Orange is supporting the Phonethon - a charitable appeal on behalf of Armenia

Yerevan/Mediamax/. For the twelfth year running, Orange is partnering with the Fonds Arménien de France for its Phonethon charity appeal, which will run from 17 to 20 November. Proceeds from the Phonethon go towards funding agricultural projects in the Tavush region and to providing safe drinking water for villages in Karabagh.

This year’s goal is to raise more money than in 2010, when 1,400,000 Euros were collected in France and other European countries (Germany, Holland, Switzerland and Greece).

Orange has made four of its call centres (Cachan, Lyon, Marseille and Toulouse) available to Fonds Arménien de France volunteers so that they can contact 50 000 families and companies in France. These centres are equipped with all the communication and IT resources – as well as support from Orange technical experts - required for the Fonds Arménien de France’s telephone appeal.

The Fonds Arménien de France plan to send over 50 000 voice messages from this year’s patron, Michel Drucker, to potential donors’ landlines and mobiles using the “Contact Everyone” service.

Donors can also pledge money by telephoning a local rate number specially set up for the event - 0 810 10 14 14.

Mireille Le Van, the Secretary-General of the Orange Foundation said: “In addition to the technical assistance we are providing, many of our employees are helping in the call centres. This is yet another example of how the Group uses its expertise to support good causes. We are extremely proud to renew our partnership with the Fonds Arménien de France. We increase our actions in Armenia every year, so much so that last April we opened the Orange Armenia Foundation”.

Bruno Duthoit, General Manager of Orange Armenia explains: “For two years, Orange Armenia has been a partner of the Pan-Armenian Fund and this year again we have set up a special number for our customers to enable them to make donations via short messages. The villages are at the heart of the Orange Foundation’s work, and it is with great pleasure that we are able to put our technologies to good use by supporting the projects that aim to improve everyday life in the villages of Armenia.”