Версия 16:26, 27 января 2008

Шаблон:Unitedt

Стабильность для Армении
Fast For Armenia
Эл. почта:	ohanyan@stanford.edu
Ссылки:	http://www.fastforarmenia.org/index.php http://www.armeniapedia.org/index.php?title=Fast_For_Armenia

Fast For Armenia is simple but powerful. Each year, it calls for an international, day-long fast on April 24, Armenian Genocide Commemoration Day. Participants should donate whatever money they would have spent on food that day to Fast For Armenia to support the needy schools and students in Armenian villages. Please remember our cause throughout the year, not just on April 24. Perhaps you have a birthday coming up and want to designate Fast For Armenia as the recipient of gifts on your behalf or other such opportunities. The children in Armenia are extremely grateful for your thoughtfulness and generosity.

Fast For Armenia aims to memorialize the Genocide by creating a better future for Armenia in the memory of those who perished. It leverages the grassroots participation of the community around the world to improve the lives and communities of those living in Armenia.

Mission

"If you want to predict and see the future of a people, look at its youth." - General Karekin Njdeh

Since its inception, Fast for Armenia has adhered to its founding principle of commemorating the tragic past of our ancestors, who perished in the Armenian Genocide of 1915, by working to fulfill their dream of an independent and prosperous Armenia.

Founded by members of the Armenian Students' Assocation (ASA) of Stanford University and later joined by Harvard University, University of California Berkeley and Crescenta Vally High School Armenian Students' Association, Fast For Armenia undertook its first fundraising campaign in April 2005 and finished its second in 2005.

Commemorating the Genocide, crucial to raising awareness of this crime against humanity, was often done in numerous forms including protests, demonstrations, and vigils held around the world. But to most effectively and permanently accomplish the goal of our martyrs, the goal of building a bright future for Armenia, the members of FFA knew that the key is effective and strong dedication for the children of Armenia. Only by empowering the youth of Armenia with a strong, honorable academic and intellectual toolkit will they be able to carry Armenia to productivity and success in the future. Building the Armenian physical infrastructure through foreign investment, joint ventures, and international telethons are all great ways of providing Armenia with short-term sustainability, necessary as a first step. But to build a long-term foundation for stability and prosperity, we focus our efforts to those who will be leading the Armenian nation forward - the children of Armenia.

Our ancestors who perished in the deserts of Der el-Zor in 1915 would have wanted it…

Projects

Our goal is to strive to secure a brighter tomorrow for Armenia through educating the youth of today. All proceeds raised and collected from Fast for Armenia will be used to empower the schoolchildren in Armenia with textbooks, library books, maps, learning tools, school improvements, etc. Students from the Stanford and Harvard ASA's will survey a list of schools, and some ASA members will also visit the schools and will select amongst them which ones to support, after careful consideration and thought. Our concentration will be on the villages, and particularly on the villages near the borders. These schoolchildren, with an insatiable desire for knowledge, often sit in threes or fours per classroom desk designed for two, and many can not afford textbooks from which to study and grow. Furthermore, the physical conditions in many of these village schools do not currently meet the standards necessary for creating a healthy educational atmosphere conducive to cultivating the great, untapped intellectual potential of the future Armenian generation. By merely donating your lunch money (about $10), you can provide a child in Armenia with an entire set of textbooks for an entire year, helping that student become better equipped with the tools necessary to build a bright future.

We at Fast for Armenia understand how cautious we must be in order to ensure that every dollar reaches the classrooms of Armenia's villages. That is why Fast for Armenia has partnered with the Armenian Engineers and Scientists of America (AESA). This nonprofit, tax exempt organization will manage the FFA account with great benefits to you the taxpayer, and to us in matters of procedure and logistics. The non-profit and Armenian tax-exempt organizations which will partner with us in Armenia to facilitate our visits to the schools, the purchase of the educational materials, and to monitor the proper use of the gifts is the National Foundation for Science and Advanced Technologies (NFSAT). The AESA/NFSAT combination has a proven record of managing the accounts of various other Armenian non-profits including the highly esteemed Cosmic Ray Division (CRD). For this reason, we ask you to please make checks payable to AESA with Fast for Armenia in the memo line.