Glendale News Press, CA
Jan 5 2010
Group sends aid to Armenia
Coalition of charities has sent $580 million in medicine, other
supplies since ’89.
By Max Zimbert
Published: Last Updated Monday, January 4, 2010 10:11 PM PST
GLENDALE ‘ An Armenian-American coalition wrapped up its 20th
anniversary this past year with its 154th charitable airlift to
Armenia via chartered jetliner that delivered $4.5 million worth of
medicine, medical supplies and humanitarian aid.
The United Armenian Fund is a coalition of charities that works to
send warm clothes, medical equipment and other items requested by
residents in Armenia.
`If it’s needed, we send it,’ said Harut Sassounian, president and
founder of the Glendale-based organization.
The coalition was born in response to a catastrophic earthquake that
leveled much of Armenia in December 1988, then under control of the
Soviet Union. Aid began trickling in chaotically, Sassounian said.
`I thought if at least several large Armenian organizations unite and
collaborate and coordinate their aid, we can do something a little
more organized,’ he said. `That’s how UAF was born.’
That United Armenian Fund can free charities from shipping costs is a
huge relief, said Sossi Poladian, chairwoman of the Armenian Relief
Society of Western USA.
`That way, we could be able to shift our focus on other humanitarian
projects,’ she said. `They do a fantastic job.’
Since 1989, the fund has delivered $580 million in humanitarian aid
aboard 154 airlifts. And for the past 10 or 15 years, it’s been with a
staff of three, one of whom is a part-time student.
`We’ve been doing this for 20 years; we have established ties with
major donors,’ Sassounian said. `It was a whole different story at the
beginning.’
The airlifts aren’t cheap, costing $200,000 per trip. But alternative
shipping methods to Armenia are unpredictable and difficult to pull
off, organizer said.
The landlocked country is also blockaded by two of its four neighbors,
Turkey and Azerbaijan. To the south, it shares a small, mountainous
border with Iran. Railroads and highways connect it to Georgia in the
north, but sometimes those connections are unreliable.
`Basically, the only viable way of getting supplies unhindered to
Armenia is by air; that’s why we started doing airlifts,’ Sassounian
said. `It’s so expensive, but we don’t have to deal with blockades or
other issues.’
The organization sends three or four airlifts a year; the next one is
scheduled for the end of February. Planes refuel in Germany, and
regularly pick up donated items from the Armenian community throughout
Europe.
Small charities cannot afford to ship to Armenia, Sassounian said.
`We’ll ship it for them,’ he said. `If you’re a small charity and want
to do it on your own, it’s a lot of red tape?.?.?.?old Soviet
countries have that. But when you’re onboard a UAF flight, you have
easy passage.’
United Armenian Fund is constantly shipping containers by sea to
Georgia, where they are taken by truck or train into Armenia. Doing so
costs $5,000 to $8,000. The fund has shipped 1,761 containers since
1989.
`If I’m sending antibiotics worth, say $100,000, and put on a plane
that cost me $200,000, if you go by price it doesn’t make sense,’
Sassounian said. `But if it saves so many lives, well, that’s the real
value of the shipment.’
Time-sensitive items go in the airlift, as does medicine that could be
contaminated by sea air or affected by stormy seas.
`If someone gives us a CAT Scan [machine], those things we put on the
plane because they are high value,’ Sassounian said.
The coalition relies almost entirely on donations. Charitable
organizations like AmeriCares, Catholic Medical Mission Board and
World Vision have vast warehouses across the U.S. that organizers can
pick and choose from.
`It’s not an easy thing, what we’re doing,’ Sassounian said.
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