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  • Group sends aid to Armenia

    Glendale News Press, CA
    Jan 5 2010


    Group sends aid to Armenia

    Coalition of charities has sent $580 million in medicine, other
    supplies since '89.
    By Max Zimbert
    Published: Last Updated Monday, January 4, 2010 10:11 PM PST


    GLENDALE ' An Armenian-American coalition wrapped up its 20th
    anniversary this past year with its 154th charitable airlift to
    Armenia via chartered jetliner that delivered $4.5 million worth of
    medicine, medical supplies and humanitarian aid.

    The United Armenian Fund is a coalition of charities that works to
    send warm clothes, medical equipment and other items requested by
    residents in Armenia.

    `If it's needed, we send it,' said Harut Sassounian, president and
    founder of the Glendale-based organization.

    The coalition was born in response to a catastrophic earthquake that
    leveled much of Armenia in December 1988, then under control of the
    Soviet Union. Aid began trickling in chaotically, Sassounian said.

    `I thought if at least several large Armenian organizations unite and
    collaborate and coordinate their aid, we can do something a little
    more organized,' he said. `That's how UAF was born.'

    That United Armenian Fund can free charities from shipping costs is a
    huge relief, said Sossi Poladian, chairwoman of the Armenian Relief
    Society of Western USA.

    `That way, we could be able to shift our focus on other humanitarian
    projects,' she said. `They do a fantastic job.'

    Since 1989, the fund has delivered $580 million in humanitarian aid
    aboard 154 airlifts. And for the past 10 or 15 years, it's been with a
    staff of three, one of whom is a part-time student.

    `We've been doing this for 20 years; we have established ties with
    major donors,' Sassounian said. `It was a whole different story at the
    beginning.'

    The airlifts aren't cheap, costing $200,000 per trip. But alternative
    shipping methods to Armenia are unpredictable and difficult to pull
    off, organizer said.

    The landlocked country is also blockaded by two of its four neighbors,
    Turkey and Azerbaijan. To the south, it shares a small, mountainous
    border with Iran. Railroads and highways connect it to Georgia in the
    north, but sometimes those connections are unreliable.

    `Basically, the only viable way of getting supplies unhindered to
    Armenia is by air; that's why we started doing airlifts,' Sassounian
    said. `It's so expensive, but we don't have to deal with blockades or
    other issues.'

    The organization sends three or four airlifts a year; the next one is
    scheduled for the end of February. Planes refuel in Germany, and
    regularly pick up donated items from the Armenian community throughout
    Europe.

    Small charities cannot afford to ship to Armenia, Sassounian said.

    `We'll ship it for them,' he said. `If you're a small charity and want
    to do it on your own, it's a lot of red tape?.?.?.?old Soviet
    countries have that. But when you're onboard a UAF flight, you have
    easy passage.'

    United Armenian Fund is constantly shipping containers by sea to
    Georgia, where they are taken by truck or train into Armenia. Doing so
    costs $5,000 to $8,000. The fund has shipped 1,761 containers since
    1989.

    `If I'm sending antibiotics worth, say $100,000, and put on a plane
    that cost me $200,000, if you go by price it doesn't make sense,'
    Sassounian said. `But if it saves so many lives, well, that's the real
    value of the shipment.'

    Time-sensitive items go in the airlift, as does medicine that could be
    contaminated by sea air or affected by stormy seas.

    `If someone gives us a CAT Scan [machine], those things we put on the
    plane because they are high value,' Sassounian said.

    The coalition relies almost entirely on donations. Charitable
    organizations like AmeriCares, Catholic Medical Mission Board and
    World Vision have vast warehouses across the U.S. that organizers can
    pick and choose from.

    `It's not an easy thing, what we're doing,' Sassounian said.

    http://www.glendalenewspress.com/articles/2 010/01/05/news/gnp-airlift010510.txt
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