Recently, the editorial office of Hayern Aysor electronic newspaper of the RA Ministry of Diaspora hosted founding director of the newly established Bridge to Light charitable foundation of Glendale Janna Kasmanyan, her paternal aunt Paris Kasmanyan and the foundation’s representative in Armenia Ani Ghukasyan. Janna is in the homeland to transfer the funds raised by the charitable foundation.

The charitable foundation was established through the efforts of the young Armenian woman and has only been around for a couple of months. It held its first event on May 1 in Los Angeles, raising nearly $10,000 dollars donated by Armenian Americans. By the decision of the foundation’s members, every penny of the funds has been used purposefully. Since the charity event was held after the four-day Artsakh war in April, it was decided to transfer $4,000 dollars to the families of the soldiers who fell during the war. The charitable foundation prepared packages for the soldiers on the border, and 236 boxes of assistance (foods, hygienic accessories, tents, etc.) have been transferred to the army through the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Armenia.

Janna has also transferred funds to five socially disadvantaged families in Gyumri. Moreover, the members of foundation have taken the desire of each family into consideration. They purchased a refrigerator for one family, donated a cradle to a family preparing to have a child, gave piglets to a family to earn a living and transferred money to another family to buy food and pay their utility bills. Our interlocutor shared a touching story about the meeting with one of the families. When the members of the foundation brought a refrigerator and installed it in the home of one of the families, the child of the family started kissing it. He was told that his father had bought the refrigerator, and this made the child feel happy, proud and amazed…

“The goal of our organization is to help socially disadvantaged families, children with diseases and single mothers, but not to merely give them money, but help them get on their feet, find their paths and enhance their skills. For instance, we also support a center dealing with women’s issues where young women and single mothers obtain new professions and learn how to earn a living on their own by, say, organizing banquets or having command of other crafts. Beside all this, we also provided some assistance to Primary School #163 of Yerevan where 40 percent of the children are children of military servicemen. After the four-day Artsakh war, this was also a symbolic step,” janna said.

Currently, the Bridge to Light charitable foundation has nearly 20 members, but has 200-300 Glendale-Armenian supporters, most of whom are from the Sebastia District of Yerevan, the district where Janna spent her childhood.

Janna’s paternal aunt, Paris Kasmanyan joined our conversation, and upon our request, presented Janna as a human being. Paris, who has been living in the United States of America since the age of 6, teaches children about health and design at a public school in Glendale. When Janna visited Armenia at the age of 13, at the airport, she told her paternal aunt that she wanted to go and see the kindergarten where she went and her friends. This was evidence of the adolescent’s humanism, love for friends and the fact that she stays clung to her native land. When Janna visited the Homeland two years ago, she felt bad when she saw poverty everywhere.

“We spent about a month together. It was as if she wasn’t fully happy. When she returned to the United States, she called me and said she had decided to establish a charitable foundation. It seems as though everything fell into place, and she sounded happier. Janna and all of us believe that charity is not giving money and seeing the given person hang his head low and say “thank you”. A real philanthropist must help a person grow, choose a path, get up on his feet and have a dignified life. That is exactly what we are trying to do,” Janna’s friend, Ani said, who is also Janna’s representative in Armenia.

“We must water the “plant” that has “sprouted” in Janna together and turn that “plant” into a big tree,” Ani concluded.

Julieta Matevosyan