Yerevan, October 22, 2014 – Hayastan All-Armenian Fund benefactors Mr. and Mrs. Arto and Hilda Kalciyan of Argentina continue to support vital development projects in Khachardzan, a village in Armenia’s Tavush Region. Following the recent opening of Khachardzan’s health clinic and multifunctional events hall, both of which were built with the support of the Kalciyans, the benefactors have also provided funds for the extensive renovation of the community’s school.

For the duration of the school’s reconstruction, the mayor’s building will serve as a makeshift campus for the 66 students.

To date, the Kalciyan’s have made possible several initiatives in Khachardzan, which has a population of close to 400. In June of this year, they donated various school supplies, including school bags and stationery, to the community’s students, and, most recently, provided financial assistance to four local families with newborn babies. The Kalciyans have pledged continued assistance to such families.

“Hundreds of villages in Armenia need our care and support,” Arto Kalciyan has said in an appeal to the Argentinean-Armenian community. “Perhaps we’ve been responding to that need with silent indifference. Life has been extremely difficult in those villages and today they continue to face a number of major issues. Children who were born in such villages are the babies of our homeland, Armenians like us. Isn’t it time for us to join forces and turn our good intentions into tangible actions, as a united people?”

According to Khachardzan mayor Gagik Shahnazaryan, the Kalciyans have also expressed their willingness to support the development of beekeeping in the community.

“Although Mr. and Mrs. Kalciyan have joined the family of the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund only recently, they have already made possible several development projects in the border village of Khachardzan,” said Ara Vardanyan, executive director of the fund. “The initiatives they have sponsored are so far-reaching that the grateful community has named its benefactors Honorary Citizens of Khachardzan.”