The refugee Care Center is run by a 12-member council consisting of representatives from the churches and the organizations that support it, and there is a five-member advisory committee directly responsible for its operation.
All the services we offer are in a safe place that we have established, at 5 Christou Pipsou Street, near the railway station of Thessaloniki. The building used to be a clothing manufacturing factory. Many similar businesses in the region were shut down due to the financial crisis, and so we rented this space at a reasonable price in January 2017. By March we had built partitions, installed various infrastructures, and in April 2017 the Center began to operate.
The Care Center is run by Agape and AMG. The cost of office furniture was covered by supporters of these two organizations. In many cases, we have worked with volunteer doctors and dentists from Greece and abroad, providing medical and dental care to our beneficiaries.
Every week, qualified volunteers hold special courses within the framework of Al-Masira, a Christian program specially designed for Muslims. These courses are in English and addressed for now to Pakistanis. Soon, they will be also in Arabic by Arab-speaking trained volunteers.
We have New Testaments and Bibles in different languages that anyone can have access to.
We have Bibles and New Testaments in Arabic, Farsi (Persian), Dari (Afghan), Urdu (Pakistani). If anyone asks, we have memory cards for mobile phones and computers with the film Jesus and the Bible in many languages. The refugees can keep the film Jesus and the Bible in their own language and use the rest of the memory card for their own use. These cards have been offered by American Missionaries who work in Albania.
At first, our goal was to reach Arab-speaking refugee families. But soon we realized that such families were becoming less present in Thessaloniki, and also their needs were covered by the Greek Government, UNHCR and NGOs, who moved them into homes.
In our neighbourhood, though, near the railway station remained many Pakistanis and other immigrants homeless, in deserted buildings that needed our services very much. So we reached out to them, and 50-60 people started taking showers.
Every operating day, more than 30 people or families wash and dry their clothes. 10-20 people attend different courses.
A total of 180-200 people pass from the Center.
In order for the center to be functional, a minimum of 10 volunteers are needed every day. More volunteers are welcome, and they will be assigned various tasks. For more information, please contact coordinator@carecenter.gr.
