GLENDLAE–Spirits were high on Wednesday night, March 5, at the Phoenicia Restaurant, where friends and supporters of the Armenian Bone Marrow Donor Registry (ABMDR) celebrated the launch of a campaign to raise funds for the establishment of a unique medical center in Armenia. Slated for completion in September of 2008, the Stem Cell Harvesting Center, as the only center of its kind in the region, will bring the life-saving procedure of stem cell transplantation within the reach of many more patients, and will play a vital role in the treatment of other diseases as well, such as many cancers, diabetes, and heart ailmen’s.
A capacity crowd of more than 100 guests attended the “Be An Angel, Save A Life” Campaign kick-off, including members of the medical profession, social services organizations, and other interested civic associations, as well as venerated religious and civic leaders.
Dr. Frieda Jordan, President of the ABMDR, shared her vision for the Harvesting Center, and encouraged those in attendance to support the project, stating, “The Stem Cell Harvesting Center in Yerevan will be a source of pride for the global Armenian and non-Armenian communities. When it is fully operational, the Center will be instrumental in the preservation of countless lives that would otherwise be lost.”
The March 5 event lays the foundation for a fundraising Telethon that the ABMDR will host and telecast internationally on Sunday, April 13. Artin Manoukian, Chairman of the Be An Angel, Save a Life Campaign, was pleased with the enthusiastic turnout for the evening, noting “This kick-off sets us on course for an increasingly healthy and productive fund drive leading up to April’s ABMDR Telethon that will raise the necessary funds to realize the Registry’s dreams of helping Armenia’s world-wide.” He advised those present to promote the telethon drive, which will be held from 4. to 9 p.m.
The Armenian Bone Marrow Donor Registry is the first and only organization of its kind in the Caucasian region and was founded in 1999 as an independent, non-governmental, non-profit organization, whose mission is to ensure that every ethnic Armenian struck with a life threatening blood-related illness is able to find hope for long-term survival through the identification of a genetically suitable bone marrow match.
For more information on the ABMDR and the Stem Cell Harvesting Center, please contact Those who wish to learn more about the Registry may contact ABMDR at 3111 Los Feliz Blvd., Suite 206, Los Angeles, CA; by calling (323) 663-3609; or e-mailing abmdrla@sbcglobal.net .The website
