“A Century of Dedicated Service”
ARS, Inc. Gears up for Centennial Celebration
with Major Worldwide Fundraiser
The Armenian Relief Society, Inc. has kicked off a major
worldwide fundraiser in connection with its upcoming
centennial birthday. Founded in 1910, the Society will
commemorate 100 years of service to Armenian communities
around the world – and people in need everywhere – in 2010
with a slate of activities worthy of such a milestone.
Already, pledges totaling nearly $400,000 have been received
by the ARS Inc. office as a result of the unified and
coordinated efforts of Centennial Fund Drive committees that
have been formed by ARS entities around the world. These
donors will be announced to the community soon.
The Society’s October 2005 68th international convention
resolved that a $5 million worldwide fundraiser should be
held in the run-up to the Society’s centennial anniversary
celebration to further secure the ARS, Inc. for the next
century and enable the Society to strengthen its current
programs and projects and establish necessary new ones.
The Centennial Endowment Fund’s establishment will assure
the Society’s continued ability to underwrite critical
programs in Armenia, Artsakh, and Javakhk, and throughout
the entire Armenian diaspora. The ARS’s mission to support
all those who need assistance even beyond the Armenian
community will also be served by the Centennial fundraiser.
Driving donors’ desire to help the oldest Armenian women’s
organization in the world is the ARS’s unparalleled service
to the community and its dedicated devotion to strengthening
and bettering the lives of those who need a helping hand.
Since the re-establishment of a free and independent
Armenia, the liberation of Artsakh, and the mobilization of
Javakhk’s Armenian community, the ARS has donated millions
of dollars on food, social and medical services, education,
and orphan assistance in those regions. At the same time,
the ARS has remained dedicated to address the social and
educational needs of the Diaspora. As a result, the ARS has
donated over $15 million during the past three years in
fulfillment of its mission.
Thousands of dollars have also been dedicated to fund relief
efforts beyond the Armenian community in the form of
donations to help people stricken by disaster, including the
victims of Hurricane Katrina, the earthquake in Iran, the
southeast Asian tsunami, and others.
The ARS’s important contributions to the Armenian and wider
community is evidenced by those individuals who have agreed
to serve on the Centennial Fundraising Committee: Catholicos
Aram I of the Great House of Cilicia; First Lady of the
Republic of Armenia Bella Kocharian; First Lady of the
Republic of Lebanon Mrs. Andree Lahoud; Carnegie Foundation
President Dr. Vartan Gregorian; Baroness Caroline Cox, UK
House of Lords; and internationally known actress Arsineh
Khanjian.
The ARS was founded in 1910 and is an independent,
non-sectarian organization dedicated to preserving the
Armenian cultural heritage and serving the social, medical,
and educational needs of Armenia, the Armenian diaspora, and
others around the world.
Those who wish to celebrate the ARS’s centennial anniversary
and help the ARS secure its mission to serve the Armenian
people may send their tax-deductible donation to ARS, Inc.,
80 Bigelow Ave., Watertown, MA 02472. For more information,
call the ARS Inc. international headquarters at (617)
926-5892 or e-mail fundappeal@ars1910.org.