Solidarity Relay Race – Employees volunteer in Leros!
With a long tradition in voluntary offering and in supporting the communities in which we operate, we could not possibly ignore the major humanitarian crisis which is rapidly growing and which considerably impacts our country, too.
There is no need to describe the situation. It is very difficult to remain untouched at the sight of parents losing their children, little children ending up all alone in the world, families patiently queuing up for a little food after days of hunger.
“Our” Leros was also in the middle of the action, since hundreds of refugees keep arriving at the island and at Farmakonisi, the Greek islet that is closest to that part of the Turkish coast.
We took immediate action. In order to assist in the task of the reception and accommodation of refugees, we decided to set up volunteer teams, inviting our employees to participate and undertaking all expenses and full technical coverage of the mission.
Throughout Greece, our employees’ response to the invitation for personal contribution was touching. In total, 30 employees travelled to Leros in teams of five, together with the occupational physician and the nurse of the Kamari plant, along with management executives of the Administration Department and the Greek Sector, including Takis Canellopoulos.
The needs of the refugees were so many and the willingness of the employees so great that we extended this voluntary mission for two more weeks, further to the initial one-month plan.
The objective of our mission was to take action in order to improve the accommodation conditions for refugees on the island, in collaboration with the Leros Solidarity Network and local authorities.
The tasks included the development of reception areas and the distribution of meals, food, water, clothing and basic items. Our volunteers worked very hard, disregarding time and fatigue, in order to facilitate the flow of refugees in the best possible way and respond as efficiently as possible to the needs of these people.
We also contributed towards catering to specific material needs in Leros and Kos, donating 2,000 backpacks to be used by refugees in their subsequent travel. Moreover, in Kos we donated two thermal cameras to the Port Authority and the Police Directorate to facilitate their search and rescue task.
For 6 successive weeks, our 6 teams conducted a real Solidarity Relay Race in Leros: they exceeded an aggregate of 2,500 hours of work, distributing more than 10,000 food portions and a great number of basic items to at least 10,000 refugees.