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At the same time, there was an increase in the number of requests for assistance from needy families. The foundation provided support to 10,547 children, 25% of whom had found themselves under its care for the first time. 48% of 1,257 families sought help from "The Smile of the Child" for the first time too. In 79% of cases, the children's parents were unemployed or their income was very low, 26% were single-parent families and 13% large families.

Kostas Giannopoulos said that despite the difficulties parents do not abandon their children and seek assistance to meet their basic needs.

The foundation has a wide range of activities, including consultancy services for children and teenagers, organizing campaigns against school violence, creative activities for children who are under treatment at the children's hospitals in Athens, Thessaloniki and Patras, and preventive medical examinations through the mobile medical stations.

In 2013, it carried out 34,000 examinations of 17,955 children in 49 municipalities, which is a 156.5% increase compared to 2012.

"The Smile of the Child" is the coordinator of the European network against school violence, which includes Greece, Italy, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. It is expected that the project will be officially announced in June, within the context of the Greek Presidency of the European Union.

"For yet another year people ranked the foundation first among the NGOs, according to their activities. This is particularly important at this time, when the financial scandals in some organizations give rise to scepticism among all of us. However, NGOs cannot solve all the problems of society, the state authorities have to take actions too. We note an increase in cases of sexual abuse, child abandonment in hospitals, keeping them in a poor and harassing family environment due to lack of reception facilities, serious deficiencies in the provision of basic needs such as health, education and food. Children in Greece suffer due to the lack of coordinated care for them rather than from the crisis," concludes the director of the foundation.