ETHOS SPRING 2014
(PARTICIPATED: Katayoon Koshragam, Sophia Gerbracht, Dionysis Arvanitis, Alexander Manolides, Vicki Grant, Ioanna Spiliot, Mathew Vidalis, George Quick). “No child should ever go hungry; that was my motivation to initiate the “Food for a Friend” campaign. No child should ever have to go to bed with an empty stomach and know that tomorrow morning there will be nothing for breakfast. This campaign aims to alleviate some of this burden from parents who are unable to provide for their children due to their economic situation. By working hand in hand with a welfare service organization, we, the YOLO club, have been able to raise awareness and feed more than 50 families. Having lived in both rural and urban settings, I understand as an observer the destabilizing effect that hunger and poverty can have on a family and a community. Upon arriving in Greece and seeing the excessive need for aid, I felt it was my duty as a human to give as much as possible to suffering individuals. Athens has a unique situation in comparison to the other places I have lived, but this doesn’t change the fact that children are hungry and that it’s our job as global citizens and human beings to assist in the alleviation of this suffering. “ -Madeline Gerbracht A second project that emerged was in support of the Halandri Soup Kitchen. Achilleas Vriniotis spends each Sunday at the municipality kitchen where he packages cooked meals and distributes them to 138 registered families in Halandri that are on welfare. The Street Beat Project, inspired by Abi Amis, brought ACS Yolo Juniors to the street of Athens distributing more than 100 sandwiches to homeless people on Saturday afternoons. The You 4 Kenya book drive collected hundreds of children’s books from the ACS community during Wellness Month that will be shipped to Kenya to serve more than 200 abandoned or orphaned children due to AIDS that are being raised and schooled at the Makarios Orphanage in Nyeri. Many thanks were
received from the Honorary Consul of the Republic of Kenya in the Hellenic Republic Mrs. Vicky Pantazopoulou and the Sophia Foundation who will facilitate the delivery of the books to Nyeri. ACS students and soccer players held a weekend soccer tournament amongst foreign schools in support of the FARE Project—Football Against Racism in Europe—raising awareness for racism and other forms of discrimination. Thank you to Ms. Annie Constantinidis and Valia Efstathiou for graciously agreeing to organize this event on behalf of this European effort that involved schools throughout Europe and even the Super League! Other YOLO Social Awareness Projects in Progress: Bubbles: Recycling unused soaps from hotels to reshape/sell and support Homeless Shelters (Stamati Stamatiou& Hannah) Paws: Support for stray cats (Isabelle Gerbracht) The Cost of Beauty: Being a slave to your body? Investigating the benefits/harm of well- known organic vs commercial cosmetics bands (Sophia Masgana) The Urban Jungle: Do people with special needs have accessibility to their city like you do? (Aris Adam) Dopamine Addictions: Support of youth rehabs (Kyriakos Petrakos, Myrto Manticas, Achilleas Vriniotis, Constantinos Kretsis, Marios Zervoudis) Looking forward to more YOLO Projects next year! ■■
Current page: ACS Athens VARSITY playing for football against racism in Europe