Charity Feature: Focus on Children Now (FCN)
Written by Anna Dalyan, FCN’s Social Media & Marketing Coordinator
Established in 2006, Focus on Children Now (FCN) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that is dedicated to helping underprivileged children of Armenia and Artsakh access the basic necessities of life through humanitarian, education, nutrition, and health programs.
Since 2006, FCN has been fulfilling its mission by benefiting over 100,000 children & families across Armenia & Artsakh.
One of FCN’s primary goals is to provide young children with the opportunity to attend kindergarten, as early education is one of the most vital factors in building a wholesome foundation. FCN does so by donating and installing new beds, bedding, tables, chairs, bookshelves, and playgrounds for kindergartens across multiple regions in both Armenia & Artsakh, and by providing daily nutrition. FCN’s education and nutrition programs aid in opening kindergartens and strengthening enrollment rates of existing establishments.
As an organization that strives to assess and better the experiences of impoverished Armenian children, FCN is all too familiar with the realities and dangers that these children face while living in Armenian villages bordering Azerbaijan. This is why we knew we had to be fast on our feet and on the ground from day one when the 2020 war between the two countries broke out.
As of September 27th, 2020, thousands of children and families from Artsakh, also known as Nagorno-Karabagh, had unwillingly fled their homes and found refuge in various parts of Armenia proper as a means of protection from large-scale war activity. FCN responded to this crisis by providing immediate humanitarian aid to the displaced children and their family members. At the start of the war, our organization was working in parts of Armenia by the border, like the city of Goris, where many families from Artsakh went to seek refuge. We partnered with the mayor of Goris to ensure that we could give the displaced people immediate care and in the best way that we knew how.
As of the end of September, our initiatives have shifted from our regularly scheduled projects and programs, to currently solely focusing on those who need aid due to the aftereffects of the war.
At the start of the war, monetary contributions from donors had been going towards multiple helpful projects, such as
- Purchasing flour, so that 12 volunteers (villagers of Mets Masrik) can bake a daily average of 800 fresh bread loaves to distribute to the displaced families
- Donating new clothing for children and adults as the colder seasons began to take over, as well as prenatal & newborn essentials for expecting mothers
- Gifting children with toys, books, and games so they can attempt to continue to live out their childhood with happy pass-times, rather than anxious thoughts
- Helping stock a warehouse with products, which government officials had turned into a makeshift “market,” providing thousands of displaced families with free groceries & essentials needed on a regular basis
However, by week three of the war, we felt that the situations at hand were becoming seemingly permanent, and we made the decision to start up a monthly nutrition program for displaced Artsakhtsis, called Angels of Artsakh. To give a simple breakdown, $1 USD a day feeds one child for a day, so $30 USD a month will feed a child for an entire month. All of our food purchases for the displaced families are either from local vendors or farmers, which also helps the economy of Armenia during these turbulent times. Right now, we are feeding roughly 2,000 displaced people, 65%-70% of whom are children, across the Tavush and Gegharkunik regions. We have also recently added 70 Artsakhtsis staying at the Hearing Impaired Center in Yerevan, the capital city of Armenia, to our roster of displaced families receiving balanced daily nutrition. Many of the people we are feeding no longer have a home to return to due to the outcome of the war, which is a very stressful and disheartening situation. We believe that this is one of the best ways people can continue to help with the situation across Armenia and Artsakh. Comparatively, when you look at the numbers of what it costs to feed people in Armenia, here in the US we spend more than $30 USD a month on just our daily cups of coffee. It’s important to spread the word and to put it into perspective that we all can make a difference in these people’s lives if we really wanted to.
One thing that we’re grateful for is the fact that people want to learn more about our organization and are putting their trust in us to fulfill projects. FCN takes pride in being an ultra-transparent non-profit, and we’re thrilled to collaborate with someone like Armand Kambourian, who works hard to make things happen on a creative and technological scale. Armand and his friends started SuperSecretLA as in-person parties, a few of which I’ve personally been to, and one of the things I admired most was the feeling of community and togetherness that came about at each event. After the first COVID lockdown, he started a Twitch channel and the party took to the internet in the form of livestream DJ sets.
How you can help
If you’d like to start a fundraiser or a live streaming event, be sure and check out the overlays and charity donation alerts that the Streamlabs design team made.
To have access to a platform like Twitch, as well as resources like Streamlabs Charity, any streamer and non-profit organization can come together with a common humanitarian goal, to truly make a difference.
Helpful Links:
- Start a fundraising campaign for Focus on Children Now (FCN)
- Download the FCN stream overlays
- Install the FCN charity donation alerts
- Learn more about FCN
