The village of Khndzoresk is located in Armenia’s Syunik Region, south of Goris near Artsakh.  More than 2,000 people live in Khndzoresk.  The school is home to more than 300 children.  Several years ago, The Paros Foundation worked at this school to renovate seven restrooms for use by the students and staff.

The school’s auditorium is in very poor condition.   Old and broken windows and insufficient heating make this space unusable in the cold winter months.  Students from nearby villages also come to Khndzoresk to take their college entrance exams because other schools in the area do not have a large space like this at the school’s disposal.  

Anna Astvatsaturian Turcotte, who’s grandfather was from this village, has taken a special interest in the school.  She, along with her supporters, wish to renovate this space into a fully functioning multipurpose room that students can use year-round.

Work to the auditorium will include new and reconfigured windows, heating, flooring, ceiling and new electrical.  New auditorium  seating, artwork and audio visual technology will complete this space.  

The Paros Foundation established the Debi Arach Children’s Center in Gyumri, Armenia on April 15, 2015. The center, which provides over 180 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.

In 2016, Debi Arach launched their vocational training program at the center in order to provide young adults with a set of skills and tools they will need to secure gainful employment and help break their family’s cycle of poverty. Students participate in their choice of several programs including computer programing classes using a curriculum developed by the Union of Information Technology Enterprises, 3D printing and related software and programming, and computer repairs – both hardware and software. In 2019, additional vocational options was added to the program including instruction for cosmetologists, hair stylists, make up artists and manicurists and the eventual launch of the Hianali Beauty Center. The salon is run as a social enterprise open to the public for services as well as training classes for students. Furthermore, vocational courses are also offered at Digital Pomegranate and the Lentex Textile Factory, both located in Gyumri.  

In 2019, the vocational training program was renamed  Assarian Vocational Training Program in honor of the Dr. Gary and Linda Assarian Family Foundation, whose generous donations underwrite the vocational training programs. 

Sponsorship towards this project will help run the vocational programs in Gyumri, including staff wages and supplies. The goal is to help hundreds of people develop a vision for a successful future, and to give them the skills they need to reach these goals. 

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 1,800 families still live in domiks scattered throughout Gyumri in extreme poverty. Many of them are unable to provide for their familys’ needs including warm clothes, nutritious food, heat and electricity for their homes and other basic necessities.

During his visit to Armenia several summers ago Dustin Hochmuth, one of the SERVICE Armenia 2017 participants, and several of his peers, witnessed these horrible conditions and decided to assemble packets for 10 families in dire need of everyday necessities and non-perishable food items. This effort was led by one of the SERVICE Armenia 2017 coordinators, Stephanie Nersesyan. Following the success of that effort, Paros has continued implementing this project on a regular basis. 

Our goal is to help 200 families in need over the course of the next two years. Each packet will cost $40 and will include basic staples including personal hygiene products, non-perishable food items such as rice, flour, sugar, salt, oil, and pasta. The packets will also include fresh fruits, vegetables, dairy products and canned meats.  Donations in any amount will help this important cause.

The Ghoghanj Children’s Center located in the Kentron of Yerevan provides afterschool and summer school programs for approximately 85 children every month. Children who attend the Center are loosely defined as “at risk.” These children typically come from very poor households, often times with a single head of household, who cannot pay for such assistance. The goal of the Ghoghanj Children’s Center is to provide the necessary academic, psychological and social support to ensure that the children attending mature to well adjusted, successful, young adults.

In order to further impact more “at-risk” children, the Center has identified a need for this model to be replicated and offered to other communities in Armenia. Through the generous support of the Dadourian Foundation, a second center for “at-risk” children was opened in 2014 in the Nor Nork neighborhood of Yerevan to provide support to 85 additional children annually. The new center has provided students the same core classes daily (English, Russian, Computer, Design, Painting, Theater and Dance) as the Ghoghanj Children’s Center – Kentron. The goal of this project is to broaden the services offered to socially vulnerable children and families in other communities and provide them with the proper support and guidance needed to excel in school and become self-confident and respectful young adults.

Amount will include rent, utilities, teacher salaries, maintenance and additional improvements, and supplies.

The villages of Jajur, Keti and Marmarashen do not have functioning kindergartens for their children.  Not only does this place these children at a disadvantage when they start school, but it also makes it more difficult for parents who wish to use kindergarten time to work and earn money to help their families.  

The local consolidated community has completed the renovations necessary to launch the operation of these three kindergartens.  Once open, these villages will also benefit from added job opportunities for cooks, teachers and aids.  The kindergartens are each in need of their kitchens being installed and their appliances and supplies being purchased. The Paros Foundation will raise the funds necessary through this project to equip these kindergarten kitchens and allow them to begin operations.  

The village of Aygedzor is located within the Berd Consolidated Community of Armenia’s Tavush Region.  The village is home to more than 2,000 residents.  The community operates two kindergartens to serve the children in the village, however one of them is located in a building in terrible condition.  The Berd Consolidated Community has asked The Paros Foundation to renovate and expand this kindergarten for the Aygedzor Village. Once completed, two groups of kindergartens will be able to benefit from this work.  

The municipality of Yerevan is providing approximately $12,200 towards this important project.  

The Akunk village is located in Armenia’s Geghagunik Region and home to more than 4,500 people.  The community is located in the more isolated portion of the Geghagunik Region to the east of Lake Sevan.  The economy of this village is primarily agriculture based, however some of the villagers work in the city of Vardenis as Akunk is located immediately outside of Vardenis.  

In 2020, the governor’s office supported the creation of a new medical center for the community in an existing building.  Unfortunately, the funds provided were not enough to complete the full renovation and the medical center continues to operate from a single room in one of the village’s schools.  

To resolve this issue and to help create a functioning medical center for the community, The Paros Foundation will complete the remodel of the five room medical center and equip the building with proper heat and some furniture if funding provides.  The work to complete the center should take approximately two months.  

Choratan is a village of 900 residents located in the Berd Consolidated Community within Armenia’s Tavush Region.  Choratan is located in an isolated section along the Armenian border with Azerbaijan.  

Through the support of FAR, a new heating system was installed throughout the school including new boilers, pipes and radiators, however the main gas connection to the school was not installed.  The Paros Foundation received a request from the Governor’s office in Tavush to help fund the installation of the gas pipeline to the school in Choratan.  

Once funded, the gas company will install a new gas connection to this remote village school to enable the heating system to operate.  In addition, this will allow the school to stop burning wood to keep the classrooms heated.  It is expected that it will take one month from the time of funding to complete the work.

Verin Tsakhavan is a village in Berd area of Armenia’s Tavush Region. It is home to more than 900 residents. To help provide drinking water to the village, their main water supply was augmented with an additional supply via pump.  This has caused increased pressure in the main distribution pipe to the village and is causing the existing pipe to continuously burst in several places.  The pipe needs to be replaced along a 200 meter section to fix this situation and provide water to the community.  

By using sport for social impact, Girls of Armenia Leadership Soccer (GOALS) aims to equip youth with confidence and resilience to face and resolve challenges both on and off the field.

Our goal is:

• To initiate and create a network of Soccer Leagues, After-School Clubs, and Summer Camps in different parts of Armenia and Artsakh
• To challenge and break down existing barriers of girls playing sports
• To build a culture of empathy, kindness, and respect
• To shape future leaders of change

The past couple of years have not been easy for Armenia and Artsakh. With the global pandemic and the war, we as a people have gone through many difficulties. But we are strong and we will persevere in the face of adversity. Through all of this GOALS has been able to maintain its social programming for girls and boys across Armenia and Artsakh. In 2021 we were able to engage and directly impact the lives of over 1000 girls across 8 regions in Armenia. With the launch of the Assarian Relief initiative we were able to provide sports programs to boys and girls that had been displaced because of the war both in Yerevan and across border villages in Syunik, we were even able to launch GOALS in Artsakh with 4 co-ed sports teams. 

As we look forward to 2022 our aim is to expand the quality of services we provide to our girls. This would include engaging our youth as leaders and coaches, providing in-depth trainings, frequent face to face on-site visits and most importantly the expansion of our reach especially in Artsakh. 

Your donations will be used towards obtaining and distributing sports gear, organizing after-school sports clubs, trainings, tournaments, and all sports-related operational costs.