AZG Armenian Daily #181, 23/09/2006

Event

FAR CONGRESS IN YEREVAN

It has been 15 years now that the Fund for Armenian
Relief (FAR) functions in Armenia. With its 18
thousand employees FAR today organizes new projects
and sets new goals. With a purpose to present and
discuss these projects and goals FAR yesterday
convened a meeting titled "Fund for Armenian Relief
Serving Fatherland and Armenians." It was said that
thanks to its representatives in 56 settlements of
Armenia FAR manages to get first hand information
about problems and priorities all over the country and
to implement its projects. Thanks to Armenian and
foreign benefactors, from 1992 to date FAR has taken
care after 7418 orphans in 30 countries. It is planned
to carry out a project for orphaned students that
would help relieve their burden. Within the framework
of its project of kindergarten construction, FAR has
already built 14 kindergartens in Artsakh. The
activity of FAR optics is well-known: for many years
it has been providing glasses to socially vulnerable
people free of charge. FAR’s projects are versatile,
and deputy of the National Assembly, chairman of FAR’s
regional department, Alvard Petrosian, says the Fund’s
activities go in line with the challenges that Armenia
faces. In Armen Rustamaian’s words, chairman of
foreign relations committee at the parliament, the
most vital of the challenges is securing a safe place
for Armenia in a world that heads for globalization
meanwhile looking at the human values through the
national prism. FAR has demonstrated a good example of
the latter during the 96 years of its existence,
Rustamian said. In his greeting speech vice-speaker of
the National Assembly Vahan Hovhannisian highly
assessed FAR’s activities and its prospects.

By Nana Petrosian