refugee giving

Would you like to help with the refugee crisis in Greece but dont know how? Are you perhaps worried your donation wont go to the people that need it most? Here are some ideas on how you can help the thousands of refugees from Syria, Afghanistan and beyond currently waiting in Greece to see what their future holds.

FINANCIAL DONATIONS

A practical way to do something is to to support the Bodossaki Foundation in Athens. The foundation is providing shelters for unaccompanied refugee children and makes no deduction from any donation received for this cause. They give the money to shelter projects run by five different Greek charities whose aim is to save the children from detention centres such as Amygdaleza, recently profiled in The Guardian where they might otherwise end up, and to put them in safe accommodation run by social workers and other child protection staff.

As these charities are overstretched and do not have the administrative support for a major fundraising effort, the Bodossaki Foundation has created this project as part of its Giving For Greece programme to raise funds for them.

Making a donation is easy - please click here for details of how to make a donation by Paypal, international transfer or credit card (see top right hand corner on the page). Please make certain to email the Bodossaki Foundation afterwards so they can thank you personally.

donations of books and clothing

The people in the refugee camps of Greece very much need your clothing, shoe or book donations for all age ranges. Books in English and German are particularly welcome.

If you have some to spare, please send your parcels to:

Project Elea

Camp Eleonas

Agiou Polikarpou 87

118 55 Athens

Greece.

Unfortunately please dont expect a response as the camp receives alot of donations and its staff are extremely busy but rest assured, your items will be distributed between the camp's 2,200 residents.

volunteering

I have volunteered before with Project Elea at Elonas Camp in central Athens and found them to be great and would recommend them to everyone. There's a choice of things you can do on a daily basis, it constantly changes but when I was there it was teaching 3-6 year olds, running adult reading classes, handing out meals at lunch and dinner, running the second hand clothing donations, organising sport for the kids, leading Zumba and yoga classes for the women, and arts and crafts classes for everyone. There are also community meals arranged where the volunteers bring in food for the camp once a month as well as occasional evening video screenings.

The volunteer age ranges from twenty-somethings on Gap Years to pensioners doing their bit to help. School teachers and Arabic or Farsi speakers are particularly welcome. The camp has a mostly Syrian and Afgan population and is a ten minute walk from the Eleonas Metro station.

You can contact project Elea at:

Instagram: Projectelea
Facebook: ProjectElea