenia': Armenia Fund Launches 11th International Telethon Campaign Te

Hayastan All Armenian Fund Completed Construction Of Apaven Village Water Main

YEREVAN, JANUARY 21, ARMENPRESS: The construction of the new water
main in Apaven village, Lori province, has been completed. An official
from the Hayastan All Armenian Fund told Armenpress that the project,
worth around 32 million Armenian drams, was sponsored by the Fund's
Montreal local committee.

Through the 620 m long pipeline and 1200m long inner network drinking
water is already supplied to around 30 households of the community.

"Before launching a new project, we first tackle the most important
problem existing in the community; that is a principle approach we
have adopted," the Fund Acting Executive Director Ara Vardanyan said.

The village of Apaven located 1650 m above sea level had been
experiencing water supply problems for many years now. Water running
from the old and excessively damaged pipeline was no longer fit for
drinking and was a serious problem for the residents.

http://groong.usc.edu/news/msg256172.html

~~~~~~~

Hayastan All Armenian Fund completes lighting project in Syunik region



24.01.2009 12:19

Hayastan All Armenian Fund announces the completion of the lighting systems project in Shvanizor, Alvank and Nrnadzor communities of Syunik region. The project with the total cost of 7 million AMD was implemented through the sponsorship of the Teheran Diocese.

The vital issue of outer lighting at the villages was solved thanks to 20 newly installed lighting columns; from now on the picture of lost villagers drifting among the dark roads has become a memory.

With the financial support of the same benefactors, construction of a new water main was initiated at Nrnadzor village in October 2008.

The 2-phase drinking water supply project’s first phase is completed. The newly built water intake station ensures uninterrupted operation of the 1200 m long new pipeline. The second phase of the project anticipates constructing of a water supply inner network, two reservoirs (with the 50 cubic meter capacity each) and a pump station, which will let the fertile waters supplied to each and every household of the village

“Meghri is considered the southern gate of Armenia, and is of strategic importance for our country. In that sense, the Fund’s decision to implement the project in this particular area was not a random, but rather a political assessment”, says the Fund’s Acting Executive Director Ara Vardanyan.

Agriculture is the main occupation of the local people. To bring this crucial field to decent level of development in the region, the Fund assumes to undertake here further projects, which will serve the needs of Shvanizor, Alvank and Nrnadzor communities by providing them with agricultural machinery.

http://www.armradio.am/news/?part=soc&id=14255

[Federate]

Re: 'My Home, Armenia': Armenia Fund Launches 11th International Telethon Campaign Te

Armenia Fund building a new school in the village of Spitakashen in Artsakh.
--------------------------------
Le Fond Hayastan construit une nouvelle école dans le village de Spitakashen au Nagorno-Karabakh

samedi24 janvier 2009, par Stéphane/armenews

La construction de l’école de Spitakashen est dans sa première étape financé par le Fonds Hayastan et patronné par le comité local de Toronto.

L’école précedente avait été construite en 1935. Avec les années elle s’était fortement dégradé tout en servant aussi aux événements de la communauté.

« Je crois que la nouvelle école ouvrira une nouvelle page dans l’histoire de la communauté et sera un point de départ pour l’amélioration de la vie dans le village » a dit le Directeur exécutif du Fonds Hayastan Ara Vardanyan pendant sa visite du site.

La nouvelle école aura tous les équipements nécessaires dont un hall pour les cérémonies, un bâtiment pour les chaudières et une cour de récréation. Le sous-sol est déjà couvert de béton et les fondations ont été érigées. Le projet d’un montant de 181 millions de drams est prévu pour être achever en août 2009. Conçu pour 130 élèves, l’école sera prête à ouvrir ses portes en septembre 2009.

« Il est très important qu’une communauté de 471 personnes et d’environ 110 familles ait une école appropriée afin que nous puissions élever et instruire nos enfants convenablement » dit Shiraz Hayrapetyan, le directeur de l’école.

http://www.armenews.com/article.php3?id_article=48028

[Anoush]

Re: 'My Home, Armenia': Armenia Fund Launches 11th International Telethon Campaign Te

Monsieur Federate, merci bien pour les excellent nouveau d'Armenie et de l'Artsakh.

[Federate]

Re: 'My Home, Armenia': Armenia Fund Launches 11th International Telethon Campaign Te

Hayastan All Armenian Fund completes projects in Tavush region’s Ditavan village
[ 2009/01/27 | 18:56 ]

Hayastan All Armenian Fund is pleased to announce the completion of gas supply system in Ditavan village, as well as the final phase of refurbishing and furnishing of the village administrative building. All the projects in Ditavan community are sponsored by Argentinean Armenian benefactors Armen and Nadya Ekserciyans.

The 3 km long gas pipeline in Ditavan village has finally become a reality. Currently, final works are conducted to put the gas pipeline into test operation.

At the same time, the Fund is undertaking repair works of the Ditavan administrative building. The completed works include renovation of roofs and floors, as well as tiling and plastering; the heating issue has been solved too. New doors and windows are installed; interior finishing works are carried out in the two-storey building.
Furthermore, the Fund carries out also furnishing of the Ditavan administrative building.

“The gasification of this border village was our first priority. The rest of the projects, initiated in Ditavan since last October, are close to their final stage”, - says the Fund Acting Executive Director Ara Vardanyan.

Ditavan community of 120 families is located 19 km away from the regional center. As the mayor of Ditavan stated, the Fund has significantly contributed to the improvement of the village’s environmental situation. From now on, to solve the problem of heating the villagers will not be forced to make long trips to get firewood.

http://hetq.am/en/marzes/hhk

[Federate]

Re: 'My Home, Armenia': Armenia Fund Launches 11th International Telethon Campaign Te

New Cardiology Center constructed in Syunik



/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Hayastan All Armenian Fund has begun construction of a cardiology center in Armenia’s Syunik Region. The facility, to be built in Akner, a community adjoining the City of Goris, will be affiliated with Yerevan’s Center of Cardiology. The new hospital will be the only one of its kind serving southern Armenia and Artsakh.

The project, with an initial cost estimate of approximately U.S. $820,000, is financed by the fund’s French affiliate; the French-Armenian Doctors’ Association (Association de Santé Franco-Arménienne), based in Marseille; and the department of Bouches-du-Rhône, a major administrative area in the south of France. A considerable portion of the amount was bequeathed to the fund by French-Armenian benefactor Krikor Shahinian.

“This trilateral collaboration, forged in Bouches-du-Rhône, one of France’s largest departments, is further proof of the great trust enjoyed by the Hayastan All Armenian Fund in the French-Armenian community as well as with French regional authorities,” said Bedros Terzian, chair of the fund’s French affiliate.

The construction of the two-story cardiology center started in May and currently its foundations are being laid. When completed, the hospital will have a main ward with 16 beds and a polyclinic capable of accommodating 20 ambulatory patients per day. In addition, the grounds surrounding the future hospital will undergo extensive landscaping, including the planting of trees.

According to Spartak Minasyan, mayor of Akner, the establishment of the cardiology center will lead to the creation of ancillary businesses and jobs in the area, fostering economic development in neighboring communities.

“The availability of a full-fledged cardiology center in Syunik means that patients in the region as well as Artsakh will have access to high-quality healthcare locally and will no longer need to travel to Yerevan to receive treatment,” said Ara Vardanyan, executive director of the Hayastan All Armenian Fund.

http://www.panarmenian.net/news/eng/?nid=32940

[Federate]

Re: 'My Home, Armenia': Armenia Fund Launches 11th International Telethon Campaign Te

Armenia Fund declares 2010 "The Year of Shushi"



New York - In an effort to jumpstart socioeconomic development in the legendary town of Shushi, Armenia Fund USA and its worldwide affiliates will launch a comprehensive program of infrastructure and business development projects beginning in 2010.

The Armenia Fund "Save Shushi" campaign will officially kick off on its annual Thanksgiving Day Telethon, in addition to pre-Telethon fundraising drives, such as direct mail and phone campaigns, conducted by Armenia Fund USA and other affiliates in the All-Armenia Fund global network.

"In the 1990's, the Armenians won the pivotal battle for liberation in the hills and fields of Shushi. Today, they are fighting a very different battle: a war on poverty," explained Armenia Fund USA chairperson Raffi Festekjian.

"Too many residents, jobless and living in unsafe ruins, have been forced to leave these hard-won lands for which they or their compatriots sacrificed so much," Mr. Festekjian went on to say. "Somehow, the inspiration from military victory has been slowly overtaken by economic paralysis and social apathy. And time is running out to win back the hearts and minds of those residents remaining."

The Armenia-Azeri war left Shushi almost completely destroyed. The town center is a gloomy picture of half-destroyed houses built in the 18th and 19th centuries. With so many abandoned shelters, many of the mostly jobless residents live as squatters, with no heat, electricity, and functioning appliances. Provincial schools are also physically unsafe and unhygienic, leaving families little incentive to remain in Shushi without hope for a better future.

During the early 20th century, the Armenians of Shushi boasted a population of 45,000, seven churches, 22 newspapers, and a public theatre. After the liberation of Shushi, many presumed that this history-making province would be reborn, attracting business investment and tourists, generating jobs, and building strong, robust communities. Despite the best of intentions, the rebirth of Shushi was a dream deferred.

Today, the officials of the Shushi and Karabakh government, along with leaders of Armenia Fund, have agreed to put Shushi on the economic map. To stimulate growth in Shushi the government of Karabakh decided to move a number of state institutions from Karabakh's capital of Stepanakert to Shushi, such as the Supreme and Appeals Courts. Constructing the buildings to house these offices and paving roads and streets to reach them, would immediately generate local jobs. But that is only a small step toward the substantive change so desperately needed to save Shushi.

Although the government of Karabakh is prepared to subsidize all such infrastructure projects, its limited budget cannot address all the imperatives for revitalizing Shushi, within a small window of time. This is where the Armenian diaspora becomes a critical factor in determining the ultimate fate of this legendary region.

"Without jobs, good schools, and a place to call home, there is very little incentive to stay in Shushi, which is of great strategic importance to the security of Karabakh," stated Irina Lazarian, executive director of Armenia Fund USA (Eastern Region). "This is why Shushi's war on poverty must be fought on multiple fronts: housing, health care, education, business, and cultural development, not to mention well-functioning institutions that can facilitate growth and progress," Ms. Lazarian added.

With funds generated from fall fundraising efforts, culminating with the Thanksgiving Day Telethon, Armenia Fund intends to answer in the affirmative-breaking ground early in the new year to build enough momentum to give the people of Shushi a fresh outlook on their future.

Among the many large and small infrastructure projects slated to begin in 2010, under the leadership of Armenia Fund USA and some of its affiliates, are: construction and renovation of houses and apartments, local town halls and health care hubs; parks and water fountains, cultural and recreational centers. Water pipelines, school heating systems, gymnasiums, school facilities, roads and street repairs also will be under way.

In addition, a brand new medical hospital is planned to provide village-wide access to emergency and critical health care, plus a state-of-the-art administrative center to help fast-track economic growth and investment. Other business development efforts include a Rug Manufacturers Association and micro-loans for start-up local enterprises. These projects will take place not only in Shushi proper, but the seven villages within Shushi province, including; Karintak; Kirsavan; Hin-Shenk; Medz-Shenk; Eghtsahogh; and Lisagor.

"Obviously, this is a massive undertaking. There is much catching up to do and so little time left, before the people will give up on Shushi altogether" noted the mayor of Shushi. "But with the will of Armenians everywhere, who draw inspiration from what Shushi has come to symbolize in our story of national survival, it will rise from the ashes once more. Not only victorious, but prosperous, too."

connect:
1-212-689-5307
[email protected]

http://www.reporter.am/go/article/2009-09-03-armenia-fund-declares-2010--the-year-of-shushi-