TELETHON 2009 TO START ON NOVEMBER 26 IN LOS ANGELES

NOYAN TAPAN
SEPTEMBER 16, 2009
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 16, NOYAN TAPAN. Hayastan All Armenian Fund’s
annual telethon will be held on November 26 this year. It will start
at 8:00 am in Los Angeles and will last 12 hours. As Fund’s Executive
Director Ara Vardanian reported at a September 16 press conference,
the raised funds will be spent mainly on implementation of development
programs in Shoushi.

A. Vardanian said that a phonethon will be held in Europe before
the telethon, during which nearly 600 young people will ring up
European-based Armenians. Phonethon’s initiator and coordinator is
Fund’s French structure.

The Executive Director expressed the hope that the economic crisis
will have no impact on telethon’s results. He is sure that this
year the raised funds will exceed last year’s indices. A. Vardanian
mentioned that this year new kinds of fund raisings will be held in
Armenia and Russia. "The possibility of organizing a charity dinner
in Russia is being discussed at present," he said.

In response to the question of whether the current process of
normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations can have a bad impact
on assistance received from the Diaspora A. Vardanian said: "We try
to avoid any political discussions. And the person, who decides to
provide funds proceeding from his political orientation cannot be
considered Armenian as there is one more problem here: the Republic
of Armenia and NKR need assistance."