YOUNG PROFESSIONALS GO GREEN BY UNITING WORLDWIDE TO BUILD A PARK IN KHACHIK, ARMENIA
AZG DAILY
28-01-2011
After 18 months of preparation and planning, the AGBU Young
Professionals (YP) Network recently completed the development and
implementation of its first pan-YP project to build a park in the
rural village of Khachik, Armenia. Flexing their global muscle for
the very first time, ten YP Groups and YP Partner organizations from
four continents participated, including YP Buenos Aires, YP Brazil,
YP Greater New York, YP Los Angeles, YP Marseille, YP Northern
California, YP Philadelphia, YP Toronto, YP Yerevan, and HAIK in
Frankfurt, Germany, in cooperation with the Center for Agribusiness
and Rural Development (CARD), AGBU press office reports.
With international cooperation as a main priority, the project was
initiated in July 2009 during the AGBU Young Professionals Biennial
Assembly held in Chicago over AGBU FOCUS weekend. Worldwide YP
representatives concluded that the time had come to pool their
resources as a cohesive whole for Armenia. Breaking new ground, the
AGBU Young Professionals decided to launch an environmental project
which would be conceived, funded, and developed entirely by them. As a
result of this initiative, the new park will now provide a green space
of beauty and relaxation for the 300 families of Khachik to enjoy;
the park is expected to also help attract visitors and tourists,
thus providing a future source of income for residents.
With the funds raised by the YP Groups in the diaspora and project
implementation in Khachik overseen by YP Yerevan, this unified effort
by the YP Network sets an exemplary model that cooperation reaps
results to create a more positive future for the people of Armenia.
Throughout 2010, several groups organized benefit events dedicated
specifically to the project, including YP Northern California’s
signature Winter Gala (), YP Los Angeles’ St.
Patrick’s Day Mixer, YP Toronto’s Noir & Blanche Soiree, YP Marseille’s
Bio Fair, and HAIK’s Classical Summer Concert.
In addition to the new park, there have been other development
initiatives underway in Khachik recently. Providing its residents
much-needed exposure and a connection to the outside world, YP Yerevan,
in cooperation with CARD, built an Information Center in Khachik’s
village hall in April 2010, furnishing it with computers and Internet
access. Less than a kilometer outside Khachik, a 9th-century church
is also being renovated by the Ministry of Culture and UNESCO.
From: A. Papazian