A #THITalk with ITHACA Laundry. Laundry. An initiative in Athens, with the goal to help homeless people find their Ithaca! By creating a laundry service in order to raise the hygiene standards of the homeless, Ithaca Laundry restores their self-esteem and dignity, and creates new opportunities for them.
The Hellenic Initiative supports the work of Ithaca Laundry since February 2018 and with its donation indirectly supports the living conditions of the homeless at the city of Athens.
“From the beginning of its operation, Ithaca works towards the reduction of the social exclusion that the people from social vulnerable groups face. With a view to realizing this goal, Ithaca creates job opportunities within the organization for them contributing in this way to their social and professional reintegration.
Within this context, two of Ithaca’s first employees have already managed to find a new full-time job position after receiving the necessary professional and psychological support through the organization’s external network of partners. Christos was an ex beneficiary of our service who later became our first employee and worked in the field serving others in need for more than a year. Our second employee, Petros, pursued the same course as Christos. Petros was a beneficiary of a program that supports economically deprived people and became the driver of our van for 14 months. During this period, he received the necessary counselling that later facilitated him in finding a new full-time job position.
The significant change and positive progress on the lives of these two people in such a short period of time by simply providing them the opportunity to work again after a long time and supporting them on a daily basis, is a great motive for us and a strong proof to continue our work.”
