$14 mln raised in annual telethon held by Hayastan All-Armenian Fund,  instead of last year`s $ 12, 5 mln

ArmInfo.According to the results of the annual telethon held by Hayastan All-Armenian Fund, $ 14 million 115 940 were raised, Executive Director of the Fund Haykak  Arshamyan informed.

According to Arshamyan, by the time he took office in early October,  there was a lack of trust in the Fund, both in Armenia and abroad.  The new leadership of the organization tried to solve the problem  during meetings in Canada and the United States with representatives  of donor organizations and individuals.

As a result, during the telethon, $ 14 million 115 940 was collected  in total. Meanwhile, as Arshamyan stressed, last year  $ 12mln was  promised, but in fact the fund received only 7 million. "So, this  time we have raised twice as much," the head of the Fund stated.  Haykak Arshamyan emphasized the great support from the President of  the country Armen Sarkissian, who is the Chairman of the Board of  Trustees of the Fund, and the Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan  who is also a member of the Trustees of the Fund.

In addition, the number of donations has increased. According to  Arshamyan, if for the entire past year there were about 3,240  donations, this year since October 3,623 donations from Armenia were  recorded.  The figure for SMS transfers has also increased. There  were transfers even from Egypt, which is unprecedented, the executive  director said.

According to Arshamyan, most of the benefactors donate money to  specific programs. For example, an anonymous philanthropist donated  more than $ 2 million to establish an IT school in Artsakh. Russian  businessman Samvel Karapetyan donated $ 2.8 million, most of which  will be sent to Artsakh. More than $ 1 million from Iran will be used  to implement the program in the Artsakh village of Talish with the  co- financing of the Artsakh government.

A similar amount from benefactor Srbuhi Sargsyan is planned to be  spent on building a center against family violence. The Lebanese  community sent the entire amount collected to Gyumri to provide  people with housing.

Earlier it was reported that the annual fundraising - radio-tone in  Lebanon, organized by the Hayastan All- Armenian Fund, on November 29  raised $ 87,750. Last year, during the telethon in Los Angeles, held  under the slogan "Fertile Artsakh" $ 12,505 456 were collected. And  the largest amount was raised in 2008, it amounted to $ 31 million.  Telethon is held annually in Los Angeles. Over 25 years of the fund's  activities, over 50 thousand programs were implemented in Armenia and  Artsakh, with a total value of more than $ 350 million.