NEW YORK – The Children of Armenia Fund (COAF) held its first ever Summer Music Festival in Yerevan on Friday, August 7, 2015 at the Boghossian Gardens (Lovers’ Park). The event, hosted by renowned entertainer Egor Glumov, was held in conjunction with the 6th Summer Pan Armenian Games in Armenia. Diasporan athletes from around the world joined locals in enjoying amazing performances by local music bands – Degh, DOGMA, Lelocity, Nemra, Vordan Karmir and Miqayel Voskanyan & Friends.
Hundreds of festivalgoers also had the opportunity to learn about COAF’s vital work in advancing rural communities across Armenia. In the spirit of promoting sports and healthrelated activities during the Pan Armenian Games, COAF launched a concurrent online campaign for the Music Festival which aims to raise $5,000 in support of progressive healthy lifestyle programs in its beneficiary villages.
COAF implements a vast number of programs geared toward improving overall health in rural schools. These include health education seminars for rural healthcare professionals, healthy lifestyle clubs for youth, targeted trainings for health educators, various schoolbased health promotion campaigns, instituting cafeterias/healthy nutrition programs at rural schools, as well as publishing and distributing health educational materials.
The organization also has renovated and built new infrastructure in villages such as school gyms, cafeterias, outdoor sports facilities, and playgrounds all in an effort to support and enhance health promotion activities.
Zack Armen, son of COAF Founder/Chairman Dr. Garo Armen, spoke at the Music Festival about the impact COAF has made on the lives of over 28,000 people in 22 villages located in the Armavir and Aragatsotn region of Armenia since its inception in 2004. Zack, who was in Armenia to compete in the Pan Armenian Games, went on to talk about COAF’s recent SMART initiative in the Lori region.
COAF’s commitment to expanding to 100 new village communities in Armenia is being realized with the establishment of the first COAF Smart Center in Lori. This strategically located regional epicenter will serve as a bridge for transferring knowledge from professionals to rural communities in an effort to develop functional skills and expertise. The COAF Smart Center will be scalable and self-sustaining, creating a network of empowered Armenian citizens that can work together to improve their own communities from an economic and social standpoint.
Event sponsors included Boghossian Gardens and “Achajour Natural Food” Café, as well 1in.am who provided live streaming for the Festival.
The online campaign for funding COAF’s Healthy Lifestyles programs will run until August
20. You can show your support by visiting: www.coafkids.org/2015-summer-musicfestival
