Children left without parental care live in the houses of the "SOS-Children's Village" in Ijevan. Here they receive care, upbringing and education, as in a family. The charity program also does its best to reunite children with their biological family whenever possible.

From now on, "SOS-Children's Village" of Ijevan will have an alternative source of energy thanks to its partners Acba Bank and Visa Barerar cardholders. The 50 kW solar power plant will relieve the village of a large financial burden, providing long-term savings.

This is the 2nd stage of the program: it was in 2018 when Acba installed 14 solar water heaters here with the same Visa Barerar program, which is implemented with the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund, completely solving the water heating problem.

"We will continue the work aimed at increasing the volume of the Visa Barerar card, so that as many of our customers become donors as possible. Moreover, to become a donor, all you need to do is make payments with your Visa Barerar card, the rest we do ourselves at the expense of our profit. This program implemented in "SOS-Children's Village" was important for us also because, in addition to savings, around 100 children living here will see how important renewable energy is in their everyday life. We hope that when they grow up, they will be one of the supporters of our country to feed on clean energy or to minimize the level of pollution and not to pollute the environment" said Arsen Melkonyan, deputy CEO (Business Operations) at Acba Bank OJSC.

"These solar energy programs were not widespread 5 years ago, and the foundation was one of the first to promote the development of solar energy and, in general, renewable energy in Armenia and today you can see the momentum gained in the use of both solar panels and water heaters throughout the country and I think that the "Hayastan" All-Armenian Fund, thanks to its cooperation with Acba Bank, has a large contribution to the development of solar energy in Armenia and Artsakh," said Haykak Arshamyan, executive director of "Hayastan" All-Armenian Fund.

"Such initiatives are very important, so that we can save our expenses and try to use the saved money for the benefit of children and their development," said Spartak Sargsyan, National Director of "SOS-Children's Village".

Acba Bank, a partner of SOS-Mankakan Village, is implementing this program with the support of Visa Barerar cardholders. Back in 2012, Acba Bank, together with Hayastan All-Armenian Fund, issued the Visa Barerar card for the first time in Armenia.

Within the framework of the program, the bank transfers 0․1% of the amount of all payment transactions made with the Visa Barerar card, as well as 50% of the service fee, from its profits to the fund's special account. Cardholders simply perform transactions, from which the bank directs the profit to charity at its own expense.

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