Children of Armenia Fund’s (COAF) televised/virtual benefit “Moving Mountains”, held on December 5, raised over USD 4.5 million.

It was organized in place of the organization’s annual holiday gala in New York City.

The fund has stated that the donations will be allocated to its ongoing cutting-edge education, health, social and economic programs in 64 villages, along with its state-of-the-art SMART Center in the Lori region.

“Proceeds will also be used to build modular homes for displaced families from Artsakh who have found refuge in COAF beneficiary villages in Armenia,” said the fund.

In his address, COAF Founder and Chairman Dr. Garo Armen highlighted the urgency of extending COAF’s mission to manage the current crisis in Armenia.

“COAF is an organization with a crisis management DNA. We now face a new crisis to manage; 40,000 Armenians from Artsakh who have been left homeless. To face this crisis, we need to raise our annual fundraising target from USD 6 million last year to USD 20 million this year. We need to provide housing so that we can avoid the tragedy of a community of Armenians living in trailers (domiks) for decades like they have since the 1988 earthquake,” he said.

“For two decades now, COAF has been at the forefront of rural development in Armenia and is committed to addressing the devastating consequences of the recent attack on Artsakh. COAF plans on securing temporary housing and integrating 2,000 displaced people from Artsakh into its programs and services by the end of 2020. After providing temporary housing, COAF will provide permanent housing to those who will not return to Artsakh and ensure they have access to education, healthcare, social and economic programs,” the fund said in a statement.