The New York-based global organization The Hellenic Initiative (THI), founded in 2012 to support charity organizations in Greece during the economic crisis, is appealing for donations to help put food on Greek tables this Easter, as they do every year.

While Thanksgiving and Christmas are usually the season of charitable giving in the US and around the world, Easter is a time when less fortunate families in Greece may be even more deprived, and a donation could make a big difference for families otherwise unable to properly commemorate the holiday. The traditional Easter Sunday meal is a feast that normally gathers large companies of family and friends. This year, as in 2020, the celebrations will be kept smaller – but charitable organizations around the country will still attempt to put traditional foods on any empty table.

“In Greece, the essence of holidays is enjoying loving and memorable meals with one’s family and friends, but due to the pandemic more people than usual are at risk of marking Greek Orthodox Easter on May 2 experiencing hunger rather than joy,” the THI writes in the announcement of their annual “Easter Appeal.”

Donations made to the THI now will enrich Easter tables of needy Greeks through The Food Bank, which feeds 43,000 people throughout Greece; the Diatrofi program of the Prolepsis Institute, which provides school children with healthy meal boxes and is hoping to distribute 14,400 meals to kindergarteners in socioeconomically vulnerable areas by the end of this school year; and the Ladies Union of Drama, a volunteer organization merging two causes through their food bank: minimizing food waste, and supporting 1700 people in the prefecture of Drama in northeast Greece.

The Hellenic Initiative

According to the THI website, it has provided 16 million dollars to Greece since its founding in 2012. Besides donations for direct crisis relief, much of that has been invested in non-profit organizations and small Greek businesses, to aid long-term economic recovery still very much needed due to the Greek economic crisis. The THI’s Board of Directors includes some of the world’s leading businessmen, former US President Bill Clinton, and NBA player Giannis Antetokounmpo.

You can read more about the Easter Appeal here, and donate to the cause here.