Seasons Greetings and Happy New Year
Updated: Apr 5, 2023
It goes without saying that 2021 has once again been a year full of uncertainty, both for people on Lesvos and as the world attempts to adjust to living with Covid-19.
We would like to say a very big thank you to each and every one of you who have supported or partnered with us in 2021. From all the team at Starfish Foundation we would like to wish you and all those close to you a joyful and healthy New Year!
Our Winter Raffle
Our annual Winter Raffle is still open until 12 midnight tonight (31st Dec) Greek time. So if you still want to contribute to this then please do so NOW. The raffle will help fund our projects for refugees whilst supporting and promoting local Lesvos businesses. See all the prizes you could win here.
Situation on Lesvos
At present the official number of residents registered in Mavrovouni Camp is 1836, there are also 160 unaccompanied minors in shelters and a large number of refugees living in the city of Mytilene, some with refugee status and some without. Over the last year the number of individuals being granted asylum, and subsequently leaving to the Greek mainland or further onto Central Europe, exceeds the number of arrivals to Lesvos. Push backs are still happening and we send our condolences to the families that have lost people on their attempts to come and seek a safer country.
We are anticipating further changes in the near future as international NGOs begin to leave the Island, meaning, as a local Lesvos NGO, we have to be ready and respond where gaps in support for people arise.
Registration with Greek Ministry of Migration
At the end of November we received the fantastic news that our registration with the Greek Ministry of Migration (MoM) had officially been granted. The process of applying took a lot of time and energy. A big thank you to everyone who helped us with our application. The Starfish Foundation is now able to independently enter the camp and work with refugees.
Boost for Camp Activities
We also received further good news relating to our work inside Mavrovouni as it was confirmed that we would have a storage container in 2022 for our #safehands project.
This is great news as it will help us to do our job more efficiently by storing equipment in camp instead of driving to our storage site. We will also have a second shared container that will serve as our office and a hub for our staff and resident volunteers whilst an isobox will also host our Library, reading hours and other activities.
Giving Tuesday
A big thank you to all those who donated to our 2021 Giving Tuesday Library fundraising campaign. Starfish managed to raise a great total of $1350 which will help to ensure the continued operations and development of our Library at OpenSpace, the pop-up services and new isobox library in Mavrovouni Camp.
A sincere thank you from all at Starfish!
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