Vanessa Kachadurian Paros Foundation Choir meets Dance

Watch this exciting Dance with the Paros Foundation, This is a beautiful reminder how special needs people in Armenia are productive and are not our hidden citizens.  

Vanessc Kachadurian

After SF Ballet’s New York tour I went home to Armenia, to visit my family and to dance there for the first time after 12 years. I danced the full length of Don Quixote in the capital city of Yerevan with my wife and fellow SF Ballet Principal Dancer Vanessa Zahorian. It was the first time she’d danced in Armenia, at the beautiful Armenian National Ballet Theater, and it was a great success!

Vanessa Kachadurian

The day after the performance, it was back to the theater at 6:30 am to take part in a performance project with Paros Chamber Choir—an award-winning group of singers that includes my father. Most of the choir members are survivors from the ’88 earthquake, and as you can see a number of them now use wheelchairs. As a hobby, they came together and in 1993 founded this singing group. They’re all incredible human beings, and have lots of passion in them. I donated my time to share the stage with the choir and dance while they were singing, in a performance to mark the 25th anniversary of the devastating 1988 Armenian earthquake.

My father was a famous folk dancer before his accident. He injured his back when he was 32 years old at a barbeque with friends—he did a flip off a barre like a gymnast, but his hands were greasy and he fell, breaking his spine. He had a major surgery to reconstruct his spine. He couldn’t walk for a year but then a miracle happened and he could walk. I was the miracle child. To this day, my father lives through the careers that my sister and I have, and he always told us “to live his dream and to finish what he had started”, since he wasn’t able to realize that dream

http://www.sfballetblog.org/2013/12/davit-in-armenia/

Vanessa Kachadurian Charity in Armenia - Paros Foundation supplies shoes to needy children

Vanessa Kachadurian believes that Paros Foundation is one of the best overall charity groups in Armenian and Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh) they help children that are in impoverished conditions and also supply much needed upgrades to orphanages, actually putting Armenians to work for these useful projects.  Vanessa Kachadurian also likes the fact they have a support system for handicapped adults that have formed an award winning choir in Armenia.  Paros Foundation was formed out of northern California. 

Yerevan - Share-a-Pair, a project of The Paros Foundation's 100 for 100 Projects for Prosperity distributed more than 50,000 shoes to children in need in Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh this year.

"In its third year, Share-a-Pair has successfully distributed more than 75,000 pairs of new shoes and almost 1,000 pairs of warm winter boots to children in need," said Peter Abajian, Executive Director of The Paros Foundation. "This has been particularly exciting because we have been able to engage hundreds of volunteers from around the world during our various distributions."
Vanessa Kachadurian
In 2013, shoes were distributed to children in need, in more than 90 rural communities. Distributions were also made to children in boarding schools, kindergartens, orphanages and through other non governmental children's organizations.

Helping meet the need of an impoverished child with a well-fitting pair of new shoes appropriate for school or play, improves their health and development. New shoes are costly and often times poise a financial hardship for parents of multiple children. Throughout the process, both children and their parents expressed their thanks for this bit of relief.

Through our partially funded Healthy Teeth Project, dental hygiene products were distributed to almost 2,000 children in select rural communities. SERVICE-Armenia 2013 participants both distributed the products and provided instruction on their proper usage.

Our partner, Focus on Children Now spearheaded shoe distributions throughout needy communities in Nagorno Karabakh. Ambassador John Heffern, US Ambassador to Armenia and the US Embassy's Helping Hands group joined with our SERVICE Armenia 2013 Participants to distribution shoes to children in rural communities.
Vanessa Kachadurian
A video report on this completed project can be seen at www.parosfoundation.org/shareapair2013.

The Paros Foundation expresses its sincere appreciation to the donors, the Unison, NGO supporting people with special needs, Focus on children now, Ambassador John Heffern, the Helping Hands group at the US Embassy in Armenia, the Paros Foundation's SERVICE Armenia 2013 participants and all the other volunteers that joined this important effort.
Vanessa Kachadurian
Share-a-Pair's Operation Winter Boots continues to accept donations. A $20 contribution will provide a child in need a new pair of warm winter boots. The Paros Foundation underwrites all administrative expenses allowing 100% of donor contributions to go directly to this project. To sponsor a project of the Paros Foundation's 100 for 100 Projects for Prosperity, please