Armenia Fund Raises $1.1 Million During Emergency Artsakh Telethon

LOS ANGELES — Armenia Fund U.S. Western Region has announced that a total of $1,102,357 was raised during the 6 hours of its Help Artsakh! emergency telethon aired on May 14, 2016 in Los Angeles.

“Armenia Fund is an organization that was born amidst a humanitarian catastrophe in Artsakh in 1992, when hundreds of thousands of Armenians from Artsakh and Azerbaijan became refugees with no shelter, food, heat or means to survive”, stated Maria Mehranian, Chair of Armenia Fund’s Board of Directors. “Armenia Fund stood by Artsakh through war and peace and will continue to do so. I would like to thank the world wide affiliates of Armenia Fund, specifically Armenia Fund in New York, Toronto, Paris, and Sao Paolo, for their participation in our Telethon with funds raised by their emergency fundraising activities that added $490,000 to the total raised,” added Mehranian.

Airing on all major Armenian American television stations, the emergency telethon highlighted stories of bravery, courage, and hope through the destruction of war. The video segments produced in Artsakh showed the massive damage caused by indiscriminate shelling of villages as well as the valor and bravery of young Armenian conscripts who courageously withstood a massive military aggression of the Azeri armed forces along the entire border with Artsakh in early April.

“Given the situation in Artsakh, this Telethon was organized to solely provide short term humanitarian relief to the victims of war. Artsakh’s needs are immense ranging from immediate medical care for the wounded to rebuilding destroyed housing and infrastructure. I want to thank all Armenians for their wholehearted support of Artsakh,” said Sarkis Kotanjian, Executive Director of Armenia Fund, U.S. Western Region.

Representatives from the greater Armenian-American community and prominent members of Congress and government appealed during the Telethon, voicing their strong support for Artsakh.

For the last quarter century Armenia Fund has been uniting the global Armenian community for the development of Armenia and Artsakh resulting in more than $350 million in large scale humanitarian relief and infrastructure development.