FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact: Meri Poghosyan
Public Relations Chairperson
HabiArm Community Youth Group of Habitat For Humanity
Armenia
374 (10) 55 61 14
[email protected]
HABIARM COMMUNITY YOUTH GROUP OPERANTING WITHIN
HABITAT FOR HUMANITY ARMENIA
AWARDED A $500 DISNEYHAND MINNIE GRANT
TO LEAD A GLOBAL YOUTH SERVICE DAY PROJECT
Global Youth Service Day (GYSD) is an annual event organized by Youth
Service America with the Global Youth Action Network, together with a
consortium of International Organizations and more than 100 National
Coordinating Committees. From Brazil and Colombia to Kenya and China,
young people around the world are currently organizing community
service projects in celebration of Global Youth Service Day. Since
2000, Global Youth Service Day has grown from 27 participating
countries to more than 125 countries in 2004.
The Global Youth Service day is of great importance to HabiArm Youth
Community Group as it is an official day for what HabiArm has adopted
as one of its missions, i.e. to raise the awareness of young people
about community service and volunteering issues.
We organized a special two-day event for the children of Habitat
for Humanity Armenia homeowners with the purpose of helping them
understand what is the community and how they can be involved in its
development. Before Habitat For Humanity Armenia helped their families
to build their own simple decent and healthy homes. This program made
a real difference in their life and now they can make difference in
someone else’s life and make them smile and feel loved.
The first day, April 30 was community service in action. The children
visited Mission Armenia Nor Nork Community Center taking for them
table games, i.e. backgammons, chess and books. The children, sang,
danced, and recited for grandmas and grandpas.
The children from Yerevan with the guidance and help of HabiArm
members had prepared a performance about Habitat and community service.
HabiArm president and vise-president made a presentation about Habitat
for Humanity, HabiArm youth group and their activities. In their turn
elders explained how their center works and what activities do they
have. At the end elders and children danced together, exchanged phone
numbers and made plans to meet in future as well.
On the second day, May 1, five children from Yerevan and five from
Vanadzor, aged 7-14 were taken to an orphanage in Vanadzor. The choice
of the town was conditioned by our willingness to involve peripheral
regions and not concentrate mainly on Yerevan. Habitat For Humanity
Armenia homeowner children from Vanadzor sang, danced, and recited
for other children and children from Yerevan again performed about
Habitat and community service.
The orphanage kids surprised us with a nice lively concert.
Afterwards the children got together and built paper houses. It was
very interesting to get and compare the orphan kids’ perspective
of home and that of Habitat homeowner children. The day ended with
eating cakes together and distributing gifts to all the children.
Global Youth Service Day is a public education campaign that highlights
the amazing contributions made by youth year-round to their communities
through volunteering. Since Global Youth Service Day started in 2000,
a number of international organizations have joined Youth Service
America and Global Youth Action Network to expand this program,
including the Inter-American Development Bank, Youth Employment Summit,
IEARN, Service for Peace and others. In the United States, National
Youth Service Day, also a program of Youth Service America, is part
of Global Youth Service Day. For more information, visit:
DisneyHand, worldwide outreach for The Walt Disney Company, is
dedicated to making the dreams of families and children a reality
through public service initiatives, community outreach and volunteerism
in the areas of compassion, learning, the arts and the environment. For
more information visit
Youth Service America is a national nonprofit resource center that
partners with thousands of other organizations committed to growing
the youth service movement. Youth Service America’s programs and
services increase the effectiveness, sustainability, and scale of
the youth service and service-learning fields on a local, national,
and global level. In addition to Global Youth Service Day and
National Youth Service Day, happening April 15-17, 2005, YSA also
hosts SERVEnet (), providing the largest database of
volunteer opportunities in America. For more information about grant
opportunities for Global Youth Service Day, please visit
The Global Youth Action Network is a not-for-profit organization
that acts as an incubator of global partnerships among youth
organizations. Their mission is to facilitate youth participation
and intergenerational partnership in global decision-making; to
support collaboration among diverse youth organizations; and to
provide tools, resources, and recognition for positive youth action.
For more information, please go to:
HabiArm Community Youth Group is a youth-oriented team of volunteers
within Habitat For Humanity Armenia.
Habitat for Humanity Armenia is an affiliate of Habitat for Humanity
International and supports community development in the Republic of
Armenia by assisting in the construction and renovation of simple,
decent and affordable homes.
Founded in 1976, Habitat for Humanity International is a
non-denominational Christian, non-governmental, non-profit housing
organization that has helped more than 700,000 people of all races,
religions and backgrounds to have a simple, decent and affordable
place to live. Habitat for Humanity has built or renovated more
than 175,000 homes throughout the world, becoming a global leader
in addressing poverty housing. Habitat for Humanity is active in 100
countries worldwide, including 18 in Europe and Central Asia.
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