$12,505,456 Raised During Armenia Fund Annual Telethon

LOS ANGELES — In another Thanksgiving Day fundraiser Hayastan All-Armenian Fund’s Telethon 2017 has raised over $12,505,456 that it plans to mostly spend on the support of agricultural-development projects in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Armenian Fund raised almost $15.5 million during last year’s televised fundraiser earmarked for the reconstruction of war-ravaged communities in Nagorno-Karabakh and other local infrastructure projects.

The focus of the 2017 telethon is support for two major agricultural-development projects in Nagorno-Karabakh: the drilling of deep-water wells and construction of irrigation networks; and the installation of solar power stations.

As always, sizable contributions have been provided by several ethnic Armenian businessmen from the United States, Russia and Armenia. An anonymous Armenian-American entrepreneur made the single largest donation of $ 2.5 million. He was followed by Russian-Armenian tycoon Samvel Karapetian, who donated $2.25 million. Armenia’s Copper-Molybdenum Plant donated $350,000, Armenia-based wealthy business owner Samvel Aleksanian contributed $200,000 for the cause and the Vardanian family donated $125,000. Valex Group donated $100,000. Several families from the United States, Iran and Armenia provided hefty donations ranging from $50,000 to $100,000. Thousands of Armenians from around the world also made smaller contributions ranging from a few dollars to several thousand dollars.

Armenia Fund has implemented over $350 million worth of projects in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh since its establishment in 1992. The fund’s current Board of Trustees is headed by President Serzh Sarkisian and comprises other senior Armenian state officials, Catholicos Karekin II as well as prominent representatives of Armenian communities around the world.

In particular, in recent years the fund has partly financed the construction of a second 116-kilometer-long highway connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia.