The SNF supports the earthquake stricken Kefalonia, with a grant amounting to €1.3 million towards the Nursing Home – Lixouri Charity Foundation

Following the devastating earthquake that hit Kefalonia during the two previous months, and having as its primary objective the support of the island’s inhabitants, the Board of Directors of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (www.SNF.org) approved an emergency grant amounting to €1.3 million, towards the Nursing Home for the Elderly – Lixouri Charitable Foundation (www.girokomeio-lixouriou.gr). This donation by the Foundation is the single largest grant for emergency relief to respond to a natural disaster that the Foundation has ever provided worldwide.

The grant of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation seeks the immediate and substantial relief of the local community from the devastating effects of the earthquake, and concerns the support of an historic Foundation, whose facilities have suffered irreparable damages, seriously jeopardizing its operation.

The decision to provide the grant was taken after representatives of the SNF visited the island of Kefalonia, in order to get a first-hand view of the situation, and to be able to carefully evaluate how the Foundation could contribute effectively to the needs of the local inhabitants.

Celebrating 100 years of operation, the Nursing Home for the Elderly – Lixouri Charitable Foundation is one of the most recognizable social welfare institutions in Kefalonia and its actions are of major importance for the support and cohesion of the island’s local community, since it is also the only nursing home that operates in Paliki, the second largest municipality in Kefalonia. The nursing facilities of the Nursing Home for the Elderly in Lixouri were erected in 1930 with a grant by the philanthropist Panayis Vagliano, who also financed the construction of the National Library of Greece.

The Stavros Niarchos Foundation has chosen to make this grant, taking into account the significant contribution of this organization to the society of Lixouri and the consistent, positive social impact it has had over the years.

Specifically, the grant will be used for a complete reconstruction of the building of the Lixouri Nursing Home for the Elderly, which accommodates 45 elderly people who are now homeless due to the unsuitability of the building after the earthquake. The repair work will start soon, to enable the reopening of the nursing home as soon as possible.

Mr Andreas Dracopoulos, Co-President of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation’s Board of Directors, stated: "With its charitable grants, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation seeks to assist all residents of Greece, not only those in large urban centers. It is important for us to support those in great need and we consider it an honor and an obligation to help the generations who raised us and gave us the tools to create, so that we can now provide and care for them”.

Mr. Vasilis Rouhotas, president of the Lixouri Charitable Foundation, added “We are confident that the Foundation’s initiative will be appreciated by the entire island and that its deeply human symbolism reflects in the best possible way the Foundation’s altruism.”