LOS ANGELES — In an annual telethon broadcast from Los Angeles late on Thanksgiving Day, the Yerevan-based Hayastan All-Armenian Fund (Himnadram) sponsored its annual telethon, during which the organization received $12.3 million in pledges. This year, as in last, the funds will be used primarily toward the reconstruction of Nagorno-Karabagh’s water distribution network.
Final figures may prove to be higher after it completes the tabulation of donation pledges received from Armenians in the United States and elsewhere in the world. “Right now we are ascertaining and processing the whole list of contributors,” Hayastan spokeswoman Hasmik Grigorian said. “I think this work will continue until December.”
Irina Lazarian, the executive director of Armenia Fund USA, said she was happy with the telethon. “It went pretty well. Compared to last year, we did better.”
She said there will be a dinner in Moscow on December 21, which is expected to raise large sums again, as it did last year. Last year, the telethon raised about $10.2 million, while the dinner raised about $10.6 million.
The telethon, she said, benefits infrastructure development in rural villages in Armenia and Karabagh. The program, she said, will take place as long as Armenia and Karabagh need help. In particular, she said, Karabagh cannot get help from any international organization, as “many organizations prefer not to support an unrecognized territory.”
