HACKENSACK, N.J.—The Northern New Jersey Community Foundation (NNJCF) announced that the Andrea Tilbian Halejian Memorial Fund awarded a grant of $5,000 to the Armenian Relief Society of Eastern U.S. in Watertown, Massachusetts. The grant will support the organization’s Artsakh Relief project. The NNJCF, a non-profit organization, concentrates on the focus areas of the arts, civic engagement, education, the environment, public health, and philanthropy.
The Fund remembers Wyckoff, New Jersey resident Andrea Tilbian Halejian and contributes to qualified charitable organizations she supported. Since its inception, the NNJCF’s Andrea Tilbian Halejian Memorial Fund has awarded grants to a range of organizations, including the Fund for Armenian Relief, the Center for Peace, Justice & Reconciliation (PJR) at Bergen Community College, the Center for Food Action, Vitalant, Eva’s Village, Careers Through Culinary Arts, and L.A. Family Housing.
Andrea Tilbian Halejian, her family and many of their friends cared for Armenian efforts on local, national, and international levels. The ARS, a non-profit, independent, non-sectarian, and non-governmental organization, is a member of the United Nations. The organization has affiliates in 27 different countries serving the social, educational, health, and welfare efforts of the Armenian people worldwide. The grant to ARS will further the organization’s goals and support the Artsakh Relief project to address the growing humanitarian crisis in the Artsakh region.
Tilbian Halejian was an active member of the community. She was an enthusiastic leader in her church, St. Leon Armenian Church of Fair Lawn NJ, and directed programs to include cooking for a community shelter, running twice-annual blood drives, co-chairing Diocesan assemblies, teaching Sunday School, and supporting Camp Nubar activities and events. In Wyckoff, New Jersey, she chaired the Coolidge School bike rally, initiated an art docent program at Coolidge School, worked with the Girl Scouts, helped with many school programs, and was a spirited supporter of elementary school, high school, and college athletics.
For 24 years, the Northern New Jersey Community Foundation has served northern New Jersey bringing people and organizations together to address pressing issues and needs in the region. With a comprehensive menu of philanthropic opportunities, the NNJCF provides donors with flexible, efficient, and tax-effective ways to ensure their charitable giving has maximum impact through various types of funds, tax-saving annuities, and trust options.
“Through donor advised funds, the Northern New Jersey Community Foundation provides contributors of all ages the opportunity to support issues they care about the most,” said Danielle De Laurentis, Associate Director, Northern New Jersey Community Foundation. “This is a win-win situation: the donor becomes an active participant in the distribution of particular grants and communities receive the benefit of funds to meet needs and provide essential services. Funds can be established in any area of interest — the arts, education, the environment, food security, public health, youth development, animal welfare, and many others.”
Founded in 1998, the Northern New Jersey Community Foundation (NNJCF), a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization based in Hackensack, New Jersey, focuses primarily on civic engagement, education, public health, the environment, philanthropy, and the arts. The NNJCF works with local governments, school districts, businesses, non-profit organizations, and citizen groups in Northern New Jersey to improve community life. The Foundation’s partners identify and resolve regional problems and opportunities by talking and learning from each other and sharing ideas, best practices, services, and resources.
For more information, visit the website, send an email to nnjcf@nnjcf.org, or call (201) 568-5608. Follow the NNJCF on Facebook at Northern NJ Community Foundation/ArtsBergen and Twitter @NNJCF.
