The Paros Foundation underwrites all administrative and overhead costs allowing 100% of all donor contributions to godirectly towards projects and supported organizations.
Donations to The Paros Foundation Projects for Prosperity are tax deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law. To sponsor a project through The Paros Foundation, a 501 (c) 3 organization (Tax ID 20-5094630), or learn more about specific projects in need of funding, please contact us using the information below.
Samuel Khatchadourian has once again teamed up with The Paros Foundation in support of our Share-a-Pair initiative in lieu of birthday gifts to raise the funds needed to provide the children attending the Debi Arach Children’s center with new shoes. Share-a-Pair was launched in Los Angeles by sisters, Kristen and Bridget Abajian, and friend Sophia Dilsizian. To date, we have distributed thousands of pairs of shoes through this important initiative.
180 children attend the Debi Arach Children’s Center in Gyumri, Armenia. The center was established on April 15, 2015 with the help of generous donors and provides 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 also unable to provide their children with the proper guidance, supervision, educational aid and important necessities, such as new shoes to go to school and play in.
Sponsorship towards this effort will ensure that 180 children attending the Debi Arach Children’s Center will receive new shoes. Samual has decided to help lead the effort in raising the funds needed to meet this important need for these children. Donations in any amount help!
After the 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 not only with the proper guidance, supervision, educational aid and the financial resources for them to excel in school and have successful futures, but also with some basic humanitarian needs. Children are often in need of new shoes as they are forced to wear their old, worn-out and overgrown shoes sometimes for a couple of years.
Short Term Impact
In the short-term the 180 children who attend the Debi Arach Children’s Center in Gyumri, will receive new shoes/sneakers. The shoes will be purchased from Armenia, which will benefit their economy.
Long Term Impact
The shoes will be purchased from Armenia, which will benefit their economy.
Sponsors Benefits
Your donation to sponsor new shoes for the children at Debi Arach will be recognized with a plaque at the Center and on the Center’s website and in their printed materials. Your name will also be listed as a sponsor on The Paros Foundation website and in appropriate press related to this important project. The Paros Foundation will proudly arrange a visit to the Debi Arach Children’s Center when you are in Armenia.
Due to a generous donation of shoes from FAR last spring, we will dedicate funds from this project to purchasing winter boots for the children this year.
November 9, 2020
Winter boots were distributed to the children at Debi Arach.
The Armenian Dental Society of California has partnered with The Paros Foundation in order to help revive its mobile dental clinic and help bring dental care for poverty stricken communities in Armenia. Dental hygiene is commonly overlooked in many of these communities due to several reasons. Dental supplies and dental care are either very hard to find or too expensive for residents in these villages to afford.
To date, the Mobile Dental Clinic has served over 100,000 patients. Drs. Gary Kevorkian and Jack Bayramyan have taken the lead to help secure funding for the clinic. Sponsorship of this project will help raise the funds needed to keep the mobile clinic in operation. The clinic has two dentists, a nurse, a driver on staff who travel along with the mobile clinic and provide dental care for village residents. Dentists from the US have the opportunity to join the two local dentists on a volunteer basis. $2,500 will help keep the mobile clinic working for one month. Dental care provided by the mobile clinic will include basic child oral care and education, cleanings, fillings and other basic care.
Dental supplies and dental clinics are very hard to find or too expensive for residents living in Armenia’s remote and/or poverty stricken villages. This can cause a lifetime of dental problems and oral disease. Residents living in these areas are in need of dental care in order to be able to prevent serious dental issues in the future.
Short Term Impact
Residents of remote and poverty stricken villages will be visited by the mobile dental clinic and receive basic dental care. In addition, two dentists from Armenia will be hired to work alongside volunteer dentists from the United States.
Long Term Impact
Residents of remote and poverty stricken villages will have a decreased chance of tooth decay and serious oral issues in their future.
Sponsors Benefits
Your donation to sponsor the Mobile Dental Clinic will be recognized on The Paros Foundation website and in all appropriate press related to this important project.
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March 2, 2020
The Mobile Clinic started out the year mid-February at the Mkhitar Sebastatsi Educational Complex in Sebastia-Malata and will be stationed at the complex until about mid-March.
April 1, 2020
Due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, the Mobile Clinic has stopped operating. As soon as it is safe to resume, our staff will once again tackle their important mission and get back on the road.
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 150 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.
Region
Shirak
City / Village
Gyumri
Start Date
April 2018
End Date
March 2019
To date, the center has already had several important successes. At least six 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 have begun 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 four 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. $77,000 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.
Thousands of children in Gyumri are living in extreme poverty, with no hope for a decent future. These socially vulnerable children are in need of a safe and enriching environment where they can receive additional guidance through social, psychological and academic support giving them a chance to break their cycle of poverty. The children’s center will continue to provide these children with the opportunity to attend afterschool and summer school programs providing them with the additional skills necessary for a successful future. Additionally, these children suffer from malnutrition and related illnesses due to a lack of well-balanced meals. The center will continue to provide each child with a nutritious meal everyday, helping them receive the calories and/or nutrients they need. Furthermore, many families were forced to take refuge in overseas shipping containers (domiks), or in condemned buildings after the devastating 1988 Spitak Earthquake or due to their poor socioeconomic status. An entire generation of children has grown up in deplorable conditions, often times with no running water and little or no heat to take showers. The Center will address this very important hygienic need by continuing to provide the children in attendance with supervised new bathing facilities.
Short Term Impact
The short-term 150 children will receive immediate support and guidance to help them succeed for the second year. The Center will continue offer nutritious meals, bathing facilities, counseling opportunities, homework aid and tutoring and core classes including English, Computer, Art/Design, and Math.
Long Term Impact
In the long term, with the success of the Center’s current offerings, additional classes and programs will be added and attendance will rise. The number of children growing up in poverty in the future will decrease as the number of children successfully graduating from our program and continuing onto college or successful vocations increases. The number of “social orphans” and children temporarily residing in boarding schools in Gyumri will be reduced as parents become increasingly able to keep their children at home given the humanitarian support they receive at the center. Through ongoing employment opportunities created, several families will continue to receive a fair wage, hence improving Gyumri’s economy.
Sponsors Benefits
Your donation to sponsor the operating cost for 2018 of the Debi Arach Children’s Center in Gyumri will be recognized with a plaque at the Center and on the Center’s website and in their printed materials. Your name will also be listed as a sponsor on the Paros Foundation website and in appropriate press related to this important project. The Paros Foundation will proudly arrange a visit to the new Center when you are in Armenia.
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April 2, 2018
April 3, 2018
July 2, 2018
February 20, 2019
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April 2, 2018
Debi Arach’s 1st-5th graders enrolled in the “Im Dproc (My School)” website, an interactive homework assistant that allows “groups” to compete against each other and gain points. Debi Arach as a group has already climbed the ladder and sits in 3rd place amongst all participants. Many schools have recently approached Debi Arach to find out more about our organization as they are surprised when they hear that we are in fact an after school center, not a school.
April 3, 2018
As a part of our career fair initiative, we have speakers visit our students on a monthly basis to speak about their jobs. Today, Gayane from the Gyumri Tech Center spoke to our students about a career in I.T. and how the work of programmers connects to each of our daily lives. Gayane also teaches programming to our Veterans in our Vocational Training Program.
July 2, 2018
Our Med-Aid Armenia mission began today here at Debi Arach with the leadership of Dr. Krikor Deramerian, California based pediatrician. He will spend a few days with us this week and along with our nurse perform physicals for all of our students ! Thank you so much for visiting Dr. Krikor!
October 27, 2018
Paros staff, along with the “Journey Through Armenia” group members visited Debi Arach to pass out winter boots and coats to all of our students. Thank you to Talar Nina for donating a percentage of their proceeds to purchase the boots, and SERVICE Armenia alumni, Dustin Hochmuth, for leading the effort to collect the winter coats.
February 20, 2019
Congrats to our three students who completed the SHTIGEN Kids course in our Vocational Training Class. This is just one step on the journey to developing skills in the field of I.T. Thank you to the teachers of this program who help our students achieve their dreams.
Following the 1988 Spitak Earthquake, tens of 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, or in condemned buildings. An entire generation of children has grown up in deplorable conditions, often times with no running water and little or no heat. The Armenian government has provided most of the families that lost their homes in the Earthquake with new housing units.
As people moved out of those makeshift housing units, others moved in. The 2,500 families that remain are Gyumri’s desolate families, who are not in line to receive a government provided apartment. Many of these families are comprised of single mothers, multiple children and/or the disabled.
This project will identify suitable needy families who can be moved into a new apartment and can demonstrate that they can afford their monthly utilities, etc. This is a sustainable model in that families that have been moved into permanent housing in the past have had a high degree of success maintaining their families and their new homes.
Once the move is complete, the make shift housing unit will be destroyed to prevent its future occupancy.
The Azizbekyan family consists of six members including the Azizbekyan parents, their married son and daughter-in-law and their two children (including a newborn.)
2,500 families live in the city of Gyumri in temporary, make shift housing. These units are neither safe nor sanitary. These families and their children need a normal apartment in which to live.
Short Term Impact
Immediately a family will be identified and an appropriate apartment purchased for them. The make shift housing unit which they currently occupy will be destroyed.
Long Term Impact
In addition to this family and their improved mental state changing through the fact that they will be living in a normal housing situation, the city of Gyumri itself will improve with the removal of these make shift housing units.
Sponsors Benefits
All sponsors will be recognized on all relevant press regarding this project and on The Paros Foundation’s website.
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November 1, 2018
December 19, 2018
December 22, 2018
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November 1, 2018
The Azizbekyan Family was informed today that they have been selected to receive a new home through our Purchase a Home project. Now the hunt for a large apartment for them begins.
December 19, 2018
We have found a great apartment for the Azizbekyan Family and will be signing the purchase contract tomorrow! Here are a couple of photos!
December 22, 2018
The Azizbekyan Family moved into their new home today, just in time to celebrate the Christmas holidays.
The Paros Foundation established the Debi Arach Children’s Center in Gyumri, Armenia on April 15, 2015 with the help of generous donors. The center, which provides 150 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. Furthermore, freezing temperatures and extreme poverty have created humanitarian crisis in Gyumri as well.
One very important need, especially during the winter, is winter coats. Sponsorship towards this effort will ensure that 150 children attending the Debi Arach Children’s Center will receive warm winter coats. Dustin Hochmuth, a SERVICE Armenia 2017 participant will lead the effort in raising funds. He was able to meet the children and witness the difficult living conditions in Gyumri this summer and wants to help! With these warm winter coats these children will be able to stay healthy, and be able to continue to attend school.
After the 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 not only with the proper guidance, supervision, educational aid and the financial resources for them to excel in school and have successful futures, but also with some basic humanitarian needs. Children are in need of warm winter coats to combat the freezing temperatures and extreme winter in Gyumri.
Short Term Impact
In the short-term the 150 children who attend the Debi Arach Children’s Center in Gyumri, will receive warm winter coats. The coats will be purchased from Armenia, which will benefit their economy.
Long Term Impact
In the long term, children will be able to stay warm, combat Gyurmi’s harsh winters, become sick less and stay in school.
Sponsors Benefits
Your donation to sponsor winter coats for the children at Debi Arach will be recognized with a plaque at the Center and on the Center’s website and in their printed materials. Your name will also be listed as a sponsor on the Paros Foundation website and in appropriate press related to this important project. The Paros Foundation will proudly arrange a visit to the Debi Arach Children’s Center when you are in Armenia.
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October 27, 2018
The winter coats were distributed to 150 children at the Debi Arach Children’s Center with the help of our Journey Through Armenia group including Dustin’s mother, Jeanne Papazian.
Nerkin Karmir Aghbyur (NKA) is an important border village with a population of 1,380 residents in the Bert area of Armenia’s Tavush Region. This community, whose territory connects with Azerbaijan, lives and works under a constant risk of sniper fire and renewed armed conflict each day. NKA was the single most damaged Armenian village following 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 times. Furthermore, 70% of their fertile land is unusable because of frequent sniper attacks. Many homes have been damaged and worn out over the years and are in need of partial renovations and repairs, including, indoor plumbing, new windows, doors and floors, roof repairs, new heating systems, and even room additions. The village is economically strained and families are in need of additional aid to care for their families, homes and livelihood.
Sponsorship of this project will help provide families with materials, technical expertise and/or the necessary labor in order to complete specific renovation projects to their homes. It is of strategic importance to support these villagers in their daily lives so that they may remain inhabitants of this village, mere footsteps from Azerbaijan.
Region
Tavush Տավուշ
City / Village
Nerkin Karmiraghbyur Ներքին Կարմիրաղբյուր
Start Date
Spring 2017
End Date
Fall 2018
The Need
Due to the remote and dangerous area in which this village is situated, residents are unable to travel for work, or establish many other economical opportunities so that they can financially provide for their families and repair their homes. Helping these families renovate and repair their homes will help improve the quality of life for their families.
Short Term Impact
In the short term the sponsored family will receive the materials, technical expertise and/or the necessary labor they need to partially renovate and repair their homes. In addition, some short-term local employment will be created benefitting the village economy.
Long Term Impact
In the long term, these families will have improved their overall living conditions through warmer, dryer, safer and cleaner homes. This will help deter emigration from the village.
Sponsors Benefits
All sponsors will be recognized on all relevant press regarding this project and on The Paros Foundation website. Visits to the families can be arranged for sponsors visiting Armenia.
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May 10, 2017
April 1, 2018
August 16, 2018
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May 10, 2017
Hrant Petrosyan and his family live in a “domik” or temporary shelter in the village. He has begun to build a home, but needs support. We provided the Petrosyan family with $4,000 worth of support in the form of materials to build his home and a connection to the gas network.
May 25, 2017
Radik Israelyan and his family requested support to install gas into their home. This will be used to heat and cook with. The connection cost $2,000 because his home is 176 meters from the main connection.
May 31, 2017
Vachik Adamyan and his family requested support to install gas into their home. This will be used to heat and cook with. The connection cost $2,000 because his home is 150 meters from the main connection.
September 6, 2017
Arman Lalayan and his family live in a half built home. Arman has asked us for $2,500 worth of roofing materials and a new door for home along with a window.
April 1, 2018
Vladik Ghazaryan needed a new roof to stop the rain for leaking into his families home. We provided Vladik with $2,000 worth of roofing materials and he was able to install a new roof over his entire home.
July 4, 2018
Karen Grigoryan and his family did not have a bathroom in their home. We supplied Karen with $2,000 of materials that he needed to build a very nice bathroom for his family.
August 16, 2018
Davit Vardanyan and his family are the first beneficiary of this project. We supplied $2,000 worth of materials for Davit to remodel his foyer and kitchen.
August 17, 2018
Artur Galstyan received $4,500 support to build an addition for his family to house a new seating area, bathroom and hallway.
The mission of Warm Hearth is to provide forever homes for people with special needs who have been abandoned and have outgrown the orphanages. Individuals with special needs are often forgotten in both Armenia and in much of the world. Warm Hearth provides care in a group-home setting that mimics family life to the extent possible and that empowers their residents to live as independently and confidently as possible. At Warm Hearth they value their residents’ social, physical, mental, spiritual and vocational development and strive to provide growth opportunities.
Warm Hearth has planned several excursions for their residents. Excursions can help provide much needed community interaction, recreation and educational opportunities. Sponsorship of this project will help cover costs for these excursions including transportation and admission (if any) for different venues, museums and churches for residents and care providers.
Individuals with special needs are often forgotten in both Armenia and in much of the world. Those who have been abandoned and have outgrown orphanages need a safe and loving home that will preserve and protect their dignity, choices, fulfillment, privacy and independence. Warm Hearth has been that place for their residents and is in need of financial support in order to continue to further enhance the quality of life through different methods including excursions.
Short Term Impact
Warm Hearth will take their residents on several excursions for the duration of four months.
Long Term Impact
In the long term, residents’ quality of life will be more enhanced and fulfilled through experiences with their community and culture.
Sponsors Benefits
Your donation to Warm Hearth will be recognized at their home and your name listed as a sponsor on The Paros Foundation website and in appropriate press related to this important project. The Paros Foundation stands ready to help you arrange a visit to Warm Hearth when you are in Armenia.
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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.
Armenia’s orphanages generally are able to provide for their children’s basic care, but limited funding does not allow these children to visit museums, historical sites and popular cultural events. Allowing a child a few hours of recreation and/or entertainment as a regular child greatly enhances his/her outlook on life and reduces the emotional complexes of being an orphan.
Short Term Impact
The short-term impact of this project will be the immediate employment of a bus driver, money being spent in Armenia’s local economy and most important the education and social benefits for orphan children.
Long Term Impact
This project has considerable long-term emotion, education and psychological benefits for the children, as they will be able to participate in activities that are above and beyond basic existence in an orphanage.
Sponsors Benefits
Your support of this project will be recognized at the relavent Orphanage, your name listed as a sponsor on the Paros Foundation website and in appropriate press related to this important project. The Paros Foundation stands ready to help you arrange a visit to the care facility when you are in Armenia.
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Video Update
July 21, 2017
Children from the Vanadzor Orphanage were taken to an excursion at Victory Park. Participants and volunteers of the SERVICE Armenia 2017 group spent the day enjoying the rides and implementing this important project.
Nairi Krafian, a young Armenian-American Birthright volunteer is establishing a project called Oknooshoon in Armenia, which is literally a hybrid of the words help (oknoutyoun) and dog (shoun) in Armenian. As a pre-veterinary student who is passionate about both her homeland and animals, her goal is to improve the public perception, and in turn the quality of life, for rescued dogs in Armenia. Nairi has partnered with The Paros Foundation in order to introduce dog therapy in Yerevan, help provide education to improve the public perception of stray and rescued dogs and minimize their poor treatment.
Nairi will be in Armenia this summer for 11 weeks to introduce her Oknooshoon project. She will be collaborating with the Centaur Hippotherapy Center, where they train stray dogs as therapy animals, and the International Child Development Center (ICDC) and My Way socio-rehabilitation day care center, where they have programs for autistic youth. She hopes to create a sustainable animal therapy program for autistic children that will benefit the children, expose more of the Armenian community to animal therapy, and showcase the positive qualities of dogs to the human population. Furthermore, once the program has been refined, Nairi plans to also create a national standard for therapy animal certification, which will allow the practice of animal therapy to expand to other shelters. She will monitor the progress of her program though surveys given to the staff at both facilities, the parents of the children at ICDC, and the general public.
$5,300 is needed in order to fund this summer’s program. Costs include handler training education, dog training supplies, memory devices, PR materials, transportation between facilities, communication between involved parties, preventative medical care for the dogs, and hygiene supplies.
The following is a timeline for the Oknooshoon project:
May 29-June 16, 2017: Visit ICDC and Centaur, assess the facilities, introduce the program to staff and parents (of children at ICDC), and determine what qualities of the dogs would be suitable and therapeutic to which children. Buy necessary supplies. Assess dogs at Centaur and refine their training to suit the program.
June 19-July 7, 2017: Continue training dogs and handlers as needed. Slowly integrate dogs into ICDC, with highly supervised visits and trials, assessing the effectiveness of interactions between certain dogs and children or groups of children. Create a weekly schedule of animal therapy at ICDC accordingly.
July 10-August 4, 2017: Implement animal therapy schedule, continuously assessing and refining the program to ensure its continued success when I leave.
Fall 2017-Spring 2018 (in Boston): Assess and improve the pilot program. Create the standardized criteria and process for therapy animal certification. Complete independent study on animal therapy through the Occupational Therapy department at Tufts University. Expand PR and do outreach to more potential target facilities in Armenia (i.e. hospitals, orphanages, universities, war veterans, etc.)
Summer-Fall 2018 (return to Armenia): Have Centaur dogs undergo the official certification process. Expand certification availability to all shelters and provide training sessions and certification tests for dogs and handlers at all locations.
Armenia lacks animal welfare advocacy and has a severe stray dog problem with longstanding social and economic roots, which perpetuates the negative stigma around stray dogs. The few existing shelters are saturated and often forced to adopt dogs overseas, which is a large financial burden. The goal of Oknooshoon is to incorporate dog therapy into the Armenian human healthcare system in order to improve the reputation of dogs and thus increase their adoption rate. There is also a very limited amount of easily accessible animal therapy for all people, including special needs children, for whom the benefits of animal therapy has been proven in many other countries. Oknoushoun will create a situation in which more people know about and have access to animal therapy.
Short Term Impact
The short term impact is to successfully implement a pilot project working to train dogs and handlers for animal therapy for the children at the ICDC and My Way.
Long Term Impact
The long term impact will be to give rescued dogs at shelters the opportunity to be tested and certified as therapy animals, and make animal therapy more popular and accessible for the Armenian population. This can increase the number of dog adoptions, help improve public perceptions of stray dogs and ultimately benefit people who utilize animal therapy.
Sponsors Benefits
All sponsors will be recognized on The Paros Foundation website and on all relevant press regarding this project. In addition, sponsors will also be included in an Oknooshoon e-newsletter in 2018.
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Representatives of The Paros Foundation have visited more than 100 schools throughout Armenia. While some schools have either been renovated thanks to the Armenian government or as a result of the generosity of international donors, many remain in deplorable conditions and have little hope of being renovated in the near future. These conditions affect both the ability for students to learn, as well as the health of students and teachers.
Khndzoresk is a village in the South-East of Armenia to the south of the Goris – Stepanakert highway near Artsakh. Originally, the village school, which has 306 children in attendance and 20 staff members, had no running water or functional restrooms. Students and staff shared an outhouse-style squat bathroom with no working sinks.
This first phase has been completed, including renovations to three of seven restrooms through our partner and lead contributor the Armenian Network of America – Los Angeles Chapter. Furthermore, new water and sewer lines were installed. Sponsorship of this project will help raise the funds needed to renovate four more bathrooms (phase 2) at the school including, addressing such elements as windows, doors, flooring, lighting, paint, sinks, faucet and toilet. We will also install new water and sewer lines for these new restrooms.
Students need a dignified and clean restroom to use while attending school. Currently, many students have no option other than to use unsanitary restroom facilities, or, even worse, avoid using the restroom at all until they reach a more appropriate venue, which can lead to health issues in later life.
Short Term Impact
306 children and 20 staff members will have running water and functional restrooms. The reconstruction of four additional bathrooms will employ a contractor and support the local economy through the purchase of necessary building materials and fixtures.
Long Term Impact
Hundreds of children will benefit from a modern, dignified bathroom to use while attending school for years to come. In addition, epidemics and health issues will be avoided through improved sanitation.
Sponsors Benefits
Sponsorship for this project will be recognized on a plaque in the entryway of the school, on The Paros Foundation website and in appropriate press related to this important project. The Paros Foundation will happily arrange a visit to the Khndzoresk School when you are in Armenia.
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May 9, 2018
July 23, 2018
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May 9, 2018
Demolition work on the four bathrooms is complete. Our construction crew has installed new sewer lines and is completing the installation of new fresh water lines to the bathrooms.
July 23, 2018
The renovation work at all four bathrooms is complete! Our team visited the school on the way to Artsakh this afternoon and viewed the beautiful new restrooms.
