Nor Luyce works with young girls, ages 14-17, from two local orphanages and/or from poverty stricken families from Gyumri, Armenia. Under the direction of their Executive Director, Shoghik Mikayelyan, the program provides their mentees with positive roles models and emotional support. The reduction of isolation is provided by mentors and by field trips, which expose the children to various work and educational settings. In addition, Nor Luyce’s program emphasizes the development of educational and career plans. They are now at the stage of either beginning or continuing to help implement each older child’s plan for higher education. Each child has also either completed or is in the process of completing a career plan, which includes the most appropriate type and place of higher education.

Nor Luyce is trying to provide Ruzanna M., with a scholarship that would reduce her out of pocket cost towards her education. Ruzanna Mkhitaryan was born in the city of Gyumri, located in Shirak region. Her family consists of 4 people: Ruzanna, her father, her mother, and her brother. Ruzanna’s father  travels abroad for work. Her brother was wounded while serving in the 44-Day War in Artsakh and is now disabled. As a result, he was discharged prematurely from the military. Her mother works as a salesperson in a store. The family’s monthly income is 80,000 AMD, which mostly comes from government aid.

Currently, Ruzanna is studying Law in the Gyumri Branch of the European University. Ruzanna joined the program at Nor Luyce in 2018. In the past, Ruzanna was one of the best mentees, and now she continues her involvement with Nor Luyce as a mentee. She often participates in volunteer work, attends all important events, and is ready to support everyone in need. Before joining Nor Luyce, Ruzanna was quiet, reserved, had very few friends, and did not trust others, but after participating in the program, she has become more confident, sociable, and active. She has made many new friends and has learned to trust people and be more patient.

Nor Luyce works with young girls, ages 14-17, from two local orphanages and/or from poverty stricken families from Gyumri, Armenia. Under the direction of their Executive Director, Shoghik Mikayelyan, the program provides their mentees with positive roles models and emotional support. The reduction of isolation is provided by mentors and by field trips, which expose the children to various work and educational settings. In addition, Nor Luyce’s program emphasizes the development of educational and career plans. They are now at the stage of either beginning or continuing to help implement each older child’s plan for higher education. Each child has also either completed or is in the process of completing a career plan, which includes the most appropriate type and place of higher education.

Nor Luyce is trying to provide Siranush A., with a scholarship that would reduce her out of pocket cost towards her education. Siranush Arakelyan was born in the village of Kamo, located in Shirak region.  Her household has seven people in it: her mother, her grandmother, her grandfather, her uncle, her uncle’s wife, her cousin, and herself. Siranush’s father died when she was very young. Her mother works in a store as a saleswoman and other members of her family are engaged in agricultural work. The family’s monthly income is 75,000 AMD.

Currently, Siranush is studying at Gyumri State Medical College to become a nurse. She started as a mentee at Nor Luyce in 2021 and is now completing the Skills Development Phase. Before participating in the program,  Siranush was reserved, withdrawn, had few friends, and did not trust people at all. Coming into the city from the village was difficult for her, but after participating in the program, she has become more confident, sociable, active, and has made many new friends.

Siranush currently has an issue paying her tuition fees as her family is in a very difficult place financially and will not be able to come up with the money. The tuition fee is 220,000 AMD per year

Siranush needs our support. $1,000 will cover both her tuition fee for one year and her transportation cost since she is commuting from the village. Siranoush has received a 30% discount for her education because she is coming from a single-parent household. The requested scholarship funds will help Siranush continue her studies.

The Paros Foundation launched the Debi Arach Children’s Center in Gyumri, Armenia on April 15, 2015 with the help of generous donors. The center, which provides 185 children each week the necessary academic, psychological, social and humanitarian support, has since been a source of positivity in this city. The residents of Gyumri, Armenia’s second largest city have endured very devastating realities since the tragic 1988 Spitak Earthquake. More than 100,000 residents were left homeless, and plagued with unemployment and rampant poverty for years to come. In turn, the fate of children in Gyumri has also been affected. Dealing with the difficulty of finding means to feed and care for their families, many parents are unable to provide their children with the proper guidance, supervision, educational aid and the financial resources for them to excel in school and have successful futures. The Debi Arach Children’s Center, which in Armenian means “moving forward,” helps these socially vulnerable children through a holistic approach providing them with both humanitarian and educational support. The center provides counseling and group therapy with a psychologist on staff, homework help and tutoring for almost every subject the children learn in school including English, Math, Art/Design, and Computer classes. Additionally, they are served a nutritious meal everyday, helping them receive the calories and/or nutrients they would otherwise not have. Furthermore, the Center addresses a very important hygienic need by providing the children in attendance with supervised bathing facilities. The goal is to help hundreds of children develop a vision for a successful future, and to give them the skills they need to reach these goals. This project is impacting the lives of hundreds of socially vulnerable children by helping them gain the guidance and support they need in order to create greater future opportunities, and become successful individuals and good citizens.

To date, the center has already had several important successes. At least nine children have been taken out of boarding schools, attend our center and now live back at home with their families. Many of the children who were receiving poor grades in school are now achieving top scores. The children have become socially well adjusted and much more healthier than before with the continued consumption of multi-vitamins and a daily well-balanced meal. Staff trainings take place with an academic counsel of professionals from the United States and Armenia to ensure that the children are receiving the best care, treatment and methods for their development.

The center is working on funding year nine and raising additional funds in order to develop and add to the programs and classes offered with the ability to hire more educators, and get more supplies, and equipment. Funds will also be used to supplement daily activities, hold forums for guest speakers and provide educational and career planning opportunities. $82,000 is needed to cover operating costs for the Center. In January of 2017, Debi Arach successfully launched its first program within its Vocational Training Center, teaching children computer programming, 3d printing and robotics curriculum. The goal of this newest component is to provide these children with marketable job skills in order to help them work themselves out of poverty. In 2019, with the long term commitment by Dr. & Mrs. Gary and Linda Assarian (MI) the vocational training program was renamed the Assarian Vocational Training Program

Samvel and his wife along with their four young children (3 boys and a girl) live together in the border village of Nerkin Karmir Aghbyur.  

Samvel has done his best to make improvements on the family home including rebuilding their bathroom and repairing the roof.  The home needs a complete cosmetic remodel including new doors and windows.  

Samvel is a retired contract soldier from the Armenian army. Several years ago, Samvel and his family were beneficiaries of The Paros Foundation’s Agribusiness project and received several pigs.  He continues to work with his pig farm on a regular basis.  He also works as a beekeeper for The Paros Foundation’s honey production effort at the local school.  Astrig, Samvel’s wife, was employed until recently as the director of the village’s kindergarten. 

Nerkin Karmir Aghbyur is an important border village with a population of approximately 1,100 residents in the Berd area of Armenia’s Tavush Region. This community remains under constant risk of sniper fire and renewed armed conflict. NKA was the single most damaged Armenian village during the Azeri conflict in the 1990’s. The economy of the village and the livelihood of many of its residents have suffered due to these difficult and dangerous conditions. In particular, 70% of their fertile land is unusable because of frequent sniper attacks. Nerkin Karmir Aghbyur is a beneficiary village of the Paros Foundation’s Prosperity on the Border Initiative. With major financial support of Jean-Marie Atamian and his family over the last 10 years, much of the village’s infrastructure has been completely rebuilt and improved including, but not limited to, its large secondary school, expanded kindergarten, medical center, emergency services building and water distribution system. In addition, several families have benefited from agribusiness and animal husbandry projects. Having funded the rebuilding of NKA’s infrastructure, the Atamian family is now focusing its attention on the reconstruction of severely damaged houses to provide decent and safe homes for deserving families in the village. 

The Kharpert Home for Special Children is an orphanage located in the village of Nor Kharpert serving more than 250 children with varying degrees of developmental disabilities. The orphanage is a state run facility that receives governmental support to provide these vulnerable children with their basic care and education.

Excursions for these children to amusement parks and/or other appropriate venues provide these children with both valuable community experience and needed recreation. Children with disabilities in Armenia are generally kept sheltered from society. These children do not attend school, but rather attend classes at the orphanage. It is important for both these children and society for these children to experience community life.

For each donation of $250, approximately 20 children and an appropriate number of care provides will be able to go on an excursion to Yerevan at Victory Park, or another appropriate venue for a morning or afternoon of activities including transportation, admission and snacks. Please consider supporting multiple excursions for these children.

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.

Hrant and his wife along with their married son and his family all live together in the border village of Nerkin Karmir Aghbyur.  Seven people total live in this home, including three children under the age of six.  The home is in need of a full remodel including the addition of one bedroom to offer the children a space of their own.  

The family has a small plot of land around the house. They have a pig and a cow and some bee hives. They also have a small plot of land on the edge of the village that they use to harvest grass for use in their small barn.  

Hrant is a retired soldier from the Armenian army and lives on a pension. His son, Karen, works in Berd and also works as a beekeeper for The Paros Foundation’s honey production effort at the local school.  

Hrant’s house is in overall poor condition with their greatest need being a new roof and doors and windows. They also do not have proper heating.  This effort would not only solve these critical housing needs, but also provide this large family with a completely renovated and reconfigured home for them.

Nerkin Karmir Aghbyur is an important border village with a population of approximately 1,100 residents in the Berd area of Armenia’s Tavush Region. This community remains under constant risk of sniper fire and renewed armed conflict. NKA was the single most damaged Armenian village during the Azeri conflict in the 1990’s. The economy of the village and the livelihood of many of its residents have suffered due to these difficult and dangerous conditions. In particular, 70% of their fertile land is unusable because of frequent sniper attacks. Nerkin Karmir Aghbyur is a beneficiary village of the Paros Foundation’s Prosperity on the Border Initiative. With major financial support of Jean-Marie Atamian and his family over the last 10 years, much of the village’s infrastructure has been completely rebuilt and improved including, but not limited to, its large secondary school, expanded kindergarten, medical center, emergency services building and water distribution system. In addition, several families have benefited from agribusiness and animal husbandry projects. Having funded the rebuilding of NKA’s infrastructure, the Atamian family is now focusing its attention on the reconstruction of severely damaged houses to provide decent and safe homes for deserving families in the village. 

Following the 2020 war, a large number of young people ended up in the Vayots Dzor Region of Armenia, including Young people who were injured during the war. To help provide specialty training including vocational to help these young people work and earn a living, this special fund has been created. Work will be done to support the activities and specialized training via a variety of non-governmental organizations in the Vayots Dzor Region.

The village of Nerkin Tsaghkavan is located in Armenia’s Tavush Region on the road to Noyemberyan and is home to more than 500 people.  Both the village of Nerkin Tsaghkavan and the neighboring village of Kirants do not have a kindergarten for its children.  The village has allocated a building centrally located in the village to house a future kindergarten.  In addition, the consolidated community has funding available for the kindergarten’s operational expenses once it is built.  The Paros team has visited this kindergarten and designed construction to include its future expansion to house two groups of up to 60 children.  Initial construction will allow for the kindergarten to begin operation with one group (30 children).  Construction will include a new roof, windows, heating and a playroom, sleep room, kitchen/dining hall, bathroom and small office.

In addition, the project will include the furnishing of the kindergarten with all furniture necessary to launch operations including tables, chairs, beds, lockers, kitchen cabinets, desks, and appliances.

Nerkin Karmir Aghbyur is an important border village with a population of more than 1,100 residents in the Berd area of Armenia’s Tavush Region. This community remains under constant risk of sniper fire and renewed armed conflict. NKA was the single most damaged Armenian village during the Azeri conflict in the 1990’s. The economy of the village and the livelihood of many of its residents have suffered due to these difficult and dangerous conditions. In particular, 70% of their fertile land is unusable because of frequent sniper attacks. Nerkin Karmir Aghbyur is a beneficiary village of the Paros Foundation’s Prosperity on the Border Initiative. With major financial support of Jean-Marie Atamian and his family over the last ten years, much of the village’s infrastructure has been completely rebuilt and improved including, but not limited to, its large secondary school, expanded kindergarten, medical center, emergency services building and water distribution system. In addition, several families have benefited from agribusiness and animal husbandry projects. Having funded the rebuilding of NKA’s infrastructure, the Atamian family is now focusing its attention on the reconstruction of severely damaged houses to provide decent and safe homes for deserving families in the village. Since 2012, a variety of work (ranging from $2,500 to $30,000) has taken place on more than 20 homes in the village.  

Ashot A. lives with his wife, his two sons and one of his son’s families.   A total of eight people live together.

Prior to the birth of the newest grandchild, Ashot had begun to do some work on their home including making roof repairs and had hopes of building the family a bathroom and new kitchen.  However, the baby’s medical problems have consumed any available funds for hospital bills. The work will include a new roof, windows, kitchen, bathroom, heating system and a complete interior remodel. This will allow the family to leave in clean, sanitary and comfortable conditions.