The 26,000 cases of food staples were marked simply "A gift to the people of Armenia from the Jon M. Huntsman family. May God bless you."
Doubtless, the estimated 50,000 Armenians assisted by the private relief project felt blessed by the gift of food."They were extremely grateful. They have received very little, if any, outside relief, let alone this amount of food. It's something when you see 60- and 70-year-old men and women openly sobbing over something like this," said Peter Huntsman, senior vice president of Huntsman Chemical Corp. Huntsman and David Horne, resident manager of the Huntsman Armenian concrete plant in Yerevan, directed the recent relief effort.
Christian Armenia and neighboring Muslim Azerbaijan have been embroiled in war for five years - a dispute steeped in religious and ethnic conflicts. The former Soviet republics are fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh, an enclave in Azerbaijan populated mostly by ethnic Armenians.
Since railroad lines from other former Soviet republics to Armenia run through Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan has blockaded supplies to Armenia for years.
This winter has been particularly unforgiving for Armenians. The country has been hard hit by soaring inflation and unemployment. There have been shortages of fuel and food. To make matters worse, this has been one of coldest winters on record.
The food provided by the Huntsmans should feed 50,000 Armenians for the remainder of the winter.
While he is heartened by his family's most recent contributions to Armenia, Peter Huntsman said he recognizes it is but a temporary fix for the country's long-term problems. The country has been devastated by war and acts of nature. Deep scars remain from the 1988 earthquake that killed 60,000 and left 500,000 homeless.
"I feel great about what we did. I wish there was more attention from the West," he said.
Peter Huntsman was joined on his latest trip to Armenia by his brothers David and James. The Huntsman brothers and Horne assisted with the distribution of the food supplies in many Armenian cities and small towns.
The foodstuffs were unloaded under guard at the Turkish-Armenian border and delivered by truck to the cities of Spitak, Leninican and Yerevan. The Huntsman concrete plant served as a temporary warehouse for the food.
Although Peter Huntsman and Horne had persuaded the Turkish government to permit the shipment of the food across Turkey, Huntsman said unloading the rail cars at the Turkish-Armenian border was tense because the task had to be accomplished quickly.
"We felt the border could be shut down at any time," Peter Huntsman said. The Turkish-Armenian border was closed again April 5, the Associated Press reported.
Peter, David and James Huntsman, accompanied by Horne, flew by helicopter into the Nagorno-Karabakh war zone. They spent two days viewing the destruction and visiting with Armenian soldiers and Azerbaijani prisoners of war before returning with injured troops to Yerevan.
For the Armenians, their very existence is about existing, Peter Huntsman said.
Since most people are unemployed, they spend their days standing in lines to buy any available food. Others search for kindling to help combat the cold. Trees in the city parks have been cut to stumps by Armenians who needed firewood.
Electrical power is available but a few hours a day, if at all. "Happiness to them is when the electricity comes on for 1 to 11/2 hours," said David Huntsman.
The Huntsman family's involvement with Armenia began five years ago when industrialist Armand Hammer asked Jon Huntsman to assist with earthquake relief. The Huntsman family then began construction of a precast concrete plant in Yerevan, which was dedicated in June 1991.
The Huntsman family, in connection with Intermountain Health Care, has shipped hospital equipment and supplies amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars to assist Armenian hospitals and doctors.
The Huntsmans have invested an estimated $8 million to $10 million in housing, medical equipment, supplies and emergency food relief in Armenia.