Expressing Gratitude at Thanksgiving

Every Thanksgiving day for over 20 years, Ararat Assisted Living Facility prepares and delivers a Thanksgiving meal to the local fire station in Mission Hills as an expression of gratitude for the work that first responders do every day in our community. Additionally, the Home lends the station tables and chairs so that firefighters can enjoy holiday meals with their families at the firehouse. This is just one way that Ararat Home says THANKS for the support it receives from the community throughout the year! read more

We are pleased to announce that the eighth reprinting of the Ararat Home cookbook, Reflections of an Armenian Kitchen, has been completed thanks to a grant from Susie Vahanian and Walter Shubin.

Our cookbook was first published in 1995, and has been very well-regarded since then.

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The Ararat Home family gathered on Sunday, June 5^th, for the groundbreaking celebration of the new wing of the Assisted Living Facility (ALF). With construction expected to commence later this summer, Ararat Home trustees, staff, membership, residents, families and supporters attended the special ceremony.

Guests gathered in Sheen Memorial Chapel to hear about the facility’s expansion plans. Chief Operating Officer Derik Ghookasian, former Board Chair Robert Taylor, ALF Administrator Rita Noravian, and current Board Chair Michael Surmeian delivered remarks, in which they reviewed the expansion project in relation to Ararat Home’s mission, spoke about the impact it will have on the growing needs within our community and the increasing demand for the Home’s services, and expressed gratitude for the tremendous support the Home has received from friends who share its vision and aspirations. read more

Since its founding in 1949 by a dedicated group of visionaries, thousands of Armenian elderly have called Ararat Home their “home”. Here, they have found compassion and loving care during the time in their lives when they perhaps needed it most. Today, as the need for residential senior care increases, the demand for Ararat Home’s unique services has never been greater in our community; indeed, it has grown beyond our capacity. For this reason, we are delighted to announce the expansion of our Assisted Living Facility!

This fifth phase of expansion on the Mission Hills campus has been a three-decade-long dream that will soon come to fruition. It has been in the Home’s long-term plans since development began on our 10-acre campus. While discussions for the expansion started in 2011, earnest project planning began in early 2014. Now, with construction expected to commence in late summer, we are excited about the opportunity and capability to offer the Ararat Home brand of care to more members of our community.

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Ararat Convalescent Hospital has been recognized as a 2015 recipient of the Bronze – Commitment to Quality Award for its dedication to improving the lives of residents through quality care and performance excellence. This national award is presented annually by the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living, which represent more than 12,000 non-profit and proprietary long-term and post-acute care facilities. Ararat Convalescent Hospital was among only 19 Bronze Award recipients in California.

Implemented in 1996, the National Quality Award Program has three progressive levels: Bronze, Silver and Gold. The awards recognize those facilities that are committed to and are progressing in their quality efforts by delivering ever-improving value to residents and families and by improving overall organizational capabilities and performance. read more

Ararat Home resident Yevnige Salibian seated in the center

Five survivors of genocides perpetrated in the 20th century came together on April 15, 2015, for an extraordinary and historic photo shoot at Ararat-Eskijian Museum.  Organized by the USC Shoah Foundation – Institute for Visual History and Education, the survivors gathered on the Ararat Home Mission Hills campus, where the oldest among them resides, 101-year old Yevnige Salibian.  As a survivor of the Armenian Genocide, the first such atrocity of the previous century, Mrs. Salibian was joined by survivors of the Jewish Holocaust, the Cambodian Genocide, the Guatemalan Mayan Indian Genocide and the Rwandan Tutsi Genocide.  The USC Shoah Foundation will use the photograph as a representation of the collections of testimonies it has and continues to amass from survivors of various genocides in recent history.

The Foundation’s Armenian Genocide Collection was obtained from the Armenian Film Foundation last year, which had worked to digitize the nearly 400 interviews of survivors and witnesses filmed by J. Michael Hagopian from 1972 to 2005.  The USC Shoah Foundation has been cataloguing and indexing these rare testimonies to be included in its Visual History Archive, which already contains 52,000 testimonies from the Holocaust and other genocides and is one of the most comprehensive online archives in the world.  The first 60 interviews of its Armenian Genocide Collection will be made available to view online in the Foundation’s Visual History Archive on April 24, 2015, the 100th anniversary of the Genocide. read more

On the occasion of the centennial of the Armenian Genocide and in remembrance of the blood spilled by its countless victims, Ararat Home collaborated with the American Red Cross to host a successful blood drive on April 7. With the participation of 52 donors (employees, residents and supporters), members of the Ararat Home community may have potentially helped save the lives of 117 individuals. As this effort brought people together in a strong spirit of goodwill, a decision was made to make the community blood drive an annual event at the Home every April.

Ararat Home had the unique opportunity and privilege to commemorate the centennial of the Armenian genocide by celebrating the lives of 12 centenarians residing at the Home. On Sunday, March 15, approximately 450 guests gathered at Deukmejian Ballroom for a special program honoring 12 extraordinary individuals born between 1906 and 1915. Two of the honorees are among the few remaining survivors and witnesses of the Armenian genocide. However, all the honorees have experienced life with moments of triumph, sorrow, joy, pain and fulfillment. Their remarkable lives were presented by students from 11 Los Angeles area Armenian day schools. After the reading of each honoree’s biography, students beautifully recited poems composed by treasured Armenian writers that illustrate the enduring spirit of the Armenian people. The symbolic representation of Armenian centenarians by members of the future generation of Armenians was truly poignant. read more

Ararat Home planned several commemorative events on the Mission Hills campus in March and April marking the 100^th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

On Thursday, March 12, clergy from the Western Diocese and Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Armenian Catholic Eparchy and the Armenian Evangelical Union performed a special requiem service in Sheen Memorial Chapel. read more

V. Rev. Fr. Pakrad Bourjekian performs the “Home Blessing” service in the Ararat Home Assisted Living Facility

A delegation of Diocesan clergymen were greeted by several members of the Ararat Home staff and Board of Trustees on Monday, February 9, 2015. H.E. Archbishop Hovnan Derderian, Primate of the Western Diocese of the Armenian Church, visited Ararat Home accompanied by H.G. Bishop Abgar Hovakimian, Primate of the Canadian Diocese, Rev. Fr. Vazgen Boyajyan from Montreal, Rev. Fr. Zareh Zargarian from Toronto, Very Rev. Fr. Pakrad Bourjekian from the St. James Brotherhood of the Armenian Apostolic Patriarchate of Jerusalem, and several other Western Diocesan clergy.

The delegation met with residents in the Skilled Nursing Facility as well as in the Assisted Living Facility, where H.E. Arch. Derderian reiterated his admiration and support for the mission of Ararat Home and guest clergy expressed their delight in visiting such an establishment. On behalf of Ararat Home, Board Chairman Joseph Kanimian, Esq. conveyed appreciation for such visits, which always uplift the spirits of residents and staff. He presented each visiting clergyman with special Ararat Home memorabilia. read more

Fethiye Çetin, a Turkish lawyer, writer and human rights activist, who had represented the Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, visited the Ararat Home Mission Hills campus on November 15, 2014, where she was greeted by Ararat-Eskijian Museum Director, Maggie Mangassarian-Goschin. Ms. Çetin was in Los Angeles at the invitation of the United Armenian Council for the Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide. She was invited to Ararat Home to pay tribute to our elders. read more

His Eminence Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian, Prelate of the Western Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America, visited the Ararat Home Board of Trustees in Mission Hills on October 23, 2014. The Board had invited His Eminence to its customary dinner and monthly Board meeting, where he had the opportunity to meet each trustee and be more closely introduced to the scope of work done at Ararat Home. read more

Reverend Joseph D. Matossian, Minister to the Armenian Evangelical Union of North America, visited the Ararat Home Board of Trustees in Mission Hills on September 25, 2014. The Board had invited the Reverend to its customary dinner and monthly Board meeting, where he had the opportunity to meet each trustee and be more closely introduced to the scope of work done at Ararat Home. read more

Most Reverend Mikael Mouradian, Bishop of the Armenian Catholic Eparchy in the United States and Canada, visited the Ararat Home Board of Trustees in Mission Hills on August 27, 2014. The Board had invited the Eparch to its customary dinner and monthly Board meeting. The Eparch met each trustee and was more closely introduced to the scope of work done at Ararat Home. read more