The following speech was delivered at the Hairenik Building rededication ceremony held Saturday, April 18 in Watertown, Mass.

Today is a deeply meaningful moment for our community. We gather to unveil a new name for the Hairenik Building — and to honor a legacy rooted in sacrifice, service and an unshakable dedication to the Armenian nation.

On behalf of all those who have passed through these doors, built within these walls and carried our mission forward, I want to express our profound gratitude to Diana and Ken Hachikian and the entire Hachikian family.

Your generosity is not simply a gift; it is a continuation of a story.

A story that began with Arakel and Armenouhi Hachikian, who survived the Armenian Genocide and rebuilt their lives here in Boston, and continued with Vasken and Arpi, who built upon that legacy through their dedication to their local community. 

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In that same spirit, Diana, Ken and Steve became deeply involved in our institutions — from the Armenian Church to the AYF, Camp Haiastan, ANCA, ARF and the Armenian Legal Center.

Across generations, the Hachikian family has lived a life of purpose and service.

This building — now the Hachikian Family Hairenik Building — reflects that same enduring sense of responsibility to the Armenian Cause that has defined the Hachikian family.

For more than a century, the Hairenik name has been synonymous with resilience, truth and national consciousness. Since its founding in 1899, the Hairenik did more than report the news; it carried the voice of a nation.

It bore witness to the full sweep of our history — the tragedies and the triumphs, the defeats and the victories that followed. It reflected the despair of a people under threat and the resilience of a people determined to rise again — rebuilding, organizing and strengthening their communities.

Writers, thinkers and leaders shaped its pages — figures who didn’t just observe history but helped create it.

Over time, that mission expanded, as the Hairenik was soon complemented by the Armenian Weekly — growing into a family of publications that educate, inspire and connect Armenians across the diaspora. For Armenians raised far from the homeland, it offered something essential: a sense of identity, a connection to heritage and a call to action.

And here, in this very building, that mission found a home.

It lives not in bricks and walls but in people, in ideas and in purpose.

This building has become the beating heart of Armenian organizational life in the United States.

Within these walls, organizations such as the ARF, AYF, Hamazkayin, ARS, Homenetmen, ACAA and the ANCA Eastern Region have led the vital work of nation-building in the diaspora. Here, our youth have been educated. Our culture has been preserved. And our voice has been strengthened.

Beyond the work of the present, this building also guards our history through the invaluable ARF archives. These records tell the story of a nation and its heroes, and through our digitization efforts, we are ensuring that this legacy is made accessible to those who will build on it.

It is this dedication to preserving our history and telling our story that is also why the Hairenik continues to evolve. With the creation of the Antranig and Alice Karjian Hairenik Media Center, we marked a new chapter in how we tell our story, ensuring that Armenian voices continue to inform and engage.

The renaming of this building goes beyond honoring a family; it is about recognizing a shared commitment to the future. It is about ensuring that the institutions housed here remain strong, vibrant and responsive to the needs of our people.

Diana and Ken, you spoke of this building as the heart of the Armenian community.

And you are right.

But a heart only continues to beat when it is nurtured and sustained. Your generosity ensures that this heart will continue to beat — for those who will walk through these doors, find their purpose and make this mission their own.

So today, as we dedicate the Hachikian Family Hairenik Building, we do more than mark a moment.

We affirm a legacy.
We honor a family.
And we recommit ourselves to serving our cause and to continuing the work that so many before us began.

Thank you — and may this building continue to stand as a beacon of hope, resilience and Armenian identity for generations to come.