For Immediate Release
April 21, 2009

ARMENIA FUND FURNISHES CLASSROOMS FOR OVER 10,000 STUDENTS IN ARMENIA AND KARABAKH

NEW YORK, New York — Armenia Fund is pleased to announce the launch of a large-scale furnishing project that will provide newly furnished classrooms for more than 10,000 school students in Armenia and Karabakh. The initiative, worth 330,000 Euros, is sponsored by the French Affiliate of Armenia Fund in Paris.

Schoolchildren are welcomed into newly furnished classrooms in rural Karabakh

A big part of the funds, more than 227,000 Euros, was donated for this critically needed project by Ms. Curbevua in Paris, France. The donation was matched by Armenia Fund through local fundraising efforts. Ms. Curbevua’s prior donations to Armenia Fund, in the form of a will, have also been invested toward the construction of a school in Kochughut village, and road construction in Karabakh.

Armenia Fund will allocate the new furniture to the schools at the beginning of 2010 academic year in early September. All items of the furniture will be manufactured in Gyumri giving jobs to the local population and making a significant input into the economy of Armenia’s second largest city which has not fully recovered from the 1988 earthquake and is still going through challenging times, partly due to the overall economic crisis.

After the completion of this project, about 7,000 students will still be in need of furnished classrooms in Karabakh where old and wobbly school desks are unfortunately still in place. The French affiliate and the Nagorno Karabakh government have agreed to combine their efforts to provide an efficient solution to the school furnishing problem in Karabakh. “We call for your generosity. Your names will be posted on plaques put up on the classroom doors. Let’s jointly create decent educational conditions for our children in Armenia and Artsakh”, this is how the French affiliate addresses its benefactors in its press release.

“I am really very happy that we will have so many young beneficiaries as a result of this project. Each time I visit schools in Armenia and Karabakh, where I see children sitting at old, broken desks, I am deeply saddened. We must put an end to this situation as soon as possible. We will certainly continue raising funds for school furnishing projects,” says Bedros Terzyan, the President of the French Affiliate of the Fund.

Armenia Fund has so far constructed more than 110 schools in Armenia and Karabakh, 24 of which have been sponsored by the Fund's French Affiliate. The beneficiary schools were also given laboratory equipment, computers and sport accessories.

ABOUT ARMENIA FUND USA: Founded in 1992, Armenia Fund USA was one of the first of Armenia Fund’s 18 international affiliates and serves Armenians in the United States, east of the Mississippi. As a non-profit, non-governmental, nonsectarian organization, the Fund represents all Armenians. The Fund has adopted a policy to go “Beyond Bricks and Mortar” to provide sustainability for projects it sponsors.

To learn more about Armenia Fund USA, please visit our website at
www.ArmeniaFundUSA.org or call us at 212-689-5307.

Armenia Fund USA
80 Maiden Lane, Suite 301
New York, NY 10038