Dear friends:
For the past 29 years, our goal has been to help the environment and people of both Armenia and Artsakh. Like you, all of us at Armenia Tree Project are filled with grief and horror regarding Artsakh’s situation.
We are proud of our work in Artsakh over the years. Before the war, we planted in more than 40 school yards, churches, and community sites. During the 2020 war, our Yerevan office served as a donation site for tools and humanitarian assistance. Some staff members served in the army.
During the short window after the war and before the blockade, we built backyard greenhouses to support 49 families and two school communities, and provided rural villagers with potato and vegetable seeds, tools, and fruit trees to feed their families. With your support, we gave them hope and sustenance during dark times of the blockade. We’re especially grateful for the support we had from our friends at Green Lane NGO, AMAA, and the Tufenkian Foundation to distribute 90 tons of potato seeds in Artsakh in April 2023. One refugee told us, “If not for those potatoes, we would have died from hunger."
Armenia Tree Project has always supported refugees. Karin village in Ashtarak was established by the United Nations in the early 1990s to provide homes for refugees fleeing Baku and Artsakh. ATP established its first nursery in Karin to provide jobs for those refugees. In addition, our Mirak Nursery in Lori region has employed Armenian refugees. Our mission statement includes the promise to aid those Armenians with the fewest resources first.
I have been in Armenia for the past two weeks, assessing the needs of both my staff and ATP's current projects, as well as the status of Artsakh refugees with whom we worked with over the past few years. Currently, we are trying to locate the 49 families that we provided backyard greenhouses to in Artsakh, and provide them with aid while they create new lives in Armenia. We’ve just hired two people from Artsakh, who had assisted us with the Artsakh backyard greenhouse program, to help us do so. We’ve been told that our greenhouses and potato seed distribution were a lifeline during the past year in Artsakh. One Artsakh resident reportedly tried to bring his greenhouse with him from Artsakh to Armenia, but the Azeri soldiers did not allow him to do so.
We’re assisting 30 displaced people who attended or worked at the Shushi Technological University, and have now been displaced for the second time within three years. The University’s site in Stepanakert was the location of one of our greenhouses. This group is currently sharing dorm rooms in Yerevan, and we have provided them with blankets and hygiene products.
While we prepare for our seasonal fall planting and create the opportunity to hire 150+ rural villagers to assist us, we are also preparing to assist refugees from Artsakh. Our plans include the creation of more opportunities to train and hire people to assist with our work, as well as finding housing in rural villages. We’ve been told the refugees would like to settle here, living off the land and creating more backyard greenhouses like they had in Artsakh.
Our brothers and sisters in Armenia need our support now more than ever. Armenia Tree Project’s work continues year round. We also have 80 employees in Armenia relying on the work we provide them to support their families. We cannot afford to halt our work.
As our 30th anniversary approaches, we will be hosting benefits across the world to help fundraise for our people-focused projects such as the Backyard Nursery Program, our seasonal plantings, and our Environmental Education programs. Soon, we plan to launch a program specifically aimed at assisting the refugees of Artsakh. We ask you to continue joining our cause to provide hope and much-needed economic support to the Armenian people.
Executive Director,
Jeanmarie Papelian
