While I Chinais in an antique shop in Oregon last summer, a small glass bottle full of rice grains caught my eye. I seized and read the label: “The daily ration for 750 children in an orphanage, the Near East Relief [Armenian] Orphanage, is 40 
pounds of rice [18.160 kg], less than 7/8 of ounce [24 grams] per child. Can not supply more than the small amount they refuse children by the thousands. Do you want help? “.
The label bore the name of the President of State Samuel C. Lancaster, director JJ Handsaker and mentioned an address, 606 Stock Exchange Bldg., Portland, Ore. No date or other information contained therein.
Intrigued, I bought the bottle, took it home and placed it on a shelf, promising to do some research on this subject at one time or another. It was then that hearing about the program 2014 “One book, One Glendale” [A book, A Glendale] with the theme of the Armenian Genocide, I thought of the bottle. Taking it from the shelf, I moved to the computer and began a search with “Near East Relief” [Relief Near East].
After a few “enter”, here’s what I learned:
Near East Relief has existed for nearly a century, according to the website of the Near East Foundation. It was created in 1915 under the name of “The American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief” [The American Relief Committee Armenian and Syrian] to respond to a massive humanitarian crisis affecting millions of Armenians, Assyrians, Greeks and members other minorities.
According to the website, “more than one and a half million died in deportation, forced marches, starvation and executions.”
During the crisis, the U.S. ambassador to Turkey, Henry Morgenthau, brings together a group of friends and colleagues who – with the help of then President Woodrow Wilson – began to solicit donations from the public U.S..
There were many answers to this call, according to the website. The money raised helped save at least one million people.
In 1919, the action of the operation zone being extended to the Middle East and West Asia, its name was changed to “Near East Relief” [Relief Near East].
On the website of the Armenian National Institute, I found an article written by Rouben Paul Adalian article, explaining that through campaigns in the streets, collections in churches and with the assistance of organizations and foundations charity, the Near East Relief Committee has raised millions for his operation to save “dying of hunger Armenians”.
So it seems that this little bottle, still full of beans almost old rice was the clever use of two men, Oregon Lancaster Handsaker to help the Armenian cause.
According Adalian the funds raised here in the United States were transferred to the U.S. Embassy in Constantinople, which gave the missionaries and consuls care to distribute the aid.
“Between 1915 and 1930, the year in which the operation ended, the Near East Relief Gera 117 000 000 dollars of aid,” writes Adalian. “Near East Relief directed his food, clothing and care products for boats from America. NER settled in refugee camps, clinics, hospitals, orphanages and vocational training centers. Attributed to Near East Relief rescue 132,000 Armenian orphans scattered from the region of Tbilisi and Yerevan to Constantinople, Beirut, Damascus and Jerusalem.
“Near East Relief was a work of philanthropy,” concludes Adalian “which according to the American historian Howard M. Sachar, has actually literally kept alive an entire nation.”
By Katherine Yamada
February 12, 2014
Gilbert translation Béguian
Stéphane © armenews.com
This bottle still full of rice used to support a call for funds for children in an orphanage, the Near East Relief [Armenian] Orphanage, between 1915 and 1930. (Authorization Katherine Yamada / February 12, 2014)
“The daily ration for 750 children in an orphanage, the Near East Relief [Armenian] Orphanage, is 40 pounds of rice [18.160 kg], less than 7/8 ounce [24 grams] per child. Unable supply more than this small amount, they refuse children by the thousands.
Do you want help?
Samuel C. Lancaster,
State President
JJ Handsaker,
Director
606 Stock Exchange Bldg.,
Portland, Oregon “