Fund Celebrates 20th Anniversary

Reporter, 25 June 2012

Some 300 Toronto-area Armenians celebrated the 20^th anniversary of the All Armenian Fund (“Himnatram”) at a banquet and cultural evening on June 24 at the Armenian General Benevolent Union in Toronto. In a brief interview with Keghart.com, Migirdic Migirdicyan, the president of the fund’s Toronto chapter, said that in the past two decades the local organization has raised around $5 million in assistance to Armenia and to Artsakh.

Reporter, 25 June 2012

Some 300 Toronto-area Armenians celebrated the 20^th anniversary of the All Armenian Fund (“Himnatram”) at a banquet and cultural evening on June 24 at the Armenian General Benevolent Union in Toronto. In a brief interview with Keghart.com, Migirdic Migirdicyan, the president of the fund’s Toronto chapter, said that in the past two decades the local organization has raised around $5 million in assistance to Armenia and to Artsakh.

The fund has participated in a long string of crucial projects, starting with the supply of heating oil for schools and hospitals in 1993. Since then it has raised money in joint and solo projects to build or renovate schools, hospitals, medical centres, old-age homes, and water and gas pipelines. Most recently the fund bought a mini-bus for the school in Shosh. Migirdicyan said that before the purchase of the bus students, who lived in communities two to three kilometers from the school, had been walking through snow, hail and rain—sometimes encountering wolves—to get to school.

In 2011-2012 the Toronto chapter funded the reconstruction of the Shushi Educational and Cultural Centre, the renovation of Yerevan’s Sourp Krikor Lousavoritch Hospital’s dialysis department, and the renovation of Yerevan’s Nork Old Age Home. It also provided 400 uniforms and 40 graduation gowns (custom made) for the students of Spitakashen, Shosh, Madaghis and Verin Horatagh villages.

Migirdicyan said, “The fund’s 20^th anniversary is a symbol of Armenian unity and the world-wide communities’ dedication to the development of a strong, dynamic and prosperous homeland.”

Vahé Jazmadarian, the general controller and the chair of the Audit Committee of the Board of Himnatram was the key-note speaker. He was specially invited from France. His speech dealt primarily with the transparency of Himnatram’s finances.

Religious leaders from the Apostolic, Roman Catholic, and Evangelical churches, heads of political and community organizations, and His Excellency Armen Yeganian, Armenia’s ambassador to Canada, attended the celebrations.