Armenia’s northeastern border communities live under the watchful eye of Azeri snipers. In many of these villages, more than 50% of the land remains unusable (both for cultivating and grazing) due to its proximity to the border. In other villages, inadequate infrastructure left over from Soviet times has created unbearable conditions for families to live, learn and work. Many of the husbands and fathers in these communities are heroes–serving as contract soldiers protecting our borders in their villages– while others work as seasonal migrant workers in Russia. Prosperity and our Nation’s security go hand in hand.

As part of the Paros Foundation’s Prosperity on the Border initiative, The Foundation has identified the kindergarten in the village of Aygepar as a needed infrastructure improvement project. Aygepar Village is located in a peninsula jutting into Azerbaijan in a valley surrounded on three sides by Azeri military posts in Armenia’s Tavush region. Almost 500 people call Aygepar their home. The village’s kindergarten was in direct line of site from Azeri snipers and was partially unusable until The International Red Cross built a security wall to protect the children. Other organizations implemented partial poor quality renovations to the kindergarten, but the majority of the building including roof repairs remains unmet.

The kindergarten currently serves almost 20 children. Partial renovations to the building have been completed by various organizations, however the roof, floor and kitchen and bathroom need complete renovation. In addition, one large room will be renovated and converted into an indoor playground for the children’s use.

Aygepar’s Mayor stands ready to assist with contributed labor to help realize this important project for the village.

Representatives of The Paros Foundation have visited more than 100 schools throughout Armenia. While some schools have either been renovated thanks to the Armenian government or as a result of the generosity of international donors, many remain in deplorable conditions and have little hope of being renovated in the near future. These conditions affect both the ability for students to learn, as well as the health of students and teachers. How is a student supposed to learn if there are not proper desks, chairs or windows in the classroom? One of the schools recently identified in need of a complete renovation is located in the large village of Ljashen in the Gegharkunik region at Lake Sevan. Ljashen Village has a population of 5,000 and one local school. About 300 students attend this run down school. The Paros Foundation will directly oversee the renovation of a classroom at this school including doors, flooring, lighting, paint, electrical, and furniture as needed. The heating system was replaced 10 years ago by Developmental Services for Armenia, a California based humanitarian organization, and is still fully functioning. Whenever possible, the school, students and their parents will be incorporated into the classroom remodel project to help build a sense of community and personal investment.

Representatives of The Paros Foundation have visited more than 100 schools throughout Armenia. While some schools have either been renovated thanks to the Armenian government or as a result of the generosity of international donors, many remain in deplorable conditions and have little hope of being renovated in the near future. These conditions affect both the ability for students to learn, as well as the health of students and teachers. How is a student supposed to learn if there are not proper desks, chairs or windows in the classroom?

One of the schools recently identified in need of a complete renovation is located in the large village of Ljashen in the Gegharkunik region at Lake Sevan. Ljashen Village has a population of 5,000 and one local school. About 300 students attend this run down school.

The Paros Foundation will directly oversee the renovation of a classroom at this school including doors, flooring, lighting, paint, electrical, and furniture as needed. The heating system was replaced 10 years ago by Developmental Services for Armenia, a California based humanitarian organization, and is still fully functioning. Whenever possible, the school, students and their parents will be incorporated into the classroom remodel project to help build a sense of community and personal investment.

Nairi Krafian, a young Armenian-American Birthright volunteer is establishing a project called Oknooshoon in Armenia, which is literally a hybrid of the words help (oknoutyoun) and dog (shoun) in Armenian. As a pre-veterinary student who is passionate about both her homeland and animals, her goal is to improve the public perception, and in turn the quality of life, for rescued dogs in Armenia. Nairi has partnered with The Paros Foundation in order to introduce dog therapy in Yerevan, help provide education to improve the public perception of stray and rescued dogs and minimize their poor treatment.

Nairi will be in Armenia this summer for 11 weeks to introduce her Oknooshoon project. She will be collaborating with the Centaur Hippotherapy Center, where they train stray dogs as therapy animals, and the International Child Development Center (ICDC) and My Way socio-rehabilitation day care center, where they have programs for autistic youth. She hopes to create a sustainable animal therapy program for autistic children that will benefit the children, expose more of the Armenian community to animal therapy, and showcase the positive qualities of dogs to the human population. Furthermore, once the program has been refined, Nairi plans to also create a national standard for therapy animal certification, which will allow the practice of animal therapy to expand to other shelters. She will monitor the progress of her program though surveys given to the staff at both facilities, the parents of the children at ICDC, and the general public.

$5,300 is needed in order to fund this summer’s program. Costs include handler training education, dog training supplies, memory devices, PR materials, transportation between facilities, communication between involved parties, preventative medical care for the dogs, and hygiene supplies.

The following is a timeline for the Oknooshoon project:

May 29-June 16, 2017: Visit ICDC and Centaur, assess the facilities, introduce the program to staff and parents (of children at ICDC), and determine what qualities of the dogs would be suitable and therapeutic to which children. Buy necessary supplies. Assess dogs at Centaur and refine their training to suit the program.

June 19-July 7, 2017: Continue training dogs and handlers as needed. Slowly integrate dogs into ICDC, with highly supervised visits and trials, assessing the effectiveness of interactions between certain dogs and children or groups of children. Create a weekly schedule of animal therapy at ICDC accordingly.

July 10-August 4, 2017: Implement animal therapy schedule, continuously assessing and refining the program to ensure its continued success when I leave.

Fall 2017-Spring 2018 (in Boston): Assess and improve the pilot program. Create the standardized criteria and process for therapy animal certification. Complete independent study on animal therapy through the Occupational Therapy department at Tufts University. Expand PR and do outreach to more potential target facilities in Armenia (i.e. hospitals, orphanages, universities, war veterans, etc.)

Summer-Fall 2018 (return to Armenia): Have Centaur dogs undergo the official certification process. Expand certification availability to all shelters and provide training sessions and certification tests for dogs and handlers at all locations.

Representatives of The Paros Foundation have visited more than 100 schools throughout Armenia. While some schools have either been renovated thanks to the Armenian government or as a result of the generosity of international donors, many remain in deplorable conditions and have little hope of being renovated in the near future. These conditions affect both the ability for students to learn, as well as the health of students and teachers.

Khndzoresk is a village in the South-East of Armenia to the south of the Goris – Stepanakert highway near Artsakh. Originally, the village school, which has 306 children in attendance and 20 staff members, had no running water or functional restrooms. Students and staff shared an outhouse-style squat bathroom with no working sinks.

This first phase has been completed, including renovations to three of seven restrooms through our partner and lead contributor the Armenian Network of America – Los Angeles Chapter. Furthermore, new water and sewer lines were installed. Sponsorship of this project will help raise the funds needed to renovate four more bathrooms (phase 2) at the school including, addressing such elements as windows, doors, flooring, lighting, paint, sinks, faucet and toilet. We will also install new water and sewer lines for these new restrooms.

More than 1,200 children live in Armenia’s 15 orphanages. These facilities provide for the children’s basic needs, but their limited budgets do not allow these children to participate in visits to popular historical sites, an amusement park or concert, or attend a cultural event.

Armenia’s orphan children should have the opportunity to experience popular cultural events, exhibits, and excursions in Armenia, or simply have a fun afternoon or activity that they normally would not be able to experience. Many different activities and excursions can be organized for these children. The extent of the activity or trip is directly related to the sponsorship amount. For sponsorships amounts between $250 -$750 approximately 20 children and an appropriate number of chaperons will be able participate in a memorable activity. Please consider supporting multiple excursions for these children.

The Paros Foundation staff and volunteers will organize and oversee the excursion/activity. Opportunities to sponsor excursions for orphanages serving both disabled and non-disabled children exist. Whenever possible, our staff will work with the destination for the excursion to secure group pricing and/or discounts.

The Kanakeravan Fine Arts School is located in the village of Kanakeravan about 30 minutes outside of Yerevan and serves both this village and a neighboring village. The School provides afterschool program in several of the fine arts including music, dance, pottery, painting and needle work to more than 125 children annually. The School has a committed staff and principal that ensure that their personal passion for the arts is upheld and taught to these children. The School receives support from the local government for administrative expenses and the students pay a modest monthly fee. This support and fees are not enough to allow the School to replace two worn pianos.

Several villages in the Tavush region of Armenia are bordering Azerbaijan. Residents in these border villages live and work under a constant risk of sniper fire and renewed armed conflict each day. The economy of the villages and the livelihood of many of its residents have suffered due to these difficult and dangerous times. It is of strategic importance to support these villagers in their daily lives so that they may remain inhabitants of these villages, mere footsteps from Azerbaijan. Economic development and opportunities for work are essential to continue improving the conditions in these border villages. To date we have successfully implemented several agribusiness projects in the village of Nerkin Karmir Aghbyur (NKA). This village with a population of 1,380 residents is located in the Bert area of Armenia’s Tavush Region. This community, whose territory connects with Azerbaijan, lives and works under a constant risk of sniper fire and renewed armed conflict each day. Our goal is to implement 10 additional agribusiness projects in this village. Sponsorship of this project will help provide needy villagers with the opportunity to care for their families and to help improve the village’s economy. Families will be screened and chosen to receive farm animals for which to care for and benefit from, and also renovation materials to renew their barns and/or chicken coops. Also, as a part of this effort, families will be provided training and/or business tips for the ensured success of their agribusiness. Frequent visits will be made to the family to track their progress and determine the success of their new venture.

Currently home to 286 households and 955 people, the village of Baghanis was established in the fifth century and is situated in the Tavush region of Armenia. The village is adjacent to the Republic of Azerbaijan, sharing a 2 km-long border. Today, the residents make a living by farming and tending to their livestock. Now, economic development and opportunities for work are essential to continue improving the conditions in this border village. Sponsorship of this project will help provide needy villagers with the opportunity to care for their families and to help improve the village’s economy.

Nver H. and his family have been identified as one of the families who are in need of additional support in order to help their agribusiness grow. Their family consists of five members including three children. They live in a dangerous area as their home is exposed to Azeri sniper fire. Nver works as a contract soldier stationed on the border. They currently have a barn, and have requested cows for their agribusiness. As a part of this effort Nver H. and his family will be provided training and/or business tips for the ensured success of their agribusiness. Frequent visits will be made to the family to track their progress and determine the success of their new venture.

Currently home to 286 households and 955 people, the village of Baghanis was established in the fifth century and is situated in the Tavush region of Armenia. The village is adjacent to the Republic of Azerbaijan, sharing a 2 km-long border. Today, the residents make a living by farming and tending to their livestock. Now, economic development and opportunities for work are essential to continue improving the conditions in this border village. Sponsorship of this project will help provide needy villagers with the opportunity to care for their families and to help improve the village’s economy.

Alik A. and his family have been identified as one of the families who are in need of additional support in order to help their agribusiness grow. Their family consists of seven members including three children and Alik’s parents. Alik works as a contract soldier defending the border in their village. They live in a dangerous area as their home is exposed to Azeri sniper fire. Alik works as a contract soldier stationed on the border. They currently have a barn and are in need of financial assistance to obtain materials needed for barn renovations. Alik will complete the construction work by his own means once we have provided the materials. He has also requested a cow, and a few pigs. As a part of this effort Alik A. and his family will be provided training and/or business tips for the ensured success of their agribusiness. Frequent visits will be made to the family to track their progress and determine the success of their new venture.