Gifts of Life : For Armenians, It’s Better to Give to Quake Victims

When the Melkonian children open their presents Christmas morning, they will find inexpensive books instead of the more elaborate gifts they’ve gotten in the past.

The Melkonians of Anaheim are typical of many Armenian families in Orange County, who have canceled parties and cut back on gift giving. The money saved, they said, will be donated to relief organizations helping victims of the devastating Dec. 7 earthquake in Soviet Armenia.

The earthquake killed tens of thousands of people, injured thousands of others and left thousands homeless, creating an urgent need for shelter, food and medical help. Donations have been arriving from around the world to aid the survivors.

“We have canceled all parties,” said the Rev. Moushegh Mardirossian of the Forty Martyrs Armenian Apostolic Church in Santa Ana. About 2,500 Armenian families belong to the church.

Blood Drive Planned

Instead, church members have planned a blood drive Dec. 25 for the Orange County chapter of the American Red Cross. The blood drive is in appreciation for relief efforts by the Red Cross in Armenia, Mardirossian said.

A Christmas service will still be held at the church Jan. 6, the traditional day the birth of Christ is observed by Armenian Christians, Mardirossian said. Church officials have also asked members to observe a 40-day mourning period, begun the day of the earthquake and ending Jan. 16.

The church also canceled its annual New Year’s Eve dinner-dance. The fund-raising party, which in the past featured a seven-course meal, music and dancing, raised from $10,000 to $20,000 a year, said Lillie Merigian, principal of the A.G. Minassian Armenian School at the church.

At the school, a few paper Christmas trees, candy canes and Santa faces--put up before the earthquake--adorn classrooms. But the student and faculty Christmas parties have been canceled, Merigian said.

“We’ve asked that all money be spent toward an Armenian relief fund,” she said.

$3 Million in Supplies, Cash

In Southern California, more than $3 million in cash, medicine, food, clothing and other supplies has been collected since Dec. 7 by the Armenian Relief Society of the Western United States Inc., spokesman Varsenig Der Megerdichian said.

Most of the 90 students at the Armenian school for preschoolers to fourth-graders understand the reason for the cancellations.

“No one has expressed any disappointment,” Merigian said.

“Don’t bring me any toys,” Merigian said some students wrote in letters to Santa Claus. “Bring them to Armenia.”

Church member Sylvie Tertzarkian of Santa Ana will not put out any decorations this year, and family members canceled their annual Christmas dinner party. Her 6-year-old son and 9-year-old daughter understand that the money saved will be donated to help victims of the earthquake, she said.

“We have to think of our brothers and sisters in Armenia who have suffered so much. How can we celebrate?”