Marie’s fundraising for 2 Families

My name is Marie and I live in Greece. I am a working mother, striving every day to secure my family’s living. A couple of weeks ago, I was informed by a friend of mine, who works in a shelter, about two families who faced severe economic problems. Both parents lost their jobs, consumed their savings, mortgaged their belongings, until there was no other solution; they had to give their children (2 daughters, each family) away to the shelter, in order to stop them from starving and suffering. I am trying to raise money to support these two Greek families that face extremely difficult surviving conditions. I kindly ask all of you to read the situation below and offer as much or as little as possible!   The situation in Greece   I am sure that most of you are aware of the difficult economic conditions that Greece faces. The bad economic situation of Greece is well advertised by the media worldwide, however none of them really exposes the true inequality, poverty and miserable living conditions that currently exist in Greece – caused mainly by all those austerity measures imposed by the Greek Governments and the European Union on Greek families. When I was young, I was taught by my parents to believe in the higher values of my country; I was taught to dream and base my dreams and future on my country’s great values of honor, democracy and integrity. I was raised believing in higher virtues, created and offered to the world by my ancestors. And now that I created my own family and in a way am asked to continue this legacy... I find great difficulty in doing so. Greece, the country of Socrates and Aristotle, the country who gave birth to democracy, medicine and all those inconceivable life sciences and regimes, has betrayed its people. Not only because most Greeks live under sever austerity. Not only because Greece led its people suffer and families collapse under the weight of the economic pressures of taxation. Greece betrayed its people, mainly because the country allowed “the medicine” for its economic problems to be delivered to Greeks by exactly the same parties that caused Greece to collapse. But most of all Greece betrayed its people, because it caused child poverty to significantly increase and put a heavy strain on the living standards of its people. According to research, among groups, children and young adults are more at risk than others. (http://www.bankofgreece.gr/BogEkdoseis/Paper2014174.pdf)   The two families   The first family has two daughters. Raised by a single mother, Irene, the two girls are now 5 and 6 years old. Irene lost her job 16 months ago and even though she tried finding any kind of job she could not make it. The three of them live today under miserable conditions. The second family has also two daughters. Giannis and Katerina both lost their jobs two years ago. After consuming all their savings, they had to sell their home to repay mortgages and now they are homeless living under poverty with their two kids. Both families decided that they had to give their children away to the shelter, in order to stop them from starving and suffering. As a mother, I knew I could never endure such a separation! When you bring your child in this world you try to do your best to offer as much as possible, as best as possible! It is such a shame, totally dishonorable to live in a country that takes what’s most valuable away from you! I kindly ask you to support my effort to raise at least 10,000 Euros for each family, and be able to offer them at least 2 years of living under decent conditions together with their children. Even if Greece is not your country, please support its people in such a time of need. Please spread the word and share the link.