GLENDALE : $1.5 Million Raised for War-Torn Region

Organizers of a 16-hour telethon held last weekend said they raised more than $1.5 million to aid the war-torn region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The second annual Artsakh Fund telethon, organized by the local chapter of the Armenian National Committee, originated from a small Glendale television studio and was broadcast on KSCI Channel 18 in the Los Angeles area and over the International Cable Channel in parts of the United States and Canada.

Pledges were received from more than 10,000 individuals and organizations, said George Chorbajian, the committee’s executive director.

The money will be distributed to various aid organizations for the construction of schools, homes, power and communications facilities and even to help replace bridges and other structures that have been destroyed in Nagorno-Karabakh’s six-year war for independence from Azerbaijan.

Some of the money raised during last year’s telethon has also been donated to the orphans and families of soldiers from Nagorno-Karabakh who have been killed in the war.

“The region is pretty devastated, everything is ruined,” Chorbajian said. “Electrical lines, sewers, water pipes, roads, housing. Whatever you can think of, it needs work. This isn’t a lot of money that we’re raising, but we’re trying to use it to help in any way that we can.”