PRESS RELEASE
Fast for Armenia
PO Box 19354
Stanford, CA 94309
Contact: Chris Guzelian
Tel: 650-725-9325
web:

April 23, 2004
Stanford, California

Tomorrow, April 24th, thousands of Armenians and their friends will
take part in the first annual Genocide Remembrance Day fast directed by
the new nonprofit organization Fast for Armenia
() from sunup to sundown in commemoration of the
Armenian Genocide. Simultaneously, these fasters are donating those
funds they would have otherwise spent on food toward one of two rural
Armenian charity projects. The theme of this year’s Fast is “Children
of Armenia,” and two ongoing, proven charity projects that will be
financial beneficiaries:

The MODEL VILLAGE PROJECT, directed by the Children of Armenia Fund
(COAF; ), a nonprofit 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization,
is completely modernizing Karakert, an agricultural village on the
Turkish border. Karakert has schools without functional plumbing or
heat, complete unemployment, and impassable roads. Most of the
village’s 5,000 citizens, of whom 1,200 are children, do not even have
access to clean drinking water.

The TEXTBOOK PROJECT is delivering textbooks and maps to
schoolchildren in Karakert and other rural Armenian regions. Few, if
any, of these children have access to textbooks. $10 alone is
estimated to be adequate to provide a rural Armenian child with access
to all necessary textbooks for an entire year.

Fast for Armenia was founded by two Stanford University graduate
students and the Stanford University Armenian Students Association,
and has widespread, grassroots support for its nonpartisan, effective
charitable mission. To learn more about Fast for Armenia’s 2004
projects, how to participate in the fast, or how to donate or engage in
the volunteer effort, visit