PRESS OFFICE
Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern)
630 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Contact: Jake Goshert, Coordinator of Information Services
Tel: (212) 686-0710 Ext. 60; Fax: (212) 779-3558
E-mail: jakeg@armeniandiocese.org
Website:

November 23, 2004
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ARMENIA’S YOUNGEST THRIVE WITH SUPPORT FROM CHILDREN OF ARMENIA
SPONSORSHIP PROGRAM (CASP)

Ararat Haroutyunian, 13, lives with his younger brother and mother in
Yerevan, Armenia. His mother, Nelli, was widowed when Ararat’s father
was electrocuted on the job. The family’s economic situation is
desperate, since Nelli cannot find regular work to provide food,
clothing, and shelter for her family.

But the family has been making ends meet, thanks to Bobby and Nazeni
Nakashian of Lakewood, NJ. The Nakashians signed up to sponsor a child
through the Children of Armenia Sponsorship Program (CASP). They’ve
been paired with Ararat.

CASP is maintained under the auspices of the Women’s Guild Central
Council of the Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern). And
since its founding in 1991, sponsors and donors have provided more than
$3.6 million to help needy children like Ararat. Sponsors like the
Nakashians donate $200 a year for their sponsored child’s family to
purchase food, clothing, and other life necessities for the child.

THOUSANDS OF KIDS NEED A HAND

CASP — whose motto is “To be loved and cherished, that is every child’s
birthright” — was formed to help children in the aftermath of the
earthquake that devastated Armenia in 1988. Since then, it has helped
children left in need from war and the weak economy. Orphanages aren’t
the only places where these children live.

“My definition of an orphan was a child who lost both parents. In
Armenia, however, children are considered orphans when one parent —
especially the father — is no longer living,” said Susan Avakian
Stoneson, CASP’s coordinator.

In Armenian society, which has been centered on an extended family with
a mother, father, and grandparents who nurture their children together,
the number of orphans has grown significantly since the Republic of
Armenia declared its independence. In an already struggling economy
with scarce jobs and food in short supply, together with the effects of
the earthquake and the war in Karabagh, many families’ situations have
become dire, with only one parent as provider and caregiver.

“My mother was orphaned during the Armenian Genocide, so I find it
especially rewarding to help another Armenian orphan,” said CASP sponsor
Bobby Nakashian.

The Nakashians had the rare opportunity to meet Ararat and his family
while on a pilgrimage to Armenia organized by the Eastern Diocese last
fall. Thanks to special arrangements made Dr. Sam Mikaelian, executive
director of the Diocese, Ararat, his brother Arayik, Nelli, and her
sister visited with Bobby and Nazeni at the Congress Hotel in Yerevan.

“The family was so appreciative of our support. Their gratitude nearly
brought me to tears,” said Nazeni Nakashian. It was evident the boys,
sporting pressed clothes and neatly combed hair, had benefited from the
contribution of the American couple.

“Their appreciation is genuine. And like everyone else we met in
Armenia, they were eager to share what little they had to welcome us,”
Nazeni Nakashian said. “The fact that our $200 could make such a
difference in their lives is inconceivable by American standards, but in
Armenia that same money goes a long way.”

SPONSORS GIVE KIDS A CHANCE

The CASP program is stronger than ever and continues to make a
difference in the lives of thousands of Armenian children and their
families, just like Ararat.

Sponsorship is easy and requires little more than filling out a form and
making an annual tax-deductible donation of $200 per child. Upon
assignment of a child, sponsors receive the child’s photo and
biographical information, including the family circumstances and
information about the loss of the child’s parent or parents. Sponsors
are not expected to accommodate visa or invitation requests made by the
child’s family. Sponsors can contribute for more than one child, but
each child can have only one sponsor. The monetary support, delivered
in two payments per year, is used for food, clothing, and general living
expenses for the child.

“Most of the children send notes of appreciation and sometimes the
mother will write on the child’s behalf,” said Stoneson, who coordinates
the donations and communication between the sponsors and children.
“Anyone can be a sponsor — an individual, a parish, a group, or an
organization.”

But CASP is more than individual sponsors helping specific children.
Generous donations from outside the sponsorship program (from
in-lieu-of-flowers memorials; wills and bequests; in honor of special
events such as weddings, birthdays and anniversaries; and in
thanksgiving) provide yearly support benefiting the children at the
orphanage at Gamo (also called “Gavar”, near Lake Sevan) in the form of
food, clothing, medicine, shelter, education, and recreation.
Occasionally, special donations have been earmarked for specific
purposes, such as improving playground facilities, extensive renovations
for the orphanage, creating a youth center in Etchmiadzin, and for
special distributions to families in very poor, remote areas of Armenia,
Stoneson said.

CASP began in 1991, when Archbishop Torkom Manoogian appointed Mrs.
Julie Ashekian as coordinator of CASP. Julie was assisted by her
husband, Clement, who assumed the administrative responsibility for the
roughly 200 children in the program in its early days. Since that time,
the program has grown to include approximately 1,200 sponsored children,
now ranging in age from infants to 17 years old. The program’s donors
also help support 150 children living at the Gamo Orphanage.

For further information about sponsoring an Armenian child through CASP,
please contact Susan Stoneson by e-mailing sa.stoneson@verizon.net, or
calling (201) 969-9303.

— 11/23/04

E-mail photos available on request. Photos also viewable in the News
and Events section of the Eastern Diocese’s website,

PHOTO CAPTION (1): Ararat Haroutyunian, 13, (left) pictured here with
his brother, Aravik, is an Armenian orphan aided by the supporters of
the Children of Armenia Sponsorship Program. His CASP sponsors, Bobby
and Nazeni Nakashian, visited with him during the Diocese of the
Armenian Church of America (Eastern) pilgrimage to Armenia last fall.

PHOTO CAPTION (2): During a pilgrimage to Armenia, CASP sponsor Nazeni
Nakashian (center) meets with the orphan she and her husband, Bobby,
sponsor, Ararat Haroutyunian, 13, (bottom right). Also pictured are
Ararat’s brother, Arayik (bottom left), mother Nelli (top left) and aunt
(top right), is an Armenian orphan sponsored by CASP.

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