Anna Hakobyan Attends Opening Ceremony of Maralik Kindergarten

The wife of the Prime Minister of Armenia, Anna Hakobyan, who is also the chair of the boards of "My Step" and "City of Smile" charitable foundations, attended the opening ceremony of the only kindergarten in the city of Maralik on October 3. This was reported by the office of the First Lady.

The festive event, which began with a blessing by Maralik's spiritual shepherd Father Varag Hakobyan, was attended by Swiss-Armenian businessman and president of the Armenian-Swiss Chamber of Commerce, Mike Baronian, alongside his wife Romi Baronian, Shirak region governor Tigran Petrosyan, head of the consolidated Ani community Artak Gevorgyan, numerous representatives of the Swiss-Armenian community, as well as the kindergarten's students and their parents.

The renovation and furnishing of the kindergarten was initiated by Mike and Romi Baronian, with the support of the president of the Swiss foundation "Aid to Armenia" Roller Neff, and Swiss-Armenian businessman Vahé Gabrashi, who is also the president of the "Armenia" and "Alliance Armenia" foundations.

In her greeting speech, Romi Baronian recalled that during her first visit to Maralik in 2018, the kindergarten was closed. "It was very cold, and the children had to stay home during winter. Even though it was a sunny day, the kindergarten building looked very dilapidated. I was so moved that I decided to start a project here. The 'Aid to Armenia' foundation immediately agreed to support, and the Maralik municipality also agreed that we would renovate the kindergarten. We started the work in June of the same year. Everyone did a wonderful job, and we are happy with the results of that work," said Romi Baronian.

During the festive event, Mike Baronian was awarded the title of honorary citizen by the Ani community council. In another resolution, the Maralik kindergarten was renamed in honor of Romi Baronian. Following the opening ceremony, the guests toured the kindergarten to see the work that had been completed.

As a result of the renovation, the kindergarten has been completely reconstructed, with internal structural changes made to the building, the yard furnished, and the furniture refreshed. Previously, the kindergarten had 50 children attending; after reconstruction, the capacity will increase to 120 children.