NEW YORK—Armenia Fund USA recently announced the start of the telethon campaign season leading up to the Thanksgiving Day live broadcast. It’s the time of year when donors worldwide show their support for vital initiatives aimed at making Armenia and Nagorno-Karabagh good places to live, work, and raise families.
The new Vardenis-Mardakert Highway on the map
Last year’s telethon raised more than $22 million to launch the construction of the Vardenis-Mardakert Highway, designed to connect communities on the northern border of both Armenia and Karabagh. Yet, in a departure from previous years, which saw a different project highlighted with each new telethon, the All Armenian Fund and its affiliates will once more make this grand-scale project the campaign’s centerpiece. Given the troubling twists and turns with Azerbaijan this year, the border hostilities and geopolitical complications have put national security back on urgent status. It was decided that a second aggressive push to complete this massive infrastructure project was warranted.
Construction crew actively building the road.
Khoren Bandazian, the chairman of the board of Armenia Fund USA, put it into perspective: “Just as the Goris-Stepanakert Highway and the North-South Highway were indispensable to the national security and economic development of both republics in the early years of independence, the 117-kilometer Vardenis-Mardakert Highway will create access to a now isolated and vulnerable region. By linking these communities with a modern roadway, we will strengthen economic activity in the area and also fortify the defense of the region. That’s why we are asking our Eastern U.S. region constituents to think strategically and act generously.”
Since breaking ground last year, the reconstruction and renovation of this critical route has been well under way. Earthworks are being performed simultaneously across 12 sections of the highway. This entails blasting rocks, leveling surfaces, widening roads, and transposing existing engineering structures. In addition, crews are installing gutters as well as building embankments and crash barriers.
This phase is expected to be completed before the new year, which will allow for passenger cars to cross from the Gegharkunik region in Armenia to the Mardakert region in Karabagh. As a result, travel time will be significantly reduced and community interaction and cooperation will be facilitated as never before.
Still to come are the final phases, including paving roadways and installing traffic signage, painting lane indicators, and building rest stations, due to be implemented with the funds raised from the Telethon 2014 campaign.
Prior to the broadcast, Armenia Fund USA will reach out to Eastern Region communities with a direct mail campaign soliciting “early bird” donations, which can be contributed by phone, online, or regular mail. These funds will be combined with those raised during the broadcast and included in the final tally to be announced at the end of the telethon broadcast.
To support this effort without delay or to see the telethon broadcast schedule and participating TV channels in your area, visit www.armeniafundusa.org or call toll-free 1-866-446-6237.
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