PAST PROJECTS
JUST CYCLING
In May 2016, 17 brave cyclists from 10 nations rode their bicycles from Amsterdam to London and back to raise awareness and funds for the Unaccompanied minors. We raised €25'000 and reached 53 countries with our message. With your help, we supported great initiatives that impact these childrens' lives. In total, more than 130 unaccompanied minors benefited from your contributions, five of which will be receiving life changing, long term support.
In May 2017, the successful continuation of Just Cycling, the launch of Just Running and Just Hiking in collaboration with Solcir, raised a further €52'000 to support unaccompanied minors through the work of METAdrasi. See in detial what has been done:
-We supported financially an innovative program, a milestone in the support of Unaccompanied Minors stuck in Greece. Read more about it here. We helped with transfer costs of five children in Portugal and are now supporting their new life there.
-We also equipped Unaccompanied minors' accommodation facilities in Athens, Chios, Lesvos, Samos, and Thessaloniki with furniture and lockers, so that each child has a personal space for their belongings.
-Finally we provided the School of Chios with 750 meals for their Unaccompanied Minors' cooking class, where children learnt to cook, bonded and most importantly received a nutritious meal.
NoMoreWalking aims at helping people in need with their new beginnings wherever the need arises.
On the 15th November the greek people of Mandra in Athens were hit by an unprecedented natural disaster. Heavy rainfall caused a massive flood that claimed the lives of 19 people and completely destroyed the households of 2000 families. We invited you to join us in supporting these families with essential household items to help them restart their lives. NoMoreWalking delivered heaters and dehumidifiers to 41 families in need.
In collaboration with
DIAPERS FOR THE
CHILDREN'S HOUSE IN CHIOS
More than 500 children continue to live under extremely difficult conditions in Vial Camp in Chios. The Children's House, operated by CESRT has provided for the last year a safe and welcoming place where babies, children and their mothers can get a warm bath, a clean set of clothes, hygiene items and some much needed time off the camp. We are supporting the Children's House with diapers. Since October we have delivered 20,000 diapers and 1,800 boxes of baby wipes.
We have committed to continue supporting the children's house .
With about 6,000 diapers distributed per month, we need to send 18,000 for the next three months.
Can you help make sure that no child is left without?
Just €5 will buy 40 diapers
Thank you!
EMERGENCY ITEMS
Socks4Chios- 12'000 pairs
12'000 pairs of socks- 200 boats full of people were covered by your amazing response to the socks4chios initiative.
Socks4Chios, our most successful fundraiser to that date provided the CESRT with 12'000 pairs of socks, keeping as many people dry and helping beat hypothermia.
All around the world, socks drives were also taking place and boxes of socks were shipped from everywhere. In total more than 15'000 socks were sent to the islands of Lesvos, Chios and Agathonisi.
Although a small item, this was a spot on solution, inspired by the "Norwegian shoe" the idea of two norwegian volunteers to give every refugee with wet feet a dry pair of socks, wrap a food bag around their feet and put back on their wet shoes. Together with the socks we donated 3'600 plastic bags to CESRT.
We also donated, thanks to your contributions or direct shipment, over 2000 Thermal Blankets for emergency relief to Starfish, Molyvos.
Thank you!
SHELTER & FOOD
Tents Piraeus Port/
thousands portions of food
As the borders closed and there were no camps yet ready anywhere in Greece, people were stuck at the port of Piraeus where they were arriving from the islands. Day by day more people gathered, reaching 7'000 spread out in five gates. With very little support from NGOs and none from the government, volunteers were called to face two tremendous challenges on their own: food and sheltering.
Companies and private donors came together in a moving expression of solidarity, supplying daily portions of food. These first desperate days of Piraeus, we did not know when and if we would be able to provide food to our guests. PYRNA, AB Vassilopoulos and tens of individuals responded immediately to our call providing E2 with a total of over 10'000 portions.
Our call for tents did not fall short either. In a single day, we received funds to provide more than 100 families with winter appropriate, fully waterproof tents, sheltering them from rain and wind and providing some sense of privacy. In total, we provided 284 families with tents thanks to your kind donations.
RAISING AWARENESS
In 10 European countries, international conferences, schools & communities in Switzerland and Greece
Translated in 12 languages, our Just Cycling flyer for the unaccompanied minors, traveled to thousands of people around the world, raising awareness about the issue. Our Ambassadors' program also attracted interest from individuals, schools and companies who organised their own events to support our cause.
We participated in the 5th International Conference on Philanthropy by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation as a panelist and advocated for the need to understand the real needs of the refugees in Greece, create opportunities for them to interact with their local community as a preparation stage for later integration in their final destination.
We gave a number of presentations in schools, communities and cultural centres and responded to the questions, concerns and challenges of the people to slowly try to change the narrative for the long term and bring about sustainable change in our mentality for this new world that is emergy.
NMW CALENDAR
15 children- little refugees & children from around the world draw for hope
Inspired from a drawing little 4 year old George did for the children in OXY camp, we collected drawings from children in Moria Camp and OXY Camp in Lesvos and asked children from around the world -most of which migrants themselves- to draw for the little refugees. The response was amazing: the drawings enclosed a richeness of emotions we rarely see.
2.5 year of Konstantinos made a hand print of his little hands, titling his piece "You can hold my hand". 15 year old Georgia named her "Hope is like the sun. It never goes away. It just hides for a bit".
Hundreds of our calendars are in homes all over Europe and they are there to remind not the horror but the hope.
The result was astonishing! Children were asking questions, they were talking to their schools about the refugees, they collected toys, they showed all of us how we are all part of something bigger, and that when shared, pain is half and joy is double.
The proceeds from the sale of the calendar are being used in the establishment of playgrounds in refugee camps, children activities programms and classrooms.
CAMP MANAGEMENT SUPPORT
Gate E2 Piraeus Port
Facing the dreadful situation one day before the borders closed and the escalating crisis thereafter, in 28th February we moved from Chios to Piraeus where we were entrusted by longer term volunteers with the initial set up and coordination of gate E2. Dealing with the emergency of 600 people (reaching 1800 in March!) we made a call for volunteers, food and managed every aspect of this crisis management. We established systems & protocols, sourced food and dealt with the emergencies. Then from Switzerland we continued to support Organisation Earth and the leaserdhip team of E2 with connections, advise, volunteer coordination and together established a cluster system based on the UNHCR guidelines. Despite the dreadful situation at the port, E2 was one of the most successful gates, the one that ex-residents still talk about with love in their new -better - settlements.
VOLUNTEER COORDINATION
Gate E2 Piraeus Port
In February we launched the "Athens Project" to support the expected rise in the number of refugees stuck at the Port, as we awaited the closing of the borders. Our call for volunteers and item donations was met with enthusiasm and more than 60 volunteers helped daily from home, cooking, transporting goods as well as on the ground, managing the crowd, distributing food, keeping children occupied, tending to emergencies, cleaning, keeping order and comforting distressed people. After analysis of the situation at the Port, where very few volunteers were active, we decided to make E2 an "international" gate to make it attractive for international volunteers leaving the islands to volunteer at the port. English was officially made the main language of E2, a volunteer manual, volunteer registration and shifts were established to give the security international volunteers needed to commit. As a result, E2 benefited from the dedication of long term volunteers, the enthusiasm of the shorter term ones and the loving spirit of the total of its 200+ volunteers.
FLOUR PROJECT
200kg flour/week for 250 people
The flour project was born in the community of Camp Andravida. Experiencing how much the flat bread was missing from their lives, we brainstormed solutions with the community. They built baking corners in the camp and we provided every family with flour for a trial. The results were astonishing! Not only were people happy to finally have a taste of home, not only women finally had an activity they enjoyed, the baking corners brought people together and smaller communities formed. This was the first expression of the community coming together in such a celebratory fashion. We have already supplied the camp with 600kg of flour and pledged to continue providing flour to every family. Help us keep our promise! €4.20 will suplpy one family with flour for a week. Thank you!
SUPPORTING CAMP ANDRAVIDA
Independent volunteer support-Donation management and Information Desk
From the very first day, we organised help and liaised with potential donors and supporters, analysing the needs, working very closely with the local volunteers, the camp manager, the municipality, the Red Cross and the UN. With your generous donations, we have provided LM residents with food, medication, school materials, have set up and equipped the camp office, have provided the children with toys, balls and other sporting equipment, we have distributed flip flops to the adults and have bought important tools and materials for the volunteer construction team to make repairs and prepare the area for the new school. We have also supported individual families in their onward journeys towards relocation or establishment in Greece.
Nadia spent more than two months in LM Village supporting the camp manager, doing on the ground evaluation and analysis of the needs and working with an amazing team of independent volunteers from 15 countries. With limited resources and support from kind private donors, these amazing volunteers created a Women’s area, a library, a men’s area, sorted every single item in the huge LM storage, established a daily educational program for the children, run the kindergarten, taught english and german to everyone, identified and referred vulnerable cases, organised daily sporting events, did a deep clean of the camp to prevent wild fires, made repairs all around the camp. An office was also established to help in the administration and management of the camp. A camp census, donation request management and communication, residents' service, liaising with asylum office and for the luckiest, arranging their travel plans for Athens or even further, were some of the responsibilities of this office. A full review and evaluation of the camp was made and discussed with the camp manager, local authorities and the representative of the European Commission.
WASHING MACHINES
PROVIDING THE BASICS
How a triviality of our everyday life can become a luxury while displaced... for hours every day refugees have to wash their families' clothes by hand.
Just imagine getting by during winter having to wash clothes by hand for the entire family. Now imagine you have been already doing that for 8 months. And now just imagine doing all that while living in a tent.
A laundry room with 8 washing machines has been donated to LM Village, a family camp in the South of Greece. 225kg of washing powder have also been bought to ensure smooth operation of the laundry room.
In cooperation with the amazing "Get Shit Done team" and the wonderful Fani Garaizar, we have also provided Camp Karamanlis with a laundry room as well as refugee apartments, a total of 15 washing machines have been donated in the North of Greece
Your contribution has made an immediate and huge difference to peoples' lives. Thank you!
EDUCATION AS A LIFELINE
Children on the greek islands are excluded from official education. The volunteer run School operated by the amazing BAAS team, is the only school for the little refugees stuck on the island.
The School opened its doors in May 2016 and covers 80% of the children on the island in a primary, secondary school, a youth centre and a cooking school.
NMW has supported the school with-
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funds for the operation of the school
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750 meals for the cooking class of the unaccompanied minors
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a mobile library through funding Books on Wheels initiative
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school materials (pens, pencils and notebooks)
CHIOS SCHOOL