June 30, 2008

U.S. Embassy´ Office of Defense Cooperation Delivers Property to Special School #2 in Echmiatsin

On June 30th, 2008, the acting U.S. Deputy Chief of Mission, Robert Frasier, participated in a ribbon cutting ceremony at Special School #2 in Echmiatsin, Armenia. He was joined by the school´s director, Eleonora Mirakyan. The event celebrated the delivery of over $30,000 dollars worth of furniture, as well as electric cooking ranges and other equipment to the school. The school was founded in 1980 and has an enrollment of 126 pupils.

This project was coordinated by MAJ Ed Keller of the U.S. Kansas National Guard who is assigned to the U.S. Embassy´s Office of Defense Cooperation (ODC). The furniture and supplies were donated by the U.S. European Command based in Stuttgart, Germany. This project forms a part of the ODC´s Humantiarian Assistance Program, which will also provide furniture and equipment to an orphanage in Yerevan, provide firefighting gear to the Armenian Rescue Service, and renovate water systems in three northeastern Armenian villages this year.

The Humanitarian Assistance Program, run by the U.S. European Command (EUCOM), is one of the largest assistance programs that the military sponsors in the region. EUCOM assists approximately 20 different countries through humanitarian assistance and executes roughly 150 projects each year.

The U.S. Office of Defense Cooperation in Armenia works to foster U.S. government and industry assistance to Armenia in the defense sphere. The office operates under the authority of the U.S. Chief of Mission in Armenia and the U.S. European Command, located in Stuttgart, Germany.

Acting U.S. Deputy Chief of Mission, Robert Frasier, participated in a ribbon cutting ceremony at Special School #2 in Echmiatsin, Armenia.

Echmiatsin N 2 Special school' staff