Armenpress
KARAKERT CELEBRATES COMMUNITY DAY
KARAKERT, APRIL 7, ARMENPRESS: Today, the Children
of Armenian Fund (COAF) and the Armenia Tree Project
(ATP), together with the local residents, celebrated
Community Day in Karakert. The event marked the
conclusion of the site development and landscaping of
the school and kindergartens through the planting of
trees and bushes. The day also marked the symbolic
transfer of ownership of these fully renovated and
refurnished educational institutions to the community.
Within its overarching goal of greening Armenia,
ATP donated 200 trees and 150 shrubs for planting on
the School and Kindergartens #1 and 2 grounds.
Additionally, as part of its poverty reduction
program, ATP donated 400 apricot trees to 200
underprivileged families in the village. This
partnered project with ATP is a part of COAF’s larger
Model Village project in Karakert. In September 2005,
COAF had successfully completed the reconstruction of
the local School #2 and Kindergartens #1 and 2, fully
refurnishing them with high-quality school furniture
and equipment.
The Karakert Community Day also created the aura
characteristic of healthy communities. The villagers
were content and proud to volunteer for the
improvement of their village. Dressed in working
clothes and carrying their gardening tools and
buckets, young and old arrived on the designated sites
to participate ? to touch the soil, to turn the
ground, to plant a shrub, or to water a just-planted
tree. In the words of Marina Bareyan, a parent from
Karakert, “Such events make us more and more hopeful
as we witness the signs of our total revival. I am so
happy for our children, so happy that they will grow
in a safer environment and have a better quality of
life.”
COAF and ATP staff and guests were pleased to
witness the enthusiasm of the villagers in planting
the trees and shrubs on the grounds of the school and
kindergartens. Armenia Tree Project was founded in
1994 to advance Armenia’s development by planting
trees. Trees ? sustainably managed ? deliver a steady
bounty of tangible benefits like flowers, fruits.
Children of Armenia Fund was founded in 2000 with
the aim to reduce poverty through the revitalization
of rural Armenia and the realization of projects that
are instrumental for the revival of communities. With
the introduction of its novel approach to clustering
in February 2006, COAF is currently implementing the
Model Cluster working in six villages in the
Baghramyan region of the Armavir District.