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<div><span>This GoFundMe is being set up on behalf </span>
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<div><span>of Ararat El-Rawi, owner and chef of Little Armenia Cafe (LAC). Over the past three years, we've watched Ararat pour his passion, time, and heart into serving his customers, making LAC the one-of-a-kind New York City restaurant it is today.</span><br />
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 Little Armenia Cafe began as a passion project during the pandemic. When the restaurant where Ararat worked closed, he started cooking the Armenian food he grew up with and serving it outside his Bed-Stuy apartment, bringing together decades of fine-dining experience with the food and traditions of home.



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 Ararat noticed something surprising for a city with almost every cuisine imaginable: there was no Armenian restaurant in New York City. So he decided to create one.



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 That passion project eventually became LAC's permanent home at 1035 Manhattan Avenue in Greenpoint. Today, LAC welcomes people who grew up eating Armenian food and those trying it for the first time. It's earned glowing reviews and recognition from publications including the Armenian Weekly and Untapped New York, but what stands out most is the experience Ararat creates himself.



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<div>
 Ararat works roughly 13-hour days to keep the restaurant running. He cooks, serves, pours wine, explains the food, and gets to know his customers. He'd probably kill us for making this GoFundMe. Ararat isn't someone who asks for help, he's someone who gives it. 


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<div>Anyone who frequents LAC knows that when you arrive, he greets you the same way: "Welcome home!" That is the embodiment of Ararat.



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<div>
 He works to provide fine-dining-level service while keeping LAC accessible. We've watched him take money out of his own pay to feed people who were struggling. But running a small restaurant in New York City has become incredibly difficult. Costs keep rising, and Ararat has been sacrificing his own income to keep LAC going. At this point, the restaurant cannot survive much longer without support.



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<div>
 We believe it's worth fighting for. For Armenians, LAC represents a place in New York City dedicated to Armenian food and culture when there simply wasn't one. For everyone else, it's a chance to experience a cuisine still relatively unknown in the city, prepared by someone who has spent his life mastering both Armenian cooking and fine-dining hospitality.



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<div>
 Above all, LAC is Ararat's life's work. He built it from a pandemic-era passion project into a real restaurant, and he runs it by treating everyone who walks through the door with warmth and generosity. Now he needs that same generosity returned.



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 All funds raised will go directly toward keeping Little Armenia Cafe open.



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 If LAC has ever made you feel at home, introduced you to Armenian food, given you a meal you still think about, or simply given you a place to feel welcome, we're asking you to give back if you're able. No donation is too small, and if you can't donate, sharing this fundraiser helps too. Ararat has spent years taking care of his customers. Now we're asking his customers to take care of him.



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<div>
 Thank you for taking the time to read Ararat's story, and for supporting Little Armenia Cafe.



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 Welcome home.



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<div>
 <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@tastebuds_nyc/video/7574941372801764622" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">A window into Little Armenia</a>



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 <a href="https://www.instagram.com/littlearmeniacafe/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Little Armenia Instagram</a>



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Help Ararat save Little Armenia Cafe!

<div>It is expensive to be disabled there are extra expenses, such as caregiver, wheelchairs, ramps, etc. due Yeah, what is the reason? to my dad finding work he can’t be at home all the time to help me therefore we might need to replace my caregiver unless we can afford second one we have too replace her

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Help Us Cover Essential Disability Costs

<span style="color:rgb(51,51,51);"><b>Hello, I am Younis Qeshta, and this is the story of my family: my father Muhammad 68 years old, my mother 55 years old, and my sister Yasmine and her four children and her husband. My family is in Rafah until now, without the minimum necessities of life, without a tent, food, water, or care. My father suffers from nerve weakness and vitamin deficiency. He needs vitamin B injections every week. My mother suffers and complains about her limbs from the daily suffering of washing clothes by hand and cooking food on My sister, Yasmine, and her husband have four children. Unfortunately, those who suffered most in this war were the elderly and children. They were deprived of all their rights to go to school, to education, and to play freely without fear.
Yasmine has a young child named Ahmed, who is 4 years old. He has not yet learned about life. He wants to play, draw, and go to nursery, but before he begins to discover the world, he finds himself forced to stay in a house in his mother’s arms and not go out anywhere because he is vulnerable to being targeted everywhere. Unfortunately, this misfortune they are experiencing does not stop, but rather life becomes worse

Killing, destroying, burning and annihilating. Please help me so that I can help my family in this ordeal</b></span>

Urgent  : help my family and children

<div>Hi, my name is Adené Buckley. I was a senior at Harriton High School and graduated on June 7th, 2023. I have been raised in a single-parent household with three younger siblings since the age of ten. My father has also recently passed away, leaving me as the next of kin with many expenses and legal hassles. All of my grandparents are immigrants and have had to fight for the ability to live in America so they could provide their children and grandchildren with a good education.
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<div>I am enrolled in the Temple Honors Pre-Law program as an English major with a concentration in Creative writing. Through my acceptance, I have been given many scholarships and grants, and accepted two loans to support the financing of my education; However, I am still struggling with financing a remainder of $9,000 that I will have to pay out of pocket per year. My family cannot assist me in funding my education, so this out-of-pocket cost is entirely my own. I am currently working two jobs to help fund my college education, but the money I earn from this will not be enough.
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Help me pay for my college education! :)

Arpi Marashian

Arpi Marashian

Arpi Marashian

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