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ANN/GROONG-Lincy Foundation Pledges Up to $600,000 For Quake Damage to Armenians In Turkey
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For immediate release contact: Harut Sassounian
September 13, 1999 tel: 818.241.8900
Lincy Foundation Pledges Up to $600,000
For Quake Damage to Armenians In Turkey
Los Angeles - The Lincy Foundation pledged to match all donations (up to
$600,000) received by the United Armenian Fund for the recovery of the
Armenian community of Turkey from last month's devastating earthquake.
The August 17 temblor which registered 7.4 on the Richter scale killed more
than 15,000 people and destroyed thousands of houses in the Istanbul area.
Archbishop Mesrob Moutafian, the Patriarch of Turkey, announced that the
quake caused $1.2 million of damage to several Armenian churches, schools
and the headquarters of the Patriarchate. Scores of Armenians were killed
or injured.
At the invitation of the Western and Eastern Dioceses of the Armenian
Church, Patriarch Moutafian will visit New York and Los Angeles from the
end of September through early October to participate in a series of
fund-raising events. Since the earthquake, several other Armenian-American
organizations have also announced their own fund-raising efforts for the
needs of the Armenian community of Turkey.
The Lincy Foundation will support all of these fund-raising activities by
matching all funds up to $600,000 forwarded to the United Armenian Fund by
Dec. 31, 1999. The UAF will then donate the total amount thus raised,
hopefully the entire $1.2 million or more, to the Armenian Patriarchate of
Turkey for the repair and reconstruction of the damaged Armenian
institutions.
Tax-deductible contributions may be sent to any one of the Armenian
charitable organizations raising funds for this purpose.
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