Food Donation Programme | Municipality of Kifissia & Food Bank

On 1 June 2012, ''Social Care’'', the Social Services organisation of the Municipality of Kifissia, in cooperation with the John S. Latsis Public Benefit Foundation and the Food Bank - Foundation to Fight Hunger, put into place a food programme of one-year duration in order to help 20 families in the Municipality that are poor, have many children or are single-parent families and are unable to meet their basic living needs.

This action is funded exclusively by the John S. Latsis Public Benefit Foundation as part of the ''It Is Our Duty'' emergency social solidarity programme, which it implements in cooperation with Non-Governmental Organisations, Local Government Organisations, Holy Metropolises, Parishes and institutional organisations that are active in the sector of social welfare and care.

The beneficiary families consist of more than 100 persons and were selected by the administrative and scientific personnel of ‘Social Care’, based on the relevant supporting documents following social worker and psychologist home visits, in order to prepare and evaluate the social history of each family. The main selection criteria were family income, family status, parents’ unemployment as well as major health problems.

The food aid consists of delivering at home, on a monthly basis, packages containing 47 food products, which fully cover the basic nutritional needs of each family. The Food Bank – a public benefit non-profit foundation established in 1995 upon the initiative of Gerasimos Vasilopoulos in order to fight hunger and limit food waste– is responsible for ordering, packing and storing the food delivered in the framework of the food programme. The packages prepared are delivered on a monthly basis by the personnel of ‘Social Care’ to the houses of the beneficiary families, to whom the necessary psychological support is also provided.

In the framework of its broader goal to provide comprehensive social care and support services to citizens and residents of Kifissia, since early 2012, ‘Social Care’ is also running the Social Grocery Store, which is based in the Social Housing Units, at 5 M. Antypa Street, K. Kifissia. The Social Grocery Store collects food, clothes and other necessities and regularly delivers them to socially and financially vulnerable citizens of the Kallikratis Municipality of Kifissia, who are registered in the registries of the Social Service. All items come from donations made by companies, stores, school associations, volunteers and citizens of the municipality, who are particularly concerned by the social and financial problems faced by many people.

Additional information is available on the website of the Municipality.