George S. Yacoubian, Jr., began the adoption process in Armenia in 2005. Throughout the spring and summer, he went through home study and various levels of domestic governmental approval. While in Armenia during the summer of 2005, George saw Liliana for the first time. He submitted Liliana’s adoption dossier to the Armenian government in the fall of 2005, received preliminary approval in December 2005, and obtained final adoption approval in March 2006. Liliana Sara Yacoubian, the inspiration for SOAR’s work, arrived in the United States on April 23, 2006.

Dr. Yacoubian founded the Society for Orphaned Armenian Relief (SOAR) in the fall of 2005 as a charitable organization that provides humanitarian relief to orphaned children living in Armenia. He has served as SOAR’s Executive Board Chairman since 2005 and provides oversight and guidance to all SOAR operations worldwide. In early 2006, an experienced and talented Board of Directors was assembled, a network of Partners in Armenia was recruited to assist with distributions, and the web site was launched. Today SOAR is the only charitable organization whose singular mission is to provide humanitarian assistance to orphaned Armenians around the world. Since 2005, SOAR’s work has impacted thousands of children across a multitude of constructs, with the penultimate goal to provide institutionalized children with the same educational, emotional, medical, and social support as their non-institutionalized counterparts.

Represented by 140 Chapters, 2 College Groups, 5 Junior groups, and more than 600 volunteers worldwide, SOAR supports 35 institutions in four countries: 31 orphanages, special boarding schools, day centers, transitional centers, and summer camps in Armenia; one Armenian boarding school in Artsakh; one orphan summer camp in Javakh; and two Armenian orphanages in Lebanon. SOAR prides itself on creativity, cross-cultural respect, fiscal responsibility, and transparency. During the past 16 years, SOAR’s reach has expanded considerably. In 2006, distributions totaled approximately $60,000.00. Since 2015, SOAR distributions have exceeded $1M annually. Our efforts not only address the major humanitarian constructs of education, emotional and psychological support, nutrition, health and hygiene, dental and vision care, and fundamental human rights, but the Programs offer curricula on a multitude of topics that stimulate intellectual curiosity, empowerment, and enrichment.