Chicago Chapter Celebrates Its Centennial

Serving Chicago's Armenian community with dedication and devotion for over a century, the AGBU Chicago Chapter held its Centennial Celebration on Saturday, December 10, 2011, at the Onnig Norehad Center, the Chapter's headquarters. A special private reception welcomed members and lead donors prior to the festive program, which was attended by 200 people.

Armand Norehad, whose father, Onnig, is the namesake of the Chicago Center, opened the evening. "My connection to AGBU through my family goes back to 1920 when my dad joined AGBU after a year here as a refugee. It's remarkable that this organization was conceived long before the Genocide, but then what did we live through? World War I, the Depression, World War II. And this chapter continued to grow through more refugees. They were the gift given to Chicago, people who came from Turkey, Syria, and all sorts of countries where they'd been abused and decimated as families. This evening represents 100 years of successes, and I hope and pray that we will be able to continue the success, and feel we have carried the torch forward from all of those people over the decades," said Norehad.

The Chapter's former chairman Haig Pedian also gave heartfelt remarks, followed by AGBU Central Board member Carol Aslanian, who talked about the current relevance and role of AGBU both in the United States and abroad. Aslanian went on to discuss the organization's recent successes and accomplishments, and stressed the importance of staying connected to one another as a community. "I am so very pleased to represent the Central Board of AGBU as we celebrate the Chicago AGBU Chapter's Centennial. The Chapter's 100 years of service and dedication to the Armenian community in greater Chicago have been exceptional. The Chapter has sponsored countless cultural, humanitarian, and educational projects and programs over the years, and has been instrumental in sharing its ideas with other chapters throughout the world. For that, we are greatly indebted to the thousands of volunteers who have come to honor their heritage and culture," said Aslanian. She continued, "We all need to remain connected and share what we as individuals and as members of groups can offer so as to tie our communities together and to inspire ourselves as well as the communities of which we are contributing members."

The Zulal Trio of New York, an a cappella group of three women who perform traditional Armenian folk music, took the stage next for a nearly two-hour concert. Introducing the singers, AGBU Chicago Board member and program director of the Kooyumjian-AGBU Chicago Armenian Humanities Festival Gary Rejebian said, "It would be selling tonight's concert far short to regard this performance as merely faded postcards of a bygone era. While the melodies hail from another time and place, the music of Zulal is very much a vibrant example of the mosaic which is Armenian culture today. Listen carefully and you will recognize that the emotions and experiences related in their lyrics are both timeless and universal. Such is the gift of Zulal, and the Armenians, to humankind."

Chicago Chapter chairwoman Sona Boghosian Diorio, who has worked tirelessly to maintain the Chicago Center and is a passionate advocate for AGBU's presence in the community, delivered closing remarks. The Chapter's birthday celebration followed for all in attendance.

As part of the Chicago Chapter's centennial celebration, the Kooyumjian-AGBU/Chicago Armenian Humanities Festival had a series of cultural events lined up during fall 2010, which included a lecture entitled "Resistance and Rescue During the Armenian Genocide: The Story Behind a Photograph: Marsovan, 1915-1918," a violin and piano concert, and a presentation entitled "Memories of a Lost Armenian home: Photography, Anatolia College and the Story of an Armenian Family in Anatolia." One more event took place on January 14, 2012 -- a production of the renowned Michael Fosberg play "Incognito."

The Festival debuted in May 2010 with the premiere of Chicago composer Eric Hachikian's film Voyage to Amasia, which won Best Documentary at the 2011 Pomegranate Film Festival in Toronto. Festival events have been made possible by the joint efforts of AGBU's Chicago Chapter and the generous support of the Kooyumjian Foundation.

AGBU Chicago, established just five years after the founding of AGBU in Egypt, has played an important role in the philanthropic, educational, cultural, and social life of the Chicago-Armenian community over the last 100 years. Generating strong support for various causes through years of fundraisers, and local subchapters for men, women, and youth, the AGBU Chicago Chapter has been a core focus of the organization in the community. The Chapter's Center was established nearly twenty years ago through funds raised from the Armenian community in and around Chicago, and is named after the late Onnig Norehad, a former chairman of AGBU Chicago. The Center takes great pride in the growing number of activities that are a part its operations, as well as the ongoing services that it offers.

AGBU has also taken responsibility for running one of the two Armenian Saturday Schools in Chicago. Private support has helped create an ethnic identity and heritage program in the dual-dialect weekly school, with new multimedia curricular components and external partnerships that connect the students with peers in Armenia and, eventually, to other Armenian students around the country. Current enrollment is 30 children and adults.