Come join us as we celebrate Hambartsum "Jan Gyuluum"

Hambarstum, known as Ascension Day, is the holiday of love and enjoyment, which is celebrated outdoors, 40 days after Easter. The belief is that this is the night of miracles. At midnight exactly nature finds the gift of speech, the water is still for a second, the sky and the earth embrace and the stars kiss one another. It is said that space stops its wheel and the ones who witness these magic moments will have their dreams fulfilled.

Enjoy Hambartsum at the park with family and friends as we celebrate this unique Armenian holiday with joyous music and delectable food. 

Sunday, June 5 at 11 AM

Crescenta Valley Park

3901 Dunsmore Ave., La Crescenta, CA  91214

Admission: $5.00

For more information click here or call Ararat office at 323-256-2564.

The Fresno Basketball tournament, is one of the few tournaments organized by Homenetmen Western Region Chapters. This specific tournament is held mainly for children ages 10 through 13. Numerous chapters from all across Southern California participate in this tournament.

This year, the Ararat chapter participated in this tournament with more than 200 athletes, coaches and family members. During the three day weekend, these children and their families are given an experience unlike any other. For the past decade, those who have participated in the Fresno games, whether athlete, parent, sibling, coach, or assistant coach, have always come back with positive remarks and memories that will always be cherished. In addition to the great bonds and friendships that are created in Fresno during this short, yet very sweet weekend, the tournament always reaps excellent results. Our athletes have always excelled during these games. The tournament this past April was no different.

We look forward to sending more athletes in the forthcoming years as they will have the opportunity to experience a weekend with their friends and family that they otherwise might not get to experience.

On Sunday, May 1, the most successful D-League season came to its conclusion. More than 250 kids ages 5 through 12 participated in the program, this season. The closing day was a fun filled event which included the kids, their parents, some grand parents and coaches. Since the program is not about winning and losing, every kid received a trophy.  

Newly re-elected Council member Dave Weaver and one of our major donors, Mr. Gagik Galstian along with his son Mr. Edik Galstian, visited North Campus. The guests were given a tour of the facilities and were briefed about upcoming construction projects and new programs. They also participated in handing out trophies to the young athletes. All and all, the D-League program and the new projects and programs impressed our guests.

In celebration of the 33^rd anniversary of Homenetmen "Ararat" chapter, the chapter has founded an event called "The celebration of our journey"; which will launch several activities that plan programs in order to prepare the youth for the challenges of the future.

On Sunday, April 3, 2011, Ararat hosted the first program of these consecutive events, organized by collaborated efforts of Programs Division and friends of Ararat, following a media reception and press conference with major Armenian news organizations such as Armenia Channel One, US Armenia, Karoz Orakark, Horizon, Asbarez Newsletter, Globalhye, Yerevan Magazine. The executive director, Armond Gorgorian was joined by Friends of Ararat chairman, Parouir Akopian and Homenetmen Regional Chairperson Steve Artinian and Board member Suzie Zerounian-Khanzadian to inform the community about the upcoming events, new ideas, programs and activities.

 "The Armenian Youth Identity" seminar featured community activist, Raffi Hamparian who was joined by Glendale City Clerk Ardashes "Ardy" Kassakhian, Glendale Police Sergeant, Tigran Topadzhikyan and law attorney Garo Ghazarian as guest speakers.

Raffi Hamparian began by stating the importance of volunteerism and having a strong fabric of community in preserving Armenian identity. Ararat chapter to his opinion is an example of such strong fabric; being involved in the organization is a step towards strengthening that community. Sergeant Tigran Topadzikyan talked about the Armenian identity within the City. Topadzikyan shared his journey of life going back to his routes in the Armenian genocide. He acknowledged the importance of education, family support, influence and mentorship in keeping our identity. Panelist Ardashes "Ardy" Kassakhian, also, spoke about the Armenian Youth Identity within the City. He briefly touched the issues and influences that youth are up against today, by painting a very realistic picture of the situation. Garo Ghazarian stated the importance of family influence and guidance in maintaining the Armenian identity. He shared the struggles he went through his life. Gazarian's main focus was beating the odds and making it to the top after a major setback.  

The program ended by an hour long questions and answers from the audience and the panelists, leaving us wondering deep in our thoughts about the Armenian Youth identity, the challenges that the youth is up against today and the contribution that each of us can make to keep and prosper that identity.

On April 3, our Guylik1 and Artsvik1 troops went to the Pasadena Ice Skating Center to enjoy the remnants of the winter season and spend a day with each other.

On April 9, our scouts attended International Scouting Day, an event that takes place every year and is one our scouts enjoy very much. The ethnicities involved other than Armenians are the Polish, Lithuanian, and Ukrainian scouts. The day consists of an opening and closing ceremony, games and activities throughout, hosted by the different cultures, and an ethnic feast, to top things off at the end. This year's event was hosted by the Lithuanian scouts and was a success, as always.

On April 10, at the end of the day's ceremonies, Kouyr Arpi Sinenian received her Miavori Khmbapetoohi Pashton as our Scouting Division's Executive Committee Treasurer. Arpi Sinenian has been a scout since 1998 and has held leadership positions in both our Artsvik2 troop and Kazmakerchakan and Dastiarakchakan Miavor.

For Armenian Genocide commemoration, our scouts participated in two activities hosted by the Regional Scouting Council. On April 10, our scouts were at CV Park, along with Homenetmen's Pasadena and Masis Chapter members. The day's program consisted of a ceremony with a genocide display created by the scouts, lectures, and activities. On April 23, our scouts were part of a large group from the region that was present at the Montebello Genocide Memorial. The day was one of duty, understanding, and reflection for our scouts.

Ararat Chapter has been holding US Table Tennis Association sanctioned tournaments for several years. This year's tournament will be held on May 22, at Ararat North Campus. The tournament, in the past, has attracted high ranking American and international table tennis players and this is how the games provide the opportunity to expose the highly rated Armenian players to the World of Table Tennis.  

USATT is the governing body for all US rated players. USATT is responsible for monitoring and issuing ratings and rankings for all its members. It also allows qualified clubs that are affiliated with USATT to run sanctioned tournaments and send results to USATT for continuous updates in ratings of the players.

Since 2007, Ararat Chapter has been affiliated with USATT and has organized sanctioned tournaments in our Center. Ararat is the only club in the US that offers interaction of so many Armenian athletes with players from all other ethnic backgrounds.

This will be the 10^th year that we will organize the very successful and popular Ararat Kids' Summer Day Camp. The Day Camp started as an experimental program of only four weeks with a staff of three and 34 campers. But throughout the years the program has grown into an eight week program with more than 70 kids weekly and over 10 staff members. This year we have added a special program for kids 12 to 15 years of age.

The camp, now, is an eight week program, with a different weekly theme for each week.  The kids are being exposed to the weekly theme through different activities such as show and tell, educational sessions using visual effects, cooking and field trips, and Olympic style competitions. The regular daily fun activities include arts & crafts, basketball, gymnastics, soccer and water games on Fridays. Since it is summer time and we know the kids have been studying and doing homework for 10 months of the year, we concentrate on fun activities, however, we do include a couple of hours of reading and an hour of math review according to the kids grade level, during each week. All of these activities take place in our air conditioned facility. We should also mention that we have snacks and homemade food for our lunches.

We look forward to seeing our returning kids from previous years and many new faces joining us, for our camp.

For more information and on-line registration, please visit: www.ararat.org

We appologize for misspelling the names of Pan Armenia Games' coaches Menooa Aboolian and Levik Abramians in the April issue. 

City of Glendale

Homework Help (Glendale Central Library)

Occurs every week on Tuesday and Thursday

Time: 4:00 - 6:00 p.m. Location: 222 E. Harvard St., Glendale, CA  91205

818-548-2030

Children's Room Organization: Glendale Public Library 

http://www.ci.glendale.ca.us/calendar/EventDetails.aspx?id=2910

Puppets and Players (Glendale Central Library)

Occurs every week on Thursday

Time: 7:00 p.m.

Location: 222 E. Harvard St.

Glendale, CA 91205

818-548-2030

Children's Room Organization: Glendale Public Library 

http://www.ci.glendale.ca.us/calendar/EventDetails.aspx?id=1199

Glendale Humane Society   

CANINE PARENTING CLASS

Time: 11 AM-1 PM

Date: 5/22 and 5/29- Sunday

http://www.glendalehumane.org/cal.php

Glendale Kiwanis Club  

Theater Party

Date: 5/27/2011

Start Time: 8:00 PM End Time: 10:30 PM

A Noise Within  

http://www.glendalekiwanis.info/public/pub_page.aspx?PageID=49337&event_id=26422#Events