Chris Johnson | Posted on June 27, 2022 |

NEW GALLERIES: Armenia celebrates homes, families and volunteers

The Fuller Center for Housing of Armenia is in the middle of two very busy weeks as they are hosting a pair of two-week Global Builders service trips — one led by Jackie Elchemmas in Vayots Dzor and one led by Nicole Simmons in Vanadzor. During the flurry of building, there also has been much celebrating, and our leaders in Armenia have been kind enough to share some of the photos from these scenes of the past few days. Following are six different galleries with short descriptions. Click on thumbnails to see larger images:

The team led by Jackie Elchemmas, including St. John Armenian Church of Greater Detroit church members took a break from construction work to attend a home blessing for the Grigorian family of the Getap village, in Vayots Dzor:

Another home blessing ceremony attended by the Elchemmas team took place in the Getap Village of Vayots Dzor for the Safaryan family, whose house was built through the generous support of the Mardirosyan family of Detroit.

It's become almost an annual tradition to celebrate Nicole Simmons' birthday on the job site. This year, it became a double-celebration as we also honored longtime friend and volunteer Charlie Takesian, who celebrated his 15th anniversary serving with us in Armenia.

This home blessing ceremony took place in Agarakadzor village of Vayots Dzor for the Mkrtchyan family, whose house was built through the generous support of Cathy and Howard Atesians of Detroit. It has become tradition for St. John Armenian Church to help build a home and then visit the family the following year during the next Global Builders trip. The team helped build this home in 2019 but was unable to visit the next year because of the pandemic. The family was happy to finally thank Jackie Elchemmas and her team in person.

Jackie Elchemmas' team has been working in Getaph village of Vayots dzor region, helping the Sardaryan family have a decent home. It is the 12th year we've had the pleasure of hosting the team from St. John Armenian Church of Greater Detroit in Armenia.

Armenian Youth Federation (AYF) joined our Global Builders volunteer team led by Nicole Simmons to help to build a home for the Galstyan family of Geghasar village in Lori region.