EUROZONE-GREECE/CHARITY Greek children's charity says capital controls stifling donations, threatening work

Record ID: 146465

  • Title: EUROZONE-GREECE/CHARITY Greek children's charity says capital controls stifling donations, threatening work
  • Date: 21st July 2015
  • Summary: ATHENS, GREECE (JULY 21, 2015) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) 'SMILE OF THE CHILD' DIRECTOR, COSTAS GIANNOPOULOS, SAYING: "Financially, I mean in the banks which are not working at the moment because of capital controls, it's one week of survival. One week means we have no means of supporting all of these children with financial means."
  • Embargoed: 5th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Greece
  • Country: Greece
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVADK26360VCCA8HQLBCKRPDRK6X
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: A Greek charity said on Tuesday (July 21) that capital controls were stifling donations leaving them starved of cash as economic uncertainty meant thousands more families were relying on their help.
    Some 82,000 children were supported by "Smile of a Child" in 2014 but in the first six months of this year that number has already risen to 60,000 , and continues to rise, Director Costas Giannopoulos told a news conference in Athens.
    "All over Greece children and families that are in crisis need us. Families who feel ashamed to say that from one day to another, they found themselves in absolute poverty. Children who don't have food to eat on a daily basis," he said.
    The organisation has 410 employees and some 2,000 volunteers who provide assistance including school supplies, medical support, counseling and a hotline to report victims of abuse and those at risk.
    But over three weeks of capital controls that have halted overseas transactions, held up imports and limited cash withdrawals to 60 euros a day have left many unable to give, Giannopoulos said.
    "I mean in the banks which are not working at the moment because of capital controls, it's one week of survival. One week means we have no means of supporting all of these children with financial means," he said.
    The organisation provides support to government institutions many of which are already under strain, including provision of a 24-hour mobile intensive care unit for newborns, and help to police and prosecutors taking in children kicked out of their homes.
    "(There's) no movement of financial, of money, so the companies can contribute the little money, the people do not have enough to give us the five euros, ten euros that until now they were supporting us (with)," Giannopoulos said.
    The number of appeals is not falling, with their helpline receiving 700 to 1,000 calls a day.
    'Smile of the Child' is far from being the only organisation whose activity is threatened as donations dry up, with others including Medecins du Monde saying they too are affected.
    The poverty rate in Greece has reached at least 23 percent in 2015, up from 20 percent in 2008, according to Greek statistics.
    In a UNICEF report released in October 2014, the child poverty rate in Greece was the highest in Europe at 40.5 percent, up from 23 percent in 2008.
    Giannopoulos said the organisation was launching an appeal for donations from abroad and Greeks living overseas.
    Aside from Greek children, the charity also works to support children of migrants arriving in Greece in their thousands, many fleeing conflict in Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq.
    "To see that there is another Greece that's fighting like hell to make sure that we keep our dignity and we keep the children living in Greece alive, and also the children coming from all over the world trying to get to Europe, at least to keep them alive until they find their way. This is our fight every day," Giannopoulos said.
    More than 77,000 people have arrived by sea to Greece so far this year, according to the United Nations refugee agency which called on the European Union to help Greece to avert a humanitarian disaster.
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