North County Times, CA
Nov 25 2006
$13.6 million pledged to worldwide Armenia telethon
By: Associated Press –
GLENDALE, Calif. — A telethon that briefly united the global
diaspora of Armenians raised pledges of $13.6 million to build roads,
schools and hospitals in their homeland.
The 12-hour telethon Thursday included Armenian entertainers and
originated from a studio in this Los Angeles suburb, which is home to
the largest Armenian-American population in the country.
The ninth annual Armenia Fund telethon included live TV spots and
Webcasts from around the globe.
"This is an incredible network of people that comes alive for a
12-hour period, all over the world," said the fund’s chairwoman,
Maria Mehranian. "There are people who might never meet, who might
not even like each other if they did meet, but it’s so much fun to
create this vehicle of unity. We have wanted unity for 11 centuries."
The Glendale-based fund has raised $160 million in 15 years of
existence.