U.S. EMBASSY’S OFFICE OF DEFENSE COOPERATION DELIVERS PROPERTY TO FRIDTJOF NANSEN ORPHANAGE

US Fed News
May 27, 2008 Tuesday 3:26 AM EST

The U.S. Department of Defense’s European Command issued the following
press release:

The U.S. Deputy Chief of Mission, Robert Frazier, hosted a ribbon
cutting ceremony with Mr. Ruben Markosian, Director of the Fridtjof
Nansen Orphanage here May 21. The event recognized the delivery of
over $33,000 dollars worth of household furniture and equipment to
the orphanage.

This project was coordinated by Maj. Ed Keller of the U.S. Kansas
National Guard who is assigned to the U.S. Embassy’s Office of Defense
Cooperation (ODC), and the furniture for the Orphanage was donated
by the U.S European Command based in Stuttgart, Germany. This single
project is only part of the ODC’s overall Humanitarian Assistance
program this year, which will also provide furniture and equipment
to an additional orphanage in Yerevan, provide fire fighting gear
to the Armenian Rescue Service, and renovate aged water systems in
three northeastern Armenian villages this summer.

The Fridtjof Nansen Orphanage was founded in 2000, and has had 150
children pass through it since that time. One measure of the success of
this orphanage is that 80 children have been returned to families. The
delivery of U.S. donated furniture will help sustain the 70 remaining
children who currently live at the orphanage. The property that was
delivered consists of bunk beds complete with mattresses, sheets, and
pillows, as well as night stands, and wardrobe cabinets. Additionally,
two stainless steel medicine cabinets, a medical exam table, two
pharmaceutical cabinets and an assortment of medical supplies were
provided to the orphanage’s clinic.

The Humanitarian Assistance Program run by U.S. European Command
(EUCOM) is considered one of their most important activities
for assisting the various peoples of the region. EUCOM assists
approximately 20 different countries through humanitarian assistance
and executes roughly 150 projects each year.

The U.S. Office of Defense Cooperation in Armenia works to foster
U.S. government and industry assistance to Armenia in the defense
sphere. The office operates under the authority of the U.S. Chief of
Mission in Armenia and the U.S. European Command.