In March 2020, the Society for Orphaned Armenian Relief (SOAR) created the Families of Fallen Soldiers Relief Fund to assist the families of fallen Armenian service personnel by providing direct financial support and children’s enrichment assistance. The Fund aims to build strong, caring, and loving bonds with each family and to follow the widows and children through the years to assure that no children of fallen Armenian soldiers are ever institutionalized.
In the fall of 2020, SOAR mobilized its efforts and immediately addressed the humanitarian crisis in the region. Among SOAR’s many initiatives included providing support to the orphans and institutional staff displaced from Artsakh to SOS Children’s Village in Kotayk, Armenia, where they remain. SOAR also shipped two sea containers of food, clothing, medicine, and personal hygiene supplies.
To proactively address the overwhelming post-war need in Armenia, SOAR has established a Fallen Soldiers Support Center in Yerevan (Vagharshyan Street 24/6, Apt. 38) coming April 2021 as a non-residential facility that provides economic assistance, grief counseling, academic tutoring, job placement, and other services to families of soldiers killed or severely injured in battle. The overarching goal of the Center is to offer compassionate and holistic support to spouses, children, and families grieving the death of an Armenian soldier killed or wounded in battle.
In post-war Arstakh and Armenia, SOAR now provides families of fallen soldiers with financial assistance, emotional support, improved housing, and vocational training. “While the loss of our fallen Armenian soldiers is itself a tragedy, the war has had the secondary effect of leaving children fatherless and mothers and families without their primary breadwinner,” says SOAR Executive Board Chairman George S. Yacoubian Jr. “We invite all Armenians to join SOAR to assist these families so that the widows of our fallen Armenian soldiers can withstand their darkest hours and emerge as confident and resilient caregivers for their children.”
In commemoration of SOAR’s new Center and the 106th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, honored artist Hayk Melikyan will perform a virtual piano recital on April 25th premiering the piano transcription of Whispering to the Wind from Alessandro Scarlatti’s Tigrane Opera. To purchase tickets, please visit soar-us.org/haykforheroes.
The Society for Orphaned Armenian Relief is the world’s only charitable organization devoted exclusively to providing humanitarian relief to orphaned Armenian children. To learn more about SOAR, visit soar-us.org.
