Armenia Fund Archives

Armenia Fund Responds to Yerevan-Based Director’s Arrest

July 6, 2018 By administrator

GLENDALE—Armenia Fund Inc., the Western United States affiliate of Hayastan All Armenia Fund issued an announcement Thursday in response to Tuesday’s arrest in Yerevan of Hayastan All Armenia Fund’s executive director, Ara Vardanyan, on charges of misusing and misappropriating of funds from the organization. On Thursday, Ara Vardanyan was released from custody awaiting the end of the investigation on bail.

Below is the complete text of Armenia Fund’s statement

All of us are deeply saddened by the arrest of Ara Vardanyan, the Executive Director of the Yerevan-based Hayastan All-Armenian Fund, on allegations of abuse of authority by misusing the organization’s credit card for personal purposes, including online gaming. However, as it appears now, no donor funds have been affected and the misused funds have been fully recovered.

While it is unfortunate that Mr. Vardanyan abused his authority, his misdeed should, in no way, reflect on the hard-working and law-abiding employees of the organization, its worldwide partners, including Armenia Fund in the United States, the generous donors worldwide, the contractors employed in Armenia and Artsakh and the countless volunteers. We will await the findings of the investigation.

Armenia Fund is an independent U.S. based non-profit organization that uses Hayastan All-Armenian Fund as an implementing agent for its specific humanitarian and infrastructure development projects in Armenia and in Artsakh. The funds collected in the United States go toward specific projects, the implementation of which is monitored by Armenia Fund.

Hayastan All-Armenian Fund is an organization that has enjoyed the trust of hundreds of thousands of donors around the world. Throughout the 27 years of its existence the Fund has implemented thousands of large-scale socio-economic development projects that benefit hundreds of thousands of people in Armenia and Artsakh.

After the devastating 1988 earthquake, Hayastan All-Armenian Fund brought urgent humanitarian aid to the people of Gyumri and continues to remain the largest distributor of permanent housing in the earthquake zone. In the darkest day of the newly-independent Armenia, it provided heating fuel and bread, countering Turkish and Azeri border blockade and saving thousands from starvation during the freezing winters of 1992-1994.

Since 1995 and until today, Hayastan All-Armenian Fund is the largest implementor of large scale humanitarian relief and infrastructure development projects in Artsakh providing recovery from a devastating war and seven decades of Azeri occupation. Recently, the Fund initiated innovative infrastructure projects including development of solar energy and irrigation networks using latest technologies. And, of course, the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund’s signature projects remain the strategically vital Goris-Stepanakert and Vardenis-Matakert highways connecting Artsakh to the outside world and making Artsakh’s very existence possible.

Hayastan All-Armenian Fund’s mission is far from over. Armenia’s and Artsakh’s needs are enormous. The actions of a single person cannot overshadow the immense achievements of this legendary organization, nor should it cast any doubt on the role it plays in the development of Armenia and Artsakh.

Armenia Fund 2014 17th telethon raises $12,399,550

November 28, 2014 By administrator

At the close of Thursday’s American Thanksgiving Telethon 2014, the Armenia Fund raised a total of $12,399,550 in donations and pledges.

The funds collected will be used to complete the Vardenis-Martakert Highway, a 116-km road connecting northern Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (Artsakh) to Armenia, as well as special projects in Armenia and Artsakh, and which the philanthropists have selected, the Armenia Fund press service informed.

Separately, the 15th European fundraising-phonethon of the Armenia Fund was held from November 19 to 23 in France, and this event raised over €1.37 million in donations and pledges.

Armenia Fund: Achieving True Victory in War

September 26, 2014 By administrator

In Chapar, a northern village in Artsakh, Armenia Fund has constructed a new school with modern amenities to serve the local population. During the time Armenia Fund has realized many projects in and around the area, 15 families have moved back and resettled in the village.

Fourteen year old boys usually have less serious things on their mind.

The ceasefire negotiations were underway and an independent Artsakh was in sight. On the verge of a monumental defeat, Azerbaijan, suffering from embarrassingly disproportionate military losses, chose to continue its hostilities. One of the targets for Azerbaijan’s special forces was the civilian population of Chapar village in northern Artsakh’s Martakert region. As recorded by Human Rights Watch, six Armenian civilians, including one 14-year old boy, were killed.

One of Artsakh’s oldest communities, picturesque Chapar is in northern Artsakh, close to the militarized border and the Azerbaijani-occupied Armenian region of Shahumian. Armenia Fund chose the village of 300 residents for the location a new school as a part of its Rural Development Program. The building of the new school was co-sponsored by the government of the Artsakh Republic.

The school is built with the future in mind, bearing accommodations that will allow students to have a holistic educational experience. Among the different facilities are included biology and chemistry labs, a computer lab, and a library. A unique feature at the school that speaks to its precarious geography – and with a nod to its history – is a classroom specially built for military studies.

Spanning over 10,000 square feet, the school’s campus also houses a grass sports field, as well as an outdoor playground. For Chapar’s cold winters, a boiler room was installed so that the children and faculty could benefit from central heating and not have to limit class time for lack of it.

Despite now having a brand new building outfitted with the most modern educational equipment, Chapar School’s most valued possession is distinctly antiquated: a hundred year old bell. Having survived through some of the most tumultuous times in Armenian history, the bell will hang proudly from the new building where it will continue to see off the school’s graduates in the spring and welcome new students in the fall.

This is not Chapar’s first experience with Armenia Fund. In 2012, a water pipeline almost 2.5 miles long was installed and has since provided the village with regular access to drinkable water.

Chapar is also one of the locations along the new Vardenis-Martakert Highway which is being constructed by Armenia Fund with donations from Armenians throughout the world. These developments, together with the new school and a general improvement in the village’s conditions have encouraged 15 families that had left to return and continue their lives there.

In fact, in addition to the traditional trades of the villages, which include beekeeping, animal husbandry, and agriculture, many of the village’s residents have been hired to work on the Armenia Fund infrastructure projects in and around their homes.

We can’t know what the 14-year old boy who was killed by Azerbaijani soldiers would have been if he was able to grow up. But, by continuing to build the communities that were destroyed by the War for Independence and which continue to live on the razor’s edge, we can ensure that his innocent life, and that of many others like him, was not lost in vain. The real victory in war is giving the fourteen year olds of today and tomorrow that which the ones from yesterday did not have.