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Athens municipality opens homeless shelter

30 December 2009 / 12:12:50  GRReporter
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Athens municipality is opening a new hotel – reception center for homeless in 2010. It will be sanctified by the Archbishop of Athens and whole Greece – Jerom. This became clear at the ceremony for signing of the co-operation memorandum in favor of the people with social inequalities, signed by the head of the orthodox church and the mayor of Athens Nikitas Kaklamanis. The reception center will be a shelter for 70 homeless people and is just a part of a wider program for employing of unemployed, homeless, women who became victims of violence and youngsters, dependant on narcotic substances.

This is the first of its kind cooperation between the church and the members of the local self-government, which will be spread on higher levels and will be goal and model for further development. Greek church and Athens municipality do not cooperate for the first time in the field of support for the people with social inequalities. They have common programs for feeding the needing and lonely people who are fulfilled thanks to the Center for sheltering homeless of the Athens municipality.

“The Church helps and is ready to help to those that most need it, in order to relieve the pain and to save them from being alone. The revival of the human is its main purpose, as well as the shaping of the human” – said archbishop Jeronimos and appealed to the people not to be selfish but to try to help each other.   
    “The main interest of the church is the human, no matter what he is – white, black, foreigner, muslim …, because the pain does not have a color” – he said at the end. Nikitas Kaklamanis said that in Greece the care for the homeless and socially weak people is not a new thing and while in countries like France during a natural disaster like too high or too low temperatures the number of dead homeless and socially weak people reaches 15 000, in Greece up to this moment there is not a single homeless or socially weak person to die because of a natural disaster..
    In front of the guests of the meeting he mentioned about the meaning of helping others without any reserves, but he also mentioned the difficulties with which every volunteer is faced. About the difficulties that both initiatives are faced with, he said: “Some things should be viewed with the spirit of the law and not its literality”.

Tags: athens municipality homeless shelter municipality
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