WATERTOWN – Yerevan representatives of the Insurance Foundation for Servicemen (IFS) visited Boston in early November as part of their outreach tour of various Armenian-American communities between October 17 and November 18, 2021. They made a presentation to Armenian community leaders and clergy on November 1 about how IFS over the past four years has helped servicemen and their families after the former lose life or limbs while in the military.
Sona Baghdasaryan, Fundraising and Donor Relations Manager, and Narine Galstyan, head of Public Relations and Fundraising, spoke at the newly renovated Baikar Building in Watertown, accompanied by PowerPoint illustrations. Joseph Simonian, a member of the IFS Board of Trustees who happens to live in the Boston area, also provided information about the foundation.
Guests were initially welcomed on behalf of the Tekeyan Cultural Association of the United States and Canada (TCA) by Aram Arkun, TCA Executive Director. TCA hosted the event with the help of TCA Boston chapter members in order to help disseminate information about IFS, though it should be noted that TCA is not in any way affiliated with IFS.
Among other places, the duo is visiting Washington D.C., Philadelphia, New Jersey, New York, Detroit, Chicago San Francisco, Fresno and Los Angeles.
IFS operates in a unique manner because it is regulated by a law of the Armenian National Assembly which requires all people working in Armenia to contribute towards it on a monthly basis and establishes that every serviceman must receive compensation for loss of health incurred as a result of their military duties. Yet IFS is not a governmental institution and operates as an independent foundation. For more information on IFS, see its website, Insurance Foundation for Servicemen – 1000plus.am, and the October 2021 Mirror-Spectator article “Group Tries to Give Armenian Veterans’ and Martyrs’ Families Their Due,” by Alin Gregorian.
