Emfasis Foundation is an innovative project, inspired by Greek citizens who permanently live abroad and cooperate closely with Greek specialists and volunteers, aiming at dealing with every need of vulnerable and socially excluded groups.
Emfasis’ teams act in neighborhoods and areas, where vulnerable groups have been detected and evaluate individual needs, providing social, emotional and human support.
According to Emfasis Social Street Work Ethics and Principles, its main purpose is to encourage people to regain self-respect and faith in their own capabilities and through individual programs, which are implemented with respect and discretion, to help them gradually become integrated in society again.
Maria Karra, Emfasis’ founding member, who has been living and working abroad since 1992, talked to Human Grid about Emfasis: “For years, Greeks are being tried on a daily basis and are asked to sacrifice their fundamental right to live with dignity.”
She continued: “Walking in the streets of Athens and meeting with the new homeless, as well as with thousands of the city’s residents that have lost everything but most of all their dignity, we decided to act immediately.”
Karra said: “We draw endless courage from the tireless Greek experts, as well as from volunteers, who visit streets, parks, stores, schools, children playgrounds, and support all those the crisis found unprepared.”
“The response we meet in the streets is unprecedented,” Karra added. “From mothers who do not have where to leave their children in order to work, to families that live with no electricity for years, bedridden elderly people, severe cases of young children’s malnutrition, lack of medical care and more,” she noted.
Karra concluded: “The neighborhood of the capital is the cornerstone of the Greek society and we ask for the contribution of all so that we restore its human hue.”
Emfasis’ teams work in the neighborhoods of Athens on a daily basis, recording the needs per area and supporting people in need for direct aid, cooperating with local bodies and scientists, in order to find the most final solutions to the needs and problems of those people.
Emfasis is funded exclusively by individuals and is based on the aid that social workers, psychologists and other social scientists provide for the teams’ staffing.
For more information you can visit www.emfasisfoundation.org.
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