FOOD BANK – FOUNDATION AGAINST HUNGER
“It is through exceptions that the world moves forward”, Manos Hadjidakis had said. In times of profound crisis, economic, moral and social, this saying is confirmed through individuals who lead and organise, ‘infecting’ others with their enthusiasm, vision and actions and joining together to turn from many small islets to one solid piece of land.
The story of the idea of a food bank goes back several decades to a trip of Gerasimos Vassilopoulos to the USA, when he first came across the institution of food banks. Two decades ago he was able to realise and finance his vision for a bank which would supply with food those who needed it, along with care, support and love. Over time this institution proved to be highly topical and necessary. Food corporations large and small where mobilised to send to the Bank’s large (1,500τ.sq. m.) storehouse in Kryoneri anything they couldn’t put on the market—non-perishable foods but also vegetables and dairy products—so that they end up on a table and not in landfills, as was the case until recently.
We have two full-time warehouse managers who take in the goods and record them in detail before they are distributed to our affiliated institutions which have been carefully vetted and approved in advance. Reliability is the key, lest any of these products found itself back in the marketplace, which is why we do not deliver large quantities but only what is needed for 10-15 days. When we are offered dairy products which may be expiring soon, we notify the institutions so that they take them in time. We work with volunteer men and mostly women, among whom the widow of Gerasimos Vassilopoulos, who also sits on our Board”, Mr Vourloumis had said in a December 2016 interview to the “Gastronomos” magazine of the Kathimerini “newspaper.
The figures are indicative of the scale of hands-on help provided by the Food Bank. In 2016 alone, the Bank’s network catered for 144 soup kitchens and institutions which served over 23,000 of our fellow humans, 38% of whom were children and 10% people over 65. It involved a total of 1,024 tons of products offered by 90 food companies as well as the material support of other welfare institutions.
In the 8-minute video produced with a sponsorship to present part of the Food Bank’s work, the phrase “We could never survive without the Food Bank” is often heard as an expression of gratitude and an indication of its importance in the lives of so many people. A similar gratitude is expressed in turn by the people of the Food Bank that works exclusively with the donations of individuals and institutions, having never received any funding at all from the State. Among their supporters are the Leventis Foundation, the Latsis Foundation, the Bodosakis Foundation, the Paul & Alexandra Canellopoulos Foundation…
“I had always associated the Canellopoulos Foundation with the exquisite collection of Byzantine icons. So we were pleasantly surprised with their aid to our work. It demonstrates their sensibility and awareness of the priorities dictated by the needs of the time. May there be other institutions to follow in their steps”. Panagis Vourloumis, Chairman of the Food Bank.
* Our thanks to Mr Dimitris Nentas for the information about the Food Bank and its actions.
