Message from the Chairperson
Ara Aghishian, Esq.
Dear Armenia Fund Supporter,
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I want to take this opportunity to share with you the excitement and the overwhelming gratitude of the ordinary people I met during my last trip to Armenia’s and Artsakh’s remote villages. These were simple villagers who witnessed a positive impact on their lives made possible by your generous contributions to Armenia Fund. I saw villager’s homes with clean, round the clock running water – something unheard of for decades. I saw children who were forced to take classes in make-shift shelters they called “school” because their real schools were destroyed during the war. Now these children have new schools filled with every supply they might need. I talked to farmers, who for the first time had an opportunity to cultivate their lands using the water that Armenia Fund brought to them through irrigation canals. These lands laid dry for two decades without a single harvest... We talked to people whose lives were saved thanks to the ambulances that were purchased and hospitals that were built with your contributions.
Time and time again people that I met in Armenia asked me to tell their brothers and sisters in the Diaspora: “GOD BLESS YOU!”
Today, as never before, I call on you to help us collectively address another issue critically important to the well being of our nation – the rebuilding of Shushi. Besides being the cradle of Armenian culture and arts, Shushi is a town that symbolizes the turning point in our modern history. After centuries of losing lands and crumbling under the yoke of oppressive nations, on May 9, 1992 we had a victory which lifted the spirit of an entire Armenian nation and inspired our soldiers to win truly heroic battles, thanks to which today we have a free Artsakh.
However Freedom Was Not Free. The price of Artsakh's freedom was more than 10,000 Armenian sons and daughters who gave the most precious possession - their lives... Our heroes gave their lives knowingly and without hesitation – so that today we have a Homeland called Armenia...
Please remember them as you watch the Telethon this Thanksgiving Day, November 26, 2009.
It is up to each and every one of us to ensure that Artsakh remains free and its borders secure.
Your donation of ONE DOLLAR A DAY will ensure that collectively we remove Shushi’s ruins – reminders of the brutal war – and replace them with new schools, hospitals, kindergartens and residential buildings so that the streets of OUR SHUSHI are once again filled with children’s laughter...
Sincerely,
Ara Aghishian, Esq.
Chairman of the Board
P.S. Join me during my next trip to Armenia and Artsakh to witness the tremendous impact
Armenia Fund has made on the lives of our brothers and sisters in our Homeland.
Armenia Fund, Inc., is a non-profit 501(c)(3) tax-exempt corporation established in 1994 to facilitate large-scale humanitarian and infrastructure development assistance to Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh. Armenia Fund, Inc. is the U.S. Western Region affiliate of “Hayastan” All-Armenian Fund. Tax ID# 95-4485698
