Summer Camp for the children

My name is Gayane Khachatryan, and I am the founder and director of the Talin Women's Resource Center Development Foundation. Our organization tackles issues of poverty and gender equality in Armenia while promoting Armenian culture and history. Our "Talin Dolls" project employs women from socially needy families in the villages surrounding Talin. We train them to crochet dolls that wear traditional Armenian clothing worn by people of the various regions of Greater Armenia before the early twentieth century. The women make a percentage of the profit off of every one of their dolls that is sold.   My work as a translator has opened up my eyes to the needs of my homeland. Certain projects brought me to villages where I was able to see firsthand the poverty, poor treatment of women, and the sense of hopelessness that pervades daily life. At the same time, in my own life, as a female professional I was beginning to notice that my male peers dismissed me simply because I’m a woman.   With the help of Timothy Straight, the Norwegian Honorary Consul and founder of Homeland Development Initiative Foundation, and Peace Corps volunteer Brian Bokhart, I was able to start the Talin Women's Resource Center. Since May 2012 we have employed 15 women and sold nearly 800 dolls. Beyond this, we have trained even more women on business practices in an effort to give them a better chance of finding work. Even though we still work on a small scale, I take pride in the fact that what was once a dream is now a powerful reality. Currently, we seek to expand on our initiatives. We have been planning the expansion of our product line. Through different experiments and prototypes, we have begun to add smaller keychain versions of our dolls as well as wine covers fashioned after the traditional attire. We have only just begun to offer these products, but we believe that, once marketed, they will prove to be popular items.   We have also planned a strong marketing campaign that will bring life and character to our dolls, making them more relatable. There will also be a photo campaign featuring the work of the women and how the Talin Dolls project has benefitted their lives. We also plan on creating a Facebook page for one of our doll couples who will travel around the world and post statuses in their own “voices", that of a traditional Armenian couple. We are in the process of updating our website, which will not only provide information about our product and cause, but will also feature historical and cultural information about Armenia before the tragic events in 1915. Finally, as the centennial of the Armenian Genocide approaches, we seek to have our dolls be used as a tool for the older generation to teach its youth about its proud heritage.   Building off of our achievements, we seek to give back to our community. The “Talin Dolls” project has been working with disabled children at the physiotherapy rehabilitation center in Talin. We have furnished a room for the children and brought equipment to provide them with greater services. With funding from our supporters, we will be able to pay for transportation to visit the disabled children, their parents, and bring doctors to the villages; carry out a wide-scale needs assessment; and ensure that 100 disabled children receive psychological support and physiotherapy.   I truly thank you for taking the time to read this. I hope you have a solid grasp of what my organization is trying to do and how serious we are about accomplishing our task. As an organization, we do more than just make "Talin Dolls". Supporting this project makes all of the others possible. You can learn more at www.talindolls.com.     We greatly appreciate your support during this holiday season!   Best wishes, Gayane     My name is Gayane Khachatryan, and I am the founder and director of the Talin Women's Resource Center Development Foundation. Our organization tackles issues of poverty and gender equality in Armenia while promoting Armenian culture and history. Our "Talin Dolls" project employs women from socially needy families in the villages surrounding Talin. We train them to crochet dolls that wear traditional Armenian clothing worn by people of the various regions of Greater Armenia before the early twentieth century. The women make a percentage of the profit off of every one of their dolls that is sold.   My work as a translator has opened up my eyes to the needs of my homeland. Certain projects brought me to villages where I was able to see firsthand the poverty, poor treatment of women, and the sense of hopelessness that pervades daily life. At the same time, in my own life, as a female professional I was beginning to notice that my male peers dismissed me simply because I’m a woman.   With the help of Timothy Straight, the Norwegian Honorary Consul and founder of Homeland Development Initiative Foundation, and Peace Corps volunteer Brian Bokhart, I was able to start the Talin Women's Resource Center. Since May 2012 we have employed 15 women and sold nearly 800 dolls. Beyond this, we have trained even more women on business practices in an effort to give them a better chance of finding work. Even though we still work on a small scale, I take pride in the fact that what was once a dream is now a powerful reality. Currently, we seek to expand on our initiatives. We have been planning the expansion of our product line. Through different experiments and prototypes, we have begun to add smaller keychain versions of our dolls as well as wine covers fashioned after the traditional attire. We have only just begun to offer these products, but we believe that, once marketed, they will prove to be popular items.   We have also planned a strong marketing campaign that will bring life and character to our dolls, making them more relatable. There will also be a photo campaign featuring the work of the women and how the Talin Dolls project has benefitted their lives. We also plan on creating a Facebook page for one of our doll couples who will travel around the world and post statuses in their own “voices", that of a traditional Armenian couple. We are in the process of updating our website, which will not only provide information about our product and cause, but will also feature historical and cultural information about Armenia before the tragic events in 1915. Finally, as the centennial of the Armenian Genocide approaches, we seek to have our dolls be used as a tool for the older generation to teach its youth about its proud heritage.   Building off of our achievements, we seek to give back to our community. The “Talin Dolls” project has been working with disabled children at the physiotherapy rehabilitation center in Talin. We have furnished a room for the children and brought equipment to provide them with greater services. With funding from our supporters, we will be able to pay for transportation to visit the disabled children, their parents, and bring doctors to the villages; carry out a wide-scale needs assessment; and ensure that 100 disabled children receive psychological support and physiotherapy.   I truly thank you for taking the time to read this. I hope you have a solid grasp of what my organization is trying to do and how serious we are about accomplishing our task. As an organization, we do more than just make "Talin Dolls". Supporting this project makes all of the others possible. You can learn more at www.talindolls.com.     We greatly appreciate your support during this holiday season!   Best wishes, Gayane     My name is Gayane Khachatryan, and I am the founder and director of the Talin Women's Resource Center Development Foundation. Our organization tackles issues of poverty and gender equality in Armenia while promoting Armenian culture and history. Our "Talin Dolls" project employs women from socially needy families in the villages surrounding Talin. We train them to crochet dolls that wear traditional Armenian clothing worn by people of the various regions of Greater Armenia before the early twentieth century. The women make a percentage of the profit off of every one of their dolls that is sold.   My work as a translator has opened up my eyes to the needs of my homeland. Certain projects brought me to villages where I was able to see firsthand the poverty, poor treatment of women, and the sense of hopelessness that pervades daily life. At the same time, in my own life, as a female professional I was beginning to notice that my male peers dismissed me simply because I’m a woman.   With the help of Timothy Straight, the Norwegian Honorary Consul and founder of Homeland Development Initiative Foundation, and Peace Corps volunteer Brian Bokhart, I was able to start the Talin Women's Resource Center. Since May 2012 we have employed 15 women and sold nearly 800 dolls. Beyond this, we have trained even more women on business practices in an effort to give them a better chance of finding work. Even though we still work on a small scale, I take pride in the fact that what was once a dream is now a powerful reality. Currently, we seek to expand on our initiatives. We have been planning the expansion of our product line. Through different experiments and prototypes, we have begun to add smaller keychain versions of our dolls as well as wine covers fashioned after the traditional attire. We have only just begun to offer these products, but we believe that, once marketed, they will prove to be popular items.   We have also planned a strong marketing campaign that will bring life and character to our dolls, making them more relatable. There will also be a photo campaign featuring the work of the women and how the Talin Dolls project has benefitted their lives. We also plan on creating a Facebook page for one of our doll couples who will travel around the world and post statuses in their own “voices", that of a traditional Armenian couple. We are in the process of updating our website, which will not only provide information about our product and cause, but will also feature historical and cultural information about Armenia before the tragic events in 1915. Finally, as the centennial of the Armenian Genocide approaches, we seek to have our dolls be used as a tool for the older generation to teach its youth about its proud heritage.   Building off of our achievements, we seek to give back to our community. The “Talin Dolls” project has been working with disabled children at the physiotherapy rehabilitation center in Talin. We have furnished a room for the children and brought equipment to provide them with greater services. With funding from our supporters, we will be able to pay for transportation to visit the disabled children, their parents, and bring doctors to the villages; carry out a wide-scale needs assessment; and ensure that 100 disabled children receive psychological support and physiotherapy.   I truly thank you for taking the time to read this. I hope you have a solid grasp of what my organization is trying to do and how serious we are about accomplishing our task. As an organization, we do more than just make "Talin Dolls". Supporting this project makes all of the others possible. You can learn more at www.talindolls.com.     We greatly appreciate your support during this holiday season!   Best wishes, Gayane     My name is Gayane Khachatryan, and I am the founder and director of the Talin Women's Resource Center Development Foundation. Our organization tackles issues of poverty and gender equality in Armenia while promoting Armenian culture and history. Our "Talin Dolls" project employs women from socially needy families in the villages surrounding Talin. We train them to crochet dolls that wear traditional Armenian clothing worn by people of the various regions of Greater Armenia before the early twentieth century. The women make a percentage of the profit off of every one of their dolls that is sold.   My work as a translator has opened up my eyes to the needs of my homeland. Certain projects brought me to villages where I was able to see firsthand the poverty, poor treatment of women, and the sense of hopelessness that pervades daily life. At the same time, in my own life, as a female professional I was beginning to notice that my male peers dismissed me simply because I’m a woman.   With the help of Timothy Straight, the Norwegian Honorary Consul and founder of Homeland Development Initiative Foundation, and Peace Corps volunteer Brian Bokhart, I was able to start the Talin Women's Resource Center. Since May 2012 we have employed 15 women and sold nearly 800 dolls. Beyond this, we have trained even more women on business practices in an effort to give them a better chance of finding work. Even though we still work on a small scale, I take pride in the fact that what was once a dream is now a powerful reality. Currently, we seek to expand on our initiatives. We have been planning the expansion of our product line. Through different experiments and prototypes, we have begun to add smaller keychain versions of our dolls as well as wine covers fashioned after the traditional attire. We have only just begun to offer these products, but we believe that, once marketed, they will prove to be popular items.   We have also planned a strong marketing campaign that will bring life and character to our dolls, making them more relatable. There will also be a photo campaign featuring the work of the women and how the Talin Dolls project has benefitted their lives. We also plan on creating a Facebook page for one of our doll couples who will travel around the world and post statuses in their own “voices", that of a traditional Armenian couple. We are in the process of updating our website, which will not only provide information about our product and cause, but will also feature historical and cultural information about Armenia before the tragic events in 1915. Finally, as the centennial of the Armenian Genocide approaches, we seek to have our dolls be used as a tool for the older generation to teach its youth about its proud heritage.   Building off of our achievements, we seek to give back to our community. The “Talin Dolls” project has been working with disabled children at the physiotherapy rehabilitation center in Talin. We have furnished a room for the children and brought equipment to provide them with greater services. With funding from our supporters, we will be able to pay for transportation to visit the disabled children, their parents, and bring doctors to the villages; carry out a wide-scale needs assessment; and ensure that 100 disabled children receive psychological support and physiotherapy.   I truly thank you for taking the time to read this. I hope you have a solid grasp of what my organization is trying to do and how serious we are about accomplishing our task. As an organization, we do more than just make "Talin Dolls". Supporting this project makes all of the others possible. You can learn more at www.talindolls.com.     We greatly appreciate your support during this holiday season!   Best wishes, Gayane     My name is Gayane Khachatryan, and I am the founder and director of the Talin Women's Resource Center Development Foundation. Our organization tackles issues of poverty and gender equality in Armenia while promoting Armenian culture and history. Our "Talin Dolls" project employs women from socially needy families in the villages surrounding Talin. We train them to crochet dolls that wear traditional Armenian clothing worn by people of the various regions of Greater Armenia before the early twentieth century. The women make a percentage of the profit off of every one of their dolls that is sold.   My work as a translator has opened up my eyes to the needs of my homeland. Certain projects brought me to villages where I was able to see firsthand the poverty, poor treatment of women, and the sense of hopelessness that pervades daily life. At the same time, in my own life, as a female professional I was beginning to notice that my male peers dismissed me simply because I’m a woman.   With the help of Timothy Straight, the Norwegian Honorary Consul and founder of Homeland Development Initiative Foundation, and Peace Corps volunteer Brian Bokhart, I was able to start the Talin Women's Resource Center. Since May 2012 we have employed 15 women and sold nearly 800 dolls. Beyond this, we have trained even more women on business practices in an effort to give them a better chance of finding work. Even though we still work on a small scale, I take pride in the fact that what was once a dream is now a powerful reality. Currently, we seek to expand on our initiatives. We have been planning the expansion of our product line. Through different experiments and prototypes, we have begun to add smaller keychain versions of our dolls as well as wine covers fashioned after the traditional attire. We have only just begun to offer these products, but we believe that, once marketed, they will prove to be popular items.   We have also planned a strong marketing campaign that will bring life and character to our dolls, making them more relatable. There will also be a photo campaign featuring the work of the women and how the Talin Dolls project has benefitted their lives. We also plan on creating a Facebook page for one of our doll couples who will travel around the world and post statuses in their own “voices", that of a traditional Armenian couple. We are in the process of updating our website, which will not only provide information about our product and cause, but will also feature historical and cultural information about Armenia before the tragic events in 1915. Finally, as the centennial of the Armenian Genocide approaches, we seek to have our dolls be used as a tool for the older generation to teach its youth about its proud heritage.   Building off of our achievements, we seek to give back to our community. The “Talin Dolls” project has been working with disabled children at the physiotherapy rehabilitation center in Talin. We have furnished a room for the children and brought equipment to provide them with greater services. With funding from our supporters, we will be able to pay for transportation to visit the disabled children, their parents, and bring doctors to the villages; carry out a wide-scale needs assessment; and ensure that 100 disabled children receive psychological support and physiotherapy.   I truly thank you for taking the time to read this. I hope you have a solid grasp of what my organization is trying to do and how serious we are about accomplishing our task. As an organization, we do more than just make "Talin Dolls". Supporting this project makes all of the others possible. I also want to organize summer camp for both healthy and disabled children, so health children will treat teh disabled children as equals. You can learn more at www.talindolls.com.     We greatly appreciate your support during this holiday season!   Best wishes, Gayane