The Heros Humanitarian Foundation (HHF), a Los Angeles based non-profit organization, supports children in need and their educational advancement. The organization was founded in 2008 by six Armenian Americans with the belief that no child should be deprived of the essential necessities needed for their education regardless of their socioeconomic status. Their mission is to provide backpacks and school supplies to children living in poverty and from low socioeconomic households around the world. Through their Packs on Backs initiative, HHF hopes to motivate children, help them stay and excel in school, and have successful futures.

The Heros Humanitarian Foundation has partnered with The Paros Foundation to bring their Packs on Backs initiative to Armenia. After the successful distribution of 280 backpacks and school supplies to children in Gyumri’s impoverished neighborhood, our goal is to provide the same assistance to 100 children attending the Orran Center in Vanadzor.

Vanadzor is Armenia’s third-largest city and the capital of the Lori Region. It is also one of the three main cities that suffered during the devastating 1988 Spitak earthquake. The dismal situation of Vanadzor is evident through its consistent decrease in population due to high unemployment rate, poor living conditions and the low prospect of development. Orran, an organization focused on diverting children from the streets and engaging them in academic, cultural, and extra-curricular activities established a center in Vanadzor in 2012. Children ages 6 to 18 and who come from economically deprived families attend the center regularly. Currently, numerous children in Vanadzor cannot attend school because they don’t have the basic necessities. Sponsorship of this project will help give 100 children at this center backpacks and school supplies. A donation of $30 will help obtain a backpack filled with supplies for one child. School supplies will be grade appropriate and include a combination of pencils, pens, pencil cases, notebooks, folders, erasers, sharpeners, glue, scissors, rulers, highlighters, and crayons. In-kind donations of the items listed are also welcomed.

Maroush Dekermenjian has adopted this project and helped raise the funds needed with the help of her family and friends in honor of her birthday.

The mission of the Ghoghanj Children’s Center is to provide the proper support and guidance children need to excel in school and become self-confident and respectful young adults. Founded in 2003, the Ghoghanj Children’s Center works with vulnerable “at-risk” children and their families to help them overcome social, psychological and legal issues.

The Center’s programs are specifically designed to facilitate group discussion and are sensitive to the psychological challenges of an at-risk child and their families. The Center works to develop successful communication, self-expression and tolerance skills among the students. A fundamental focus on the arts, homework assistance and tutoring to ensure academic success is a key ingredient of the programs’ success.

Since its inception, the Ghoghanj Children’s Center has been continuously attempting to expose it’s students to new and developing academic opportunities. The existing computer and Internet course at Ghoghanj provide these opportunities and need funding to continue. The continuation of these courses will provide 75 at-risk students with three levels of classes progressing from proper computer usage, to Internet use and eventually basic web design. Children at the Center will also gain access to free Internet whether they are enrolled in the courses or not. The goal of this program is to teach their students the proper technological skills essential for a successful future.

The Shirak Centre NGO, established in 2006, completes important work to empower the forgotten population of Gyumri, Armenia. The population of Gyumri, Armenia’s second largest city has endured some very devastating realities. The tragic 1988 Spitak Earthquake claimed the lives of 25,000 people and left more than 100,000 residents homeless, plagued with unemployment and rampant poverty for years to come.

Under the direction of organization president Vahan Tumasyan, the Shirak Centre NGO aims to support families from different socio-economic classes and various social groups by educating them about their social rights and civil liberties and creating opportunities for them to exchange new political ideas and strategies, develop democracy, and strengthen their economy. On a daily basis the Shirak Centre NGO deals with the socio-political issues important to the people of Gyumri, along with helping them negotiate with local authorities, promote coalition building and conflict resolution. Furthermore, through several projects, humanitarian aid, and seminars, the Centre helps to promote human rights, homeless advocacy, and works to strengthen leadership skills among young people.

The Paros Foundation has worked with the Shirak Centre NGO on completing several projects including identifying a homeless family and moving them into a new home and supplying 90 families with firewood for fuel during this harsh winter. The Centre has since continued to meet the needs of the Gyumri population by continuing to distribute necessities such as more firewood and warm clothes and shoes. Unfortunately, it is becoming financially difficult for the Shirak Centre NGO to keep up with the high costs associated to renting vehicles needed to distribute humanitarian supplies.

Following the 1988 Spitak Earthquake, thousands of people were left homeless in the city of Gyumri. Many of these families took refuge in the overseas shipping containers (domiks) that were shipped into Armenia loaded with humanitarian relief supplies. Although more than a quarter century has passed since the earthquake, this depressive reality still remains. Currently, more than 3,500 dilapidated domiks are still scattered throughout Gyumri, about 1,000 of which are vacant. Many families who received homes through government aid did not demolish their old domiks.

Through our Purchase a Home project we have been working hard to find families new homes and demolish their old domiks in order to free Gyumri from these unsafe, unsanitary and depressing reminders of their difficult history. Recently, we have also teamed up with one of our partner organizations from Armenia, Shirak Centre NGO, to find sponsorship for this new and equally important project. Through this project we will work with Shirak Centre NGO to locate and identify the vacant domiks in Gyumri, purchase the domiks from their owners, demolish them and distribute the remaining scraps of wood to other families in need who are still living in domiks and condemned buildings. All remaining materials will be sold for scrap and those funds will be applied towards removing yet another domik. $1,000 is needed in order to complete this process per domik.

Our goal is to take as many domiks off of the market as possible. Demolishing these domiks has several benefits including raising the communities morale, returning land to its former use and providing firewood for fuel to impoverished families. Furthermore, this project has a significant environmental benefits; by using the scraps of wood from the domiks, less and less trees from nearby forests will need to be cut in order to serve this vital need.

Although women’s roles in society have evolved immensely throughout the centuries, they still differ vastly among different cultures and countries. Christina Cherekdjian, a young Armenian living in America, is interested in studying women in their everyday realities in present day Armenia. Her vision is to document women of all ages, socioeconomic statuses, and rural and urban environments through photography with the help of other young diasporan women. Christina hopes that these photos will be able to help educate, and spark interest and dialogue about modern day roles of women in Armenia’s society.

Photos from her cultural experiment will be showcased at an art exhibit that will travel throughout Armenia and the United States allowing Christina to share her thoughts and discoveries for one year. The exhibit will be hung in museums, art galleries and school throughout Armenia to help launch a discussion about women’s roles in Armenia.

The Adaam Project is focused around the idea of raising awareness about the importance of promoting good dental hygiene in Armenian children in an effort to prevent dental decay and more extensive dental problems which they would never be able to afford to take care of in the future.

Dental hygiene is commonly overlooked in poverty-stricken regions around the world, including Armenia, for the obvious fact that the population has more pressing concerns such as securing everyday necessities like food, shelter and clothing. In the light of all these hardships, brushing one’s teeth for two minutes, twice a day, seems trivial and indeed insignificant and not on one’s priority list.

The aim is to collect a total of 2,000 toothbrushes, toothpastes, mouthwash and dental floss to take to Armenia and accompany The Paros Foundation volunteers for several weeks from village to village distributing dental hygiene necessities to students in different elementary schools as the other volunteers distribute shoes as part of the share-a-pair project. An informational presentation on proper usage of dental hygiene tools will serve as an integral component of this project.

Donations of toothbrushes, toothpastes, mouthwash and dental floss are welcomed. The budget amount of $3,000 will be used to augment donated hygiene products for distribution, shipping expenses, development of the educational presentation and distribution expenses. It is important to note that as this project will be implemented in conjunction with the Paros Foundation’s share-a-pair project, distribution costs will be kept to a minimal.

Dental hygiene is commonly overlooked in poverty-stricken regions around the world, including Armenia, for the obvious fact that the population has more pressing concerns such as securing everyday necessities like food, shelter and clothing. In the light of all these hardships, brushing one’s teeth for two minutes, twice a day seems trivial and indeed insignificant.

The Healthy Teeth Project aims to make oral hygiene and health attainable for children living in poverty stricken areas throughout Armenia. Through this project The Paros Foundation, along with supporters and volunteers, hopes to raise awareness about the importance of promoting good dental hygiene in Armenian children. Furthermore, through this effort we hope to prevent more extensive dental problems, which would cause more serious health issues in the future.

The Healthy Teeth project was launched in 2013 by Raffi Dadaian. Since then over 7,000 items, including toothbrushes, toothpastes, mouthwash and dental floss, have been distributed throughout Armenia and Artsakh.

We hope to obtain 5,000 more dental supplies through this project by both individuals as well as dental offices throughout the United States. As an integral component of this project, volunteers distributing the supplies will also hold a short presentation on the proper usage of these dental hygiene tools.

Nor Luyce works with young girls, ages 14-17, from two local orphanages and/or from poverty stricken families from Gyurmi, 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 Lusine, a young girl from Gyumri, with a scholarship that would reduce her out of pocket costs towards her education. Lusine lives at home with her parents, two sisters (one of which is also apart of Nor Luyce’s Mentorship program) and brother. Her father is unable to work due to heart issues while her mother’s income, as a nurse is not enough to support their whole family. Lusine is currently studying accounting at the Shirak Region State College and is striving for a secure career and financial success. She loves drawing, especially churches and nature, and hopes that one day her artwork can be showcased at an art gallery. The requested scholarship funds will help Lusine continue her studies and cover the costs of her tuition, uniform, books, stationaries, winter clothing and her transportation fee for one year.

Nor Luyce works with twelve mentees, ages 14-17, from two local orphanages in 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 beginning to 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, a young girl from one of the Gyumri orphanages, with a scholarship that would reduce her out of pocket costs towards her education. Ruzanna is one of three children all in an orphanage due to the unemployed status of their only parent, their father. She hopes to become a methodologist to work with kindergarten children. The requested scholarship funds will cover the costs of her college tuition, uniform, books, stationaries and her transportation fee for one year.

Nor Luyce works with twelve mentees, ages 14-17, from two local orphanages in 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 beginning to 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 Qristine, a young girl from one of the Gyumri orphanages, with a scholarship that would reduce her out of pocket costs towards her education. Qristine and two of her sisters are in an orphanage, while their mother tries to care for her youngest daughter in their village. Qristine also has a brother in the army, whose footsteps she wants to follow. Her goals are to pursue study in the Military department. The requested scholarship funds will cover the costs of her tuition, uniform, books, stationaries and her transportation fee for one year.