CSR

Me Alla Matia NPO

A report on solidary actions and contributions of Me Alla Matia NPO towards social change

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It is nice to spread smiles around you!

It is a pleasure to constantly show practical solidarity, organizing or supporting various actions of selfless offering throughout the country! And after all, it is a life philosophy to see every difficulty, every problem… with different eyes!

Given that the daily struggle against exclusion must concern every field of reality, NPO “Me Alla Matia” was established as a space with multiple roles and pursuits, devoted to promoting every initiative toward social change and equal opportunities. With the fundamental principle that against difficult social conditions that lead to individualism and frustration, the most effective response is solidarity and collective action for social change, we participated and will continue to participate either as organizers or co-organizers and as communication sponsors in any initiative that encourages the formation of social consciousness against exclusion!

“Dinner in the Dark”

The heartwarming response that people showed through “Dinner in the Dark” has raised more than 11.000€ so far, covering various needs for the following:

financially weak families in Heraklion and Rethymnon,
the claiming of a vital place for our mentally ill fellow citizens all over the Peloponnese,
units of the SOS Children’s Villages,
infrastructure for the School for the Blind of Thessaloniki
the Pancretan Association of Parents and Friends of Children with Cancer “Iliahtida“,
the necessary electrical work for the rehabilitation center of the “Right to Life” Association (covering the entire cost)
the supported independent living structures for PwDs of the Association of Naval Parents “Argo”
SKEP – Association of Social Responsibility for Children and Youth,
ELEPAP Ioannina
Career Sign
the Social Grocery of Vrilissia.

Social Actions

🔸 Free advertising of restaurants and cafés nationwide that have a Braille catalog through meallamatia.gr

🔸 Free advertising of hotels and accommodations that unconditionally accommodate guide dogs for blind persons through meallamatia.gr

🔸 Provision of Braille catalogs to support blind visitors to the “My Smyrna” exhibition of the Byzantine & Christian Museum, the Domotel Kastri Hotel, and several catering establishments.

🔸 Creation of tactile evacuation plans for the blind visitors of the Mediterannée Hotel in Patras.

🔸 In collaboration with the “Neo Frontistirio” coaching school, for the third consecutive year, we collected bottle caps which were then exchanged for wheelchairs and special technical aids for students of the Special High School and Lyceum of Pella and the Association of Paraplegics of Pella. As part of the same collaboration, a discount was obtained for vulnerable social groups of the Attica region: children from three-child families, members of the Panhellenic Association of the Blind, and members of the “Tyrtaeus” Athletic Prefectural Union for People with Disabilities who have children/siblings attending the High Schools and Lyceums of Attica obtained a 20% discount at the “Neo Frontistirio”!

🔸 The offering of free preventive examinations for memory disorders and mental functions in visually impaired people was ensured in collaboration with the Medical School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki – 1st Neurological Clinic AHEPA (Professor Ms. M. Tsolaki) and Alzheimer Hellas.

🔸For six years, meallamatia.gr was part of the award-winning Traffic Education events for children, organized by the Children’s Radio Family 89.5FM in Heraklion, Crete.

🔸 At Easter of 2019, in collaboration with ilion-news.gr, we collected food and personal hygiene items for the financially weak fellow citizens supported by the meals organized by the Holy Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Palatiani.

🔸 Amid the new COVID-19 pandemic, we responded to the request of the Association of Greek Sign Language Interpreters by donating certified, specially designed masks that allow visibility in the oral area so that all interpreters nationwide could freely continue their job.

🔸 In March 2019, collaborating with the municipal faction “Solidary City-Alliance for Ilion” and the Aris Ilion Sports Club, we hosted the 1st Anti-Racist Basketball Tournament to score against racism!

Art & Entertainment

🔸 Creation of a Register of Disabled Artists to promote their work and to staff inclusive artistic events

🔸 Communication sponsorship at the three-day 5th International Dance Festival Disability presented by Vaggelis Avgoulas

🔸 Live music event at the Motel Cafe Bar to support the work of the SOS Children’s Villages.

🔸 Christmas music night at Margarita’s Lounge café in Ilion, donating the proceeds —400€— to the Association for Children with Cancer “Floga”. The same site has been used in the past for other activities of Me Alla Matia: we recall a festive Live Music event and a Social Cocktail Party, whose proceeds were donated to the Career Sign NPO that supports PwDs in their professional rehabilitation. Furthermore, a Cretan music event was held to support the Social Grocery of the Municipality of Ilion. This successful event was then repeated to contribute to the soup kitchens in the city.

🔸 In support of the Smile of the Child, “Me Alla Matia” collaborated with Buenos Dias snack bar in Ilion and invited people to contribute to its cause. Part of the gathered proceeds was donated to the organization.

🔸 Meallamatia.gr has co-hosted the Music Dream Festival for three years, which aims to foster social contribution through art and entertainment. The proceeds are used to meet the needs of structures related to children, as we have already done for the Children’s Villages SOS, Floga, etc.

🔸 We were media sponsors of the European Erasmus+ program “Music Key”, an intercultural project where young visually impaired people from 6 European countries were hosted at the KEAT facilities (Center for Education & Rehabilitation for the Blind) in Athens and took part in musical activities, leading to a concert at the end of the program.

🔸 We ensured free admission and special discounts at the Color Day Festival 2019 to financially vulnerable citizens.

Awareness Campaigns

Another central chapter of our initiatives lies in the campaigns that aim to educate and familiarize people of all ages with disability and accessibility nationwide:

🔸 Production and publishing of a Monthly Social News Bulletin with subtitles and interpretation in Greek Sign Language.

🔸 Training of civil servants of the Municipality of Athens to support disabled people in their right to vote.

🔸 Training of the Athens Pride Festival volunteers in supporting disabled visitors for the last eight years.

🔸 Volunteer training for the European Federation of Guide Dogs Conference in accompanying visually impaired delegates.

🔸 Training of blind people from the Cyclades in the use of computers and mobile phones to deal with the pandemic for their empowerment.

🔸 Free live stream disability awareness concerts:
“Singing for what you (do not) know about disability“
“Anassa mou ki aera” (=my breath and air)

🔸 Free advertising of disabled candidates in national, local, and European elections from all parties of the democratic spectrum since 2019.

🔸 Cooperation with the street paper “shedia” in a series of interviews and participation in the action “Vendor for 1 hour” to promote its work.

🔸 Provision of expertise to the Association of People with Disability of Ilion for the accessibility assessment of the churches of the Municipality.

🔸 Disability awareness program with ThinkBiz students.

Notably, with the licensed program “Des ti Zoi Me Alla Matia”, we have implemented 420 programs educating 3,000 teachers and 33,000 students. Our motivational speakers living with disability, apart from Athens and Attica region, have been to Chania, Heraklion, Thessaloniki, Karditsa, Rethymnon, Lamia, Tripoli, Megalopoli, Kefalonia, Volos, Agrinio, Messolonghi, Kalamata, Lemnos, Chios and more…

One thing is fur sure: we will keep on! Join us in this journey towards social contribution and solidarity!

Here is some photo content of our various CSR actions: