Pan-European Phoneathon is a fundraising event held by the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund's French affiliate (''Fonds Armenien de France'') and is the second largest

fundraising Fundraising or fund-raising is the process of seeking and gathering voluntary financial contributions by engaging individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies. Although fundraising typically refers to efforts to gathe ...

event of the Hayastan Fund after its Telethon aired from

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. The four-day Phoneathon, which runs for twelve hours each day, is staffed by Armenian and non-Armenian

volunteer Volunteering is a voluntary act of an individual or group freely giving time and labor for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency rescue. Others serve ...

s. Stationed in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

, and

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

, the volunteers call to Armenian and non-Armenian families,

business Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or Trade, buying and selling Product (business), products (such as goods and Service (economics), services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for pr ...

es, and organizations across Europe and mobilize grassroot support for the development of

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...

and

Nagorno Karabakh Nagorno-Karabakh ( ) is a landlocked country, landlocked region in the Transcaucasia, South Caucasus, within the mountainous range of Karabakh, lying between Lower Karabakh and Syunik Province, Syunik, and covering the southeastern range o ...

(Artsakh). Since the inception of the Pan-European Phoneathon in 2000, more than 400,000 phone calls have been made and more than 10 million euros were raised through the donations of over 22,000 supporters. From 70 volunteers in Paris and close to 220,000 euros raised in 2000, the Pan-European Phoneathon has grown to encompass close to 700 volunteers working in five major French cities and an annual average of 1.4 million euros raised through about 50,000 supporters across Europe. Volunteers make calls from the Orange France Telecom call centers in Paris, Lyon, Marseille and Toulouse. Pan-European Phoneathon 2013 held from November 21 to 24 will spend the raised funds to support agricultural development projects in Armenia's

Tavush Province Tavush ( hy, Տավուշ, ) is a province of Armenia located at the northeast of Armenia, bordered by Georgia from the north and Azerbaijan from the east. Internally, Tavush borders the Gegharkunik Province from the south, Kotayk Province from ...

, construction of community centers in Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh), as well as assistance to Syrian-Armenians afflicted by the Syrian Civil War. 200 000 Euros has been already allocated to the various needs of the Syrian Armenians.

Event hosts

The Phoneathon hosts a celebrity each year, known as "godfather" or "godmother". * 2013 -

Ariane Ascaride Ariane Ascaride (born 10 October 1954) is a French actress and screenwriter. She has appeared in films such as '' Marius et Jeannette'' (''Marius and Jeannette''), '' Ma vraie vie à Rouen'' (''The True Story of My Life in Rouen''; USA, ''My Lif ...

Robert Guédiguian Robert Jules Guédiguian (born 3 December 1953) is a French film director, screenwriter, producer and actor. Most of his films star Ariane Ascaride and Jean-Pierre Darroussin. Life and career Guédiguian is the son of a German mother and an Arme ...

* 2012 -

Youri Djorkaeff Youri Raffi Djorkaeff (born 9 March 1968) is a French former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder or forward. Throughout his club career, he played for teams in France, Italy, Germany, England, and the United States. At ...

Daniel Bilalian Daniel Bilalian (born 10 April 1947) is a French journalist, news anchor and television presenter. Life and career Daniel Bilalian was born in Paris and is of Armenian descent. After studying law, he became a journalist at the ''Union de Reims' ...

* 2011 -

Michel Drucker Michel Drucker, CQ (born 12 September 1942 in Vire) is a popular French journalist and TV host. He has been on screen for so long on various shows and different networks, both public and private, that he once said that some people joked that h ...

* 2010 -

Hélène Ségara Hélène Ségara (), born Hélène Aurore Alice Rizzo on 26 February 1971, is a singer of Music of France, French, Armenians, Armenian and Italy, Italian descent, who came to prominence playing the role of Esméralda (The Hunchback of Notre-Dame ...

References

{{Reflist

External links

* Fonds Arménien de France http://www.fondsarmenien.net/ * Annual Phoneathon (2004–2013) - http://himnadram.org/index.php?lang=1&id=22693 * Germany http://www.himnadram.de * Armenia Fund USA (New York) http://www.armeniafundusa.org/ * Armenia Fund US Western Region (Los-Angeles) http://www.armeniafund.org * Documentary on Pan-European Phoneathon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8MKDytsONY Charity events