The ‘Safe Home’ programme for unaccompanied refugee minors was designed and put into operation during the refugee crisis of 2015-2016. Our primary concern was to protect unaccompanied refugee children who arrived in Greece alone or were already in the country without any other family member.
In addition to its own initiatives, which it financed itself, the Bodossaki Foundation also joined forces with donors from Greece and abroad to ensure that refugee children are taken care of in the best possible way. We were thus able to secure the resources required to support a total of eight (8) shelters for unaccompanied refugee children in various locations in the country, as well as to provide the Reception and Identification Centre in Evros with the equipment necessary for its operation. We also collected donations in order to purchase equipment, food supplies and educational material, and helped to develop and implement information and awareness initiatives.
Accommodation for refugee children: During the first stage of this thematic programme, drawing on contributions from donors in Greece and all over the world, the Bodossaki Foundation turned its attention to the children’s most pressing need – accommodation.
It therefore financed the reconstruction of two new shelters for unaccompanied minors, namely the ‘Iris’ shelter operated by the ‘Medical Intervention’ NGO and the shelter of the Malliopouleion Charitable Foundation in Kypseli, operated by Praksis NGO.
Assistance was also provided to the programme of METAdrasi NGO which aims to ensure temporary foster care for unaccompanied refugee children.
As the situation evolved, and donations from Greece and abroad continued to grow while securing accommodation for the children remained an urgent need, the Foundation proceeded to support the operation of shelters for unaccompanied refugee children and to provide equipment to the Refugee Reception and Identification Centre in Evros.
Equipment, food supplies and educational material:
Using donations from third parties who have joined forces with the Bodossaki Foundation, computers, toys, schoolbooks in Arabic, toiletries and articles of clothing have been purchased and presented to various shelters. Measures of milk for Infants and children were also given to the Refugee Reception and Identification Centre on the island of Samos.
Awareness-raising and promotion initiatives
- The Hellenic Hoteliers Federation (HHF) and the Athens-Attica Hoteliers Association (AAHA) developed the ‘Hotels Giving for Kids’ initiative, which encouraged their members to contribute to efforts to support unaccompanied refugee children.
- MEGA TV, as part of its social responsibility initiatives under the ‘MEGAMAZI’ (‘MEGA TOGETHER’) umbrella programme, created and aired a TV spot, free of charge, in order to raise public awareness of the need to support unaccompanied refugee children.
- Finally, Solid HAVAS Communication and the TopCut-Modiano production company worked together without payment to create a public awareness television message about unaccompanied refugee children. After obtaining the approval of the Greek National Council for Radio and Television (NCRT), the spot was aired as a public information film in April 2017 by all national television channels.
