GLENDALE — At a regular press conference held last week–Armenia Fund Inc. announced that 97 percent of the adjusted telethon pledge total had been collected.
Armenia Fund president Rafi Ourfalian announced that $5,501,695 had been collected to finance the construction of a highway linking Armenia with Karabakh through Goris.
The total announced at the end of last year’s telethon was $5,569,634–which the Lincy Foundation had pledged to match on the condition that the pledge amounts collected were deposited by Dec. 31–1996.
The difference in the announced figures and the adjusted sum was attributed to human error–according to Ourfalian.
However–only $4,333,076.26 was collected by the year-end deadline–according to an Armenia Fund statement.
Lincy also agreed to match a $1 million anonymous donation made in October–said Ourfalian.
To date–Lincy has transferred $1,505,459.49 for receipts up to July 31 and $2,827,616.77 for receipts up to Dec. 31–bringing the total to $8,666,152.52.
According to the statement–as of Jan. 7–$5,330,459.49 has been transferred to the Armenia Fund office in Yerevan.
The Fund also announced that a 32,000 sq. m. commercial property in Harrisburg–Penn. donated by industrialist John Vartan and valued at $1.6 million–had not yet been sold.
Rumors of Armenia Fund General Executive Director Manoushag Petrossian’s resignation were refuted by Ourfalian and Armenia Fund Inc. Board member Greg Kahwejian
"As of today it’s just a rumor. I don’t know," Ourfalian remarked–following which Kahwejian insisted that "As of Monday when I left Armenia–it wasn’t the case."
"As of today–I talked to the office there [Yerevan]. That wasn’t the case," reiterated Ourfalian.
The group includes the Prelacy and the Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church–the Evangelical and Catholic churches as well as a number of community organizations.