The “Ark of the World” is a Non-Profit Organization for the Special Care and Protection of Mothers and Children which operates on the care of children who were living under conditions of negligence and abandonment, without medical attendance, without a future; most of them coming from single parent families and many of them without parents. The “Ark of the World” was founded in 1998 by the twenty-six-year (then) old priest, Father Antonios Papanikolaou, having as his weapons his love for children and his wish to create a nest of affection and care for the “other children” of Athens. They were children who were daily experiencing abandonment, indifference, racism and social exclusion in one of Athens’ most degraded areas, Akadimia Platonos. Facing unspeakable poverty and impoverishment of children, Father Antonios did not hesitate to dedicate his life to them, which was a work of love but also his life’s work. Together with a team of volunteers who selflessly frame Father Antonios and his children, offering love and affection, the “Ark of the World” nowadays gathers approximately 400 children, from infants to 18-year-olds, thereby forming a community of compassion and love, which flourishes and excels at the centre of Athens. These children, most of them Greek, but also from other countries, are today experiencing affection and peace within the “Ark of the World”, away from their previous poverty, hunger, racism, and other wounds that plague our society today With our only ally the Love in Christ and the meagre means available, we undertake the daily feeding of children, meet their needs for clothing, footwear, medical and dental care, but also their education by means of tutorials delivered daily by volunteer teachers, offered selflessly in this work of love, as well as by means of a training program with workshops for ceramics, hagiography and computing which were created with great effort and passion. Also foreign languages, folk dances and folk musical instruments are being taught. Furthermore, we operate a kindergarten program. During summer, we care for children on holidays at our camp and in various districts of Greece. Our social service negotiates all requests for assistance. Father Antonios’ aim is to prevent children from becoming institutionalized, and to help them stay with their mothers. In order to achieve this goal, homeless but also needy mothers are being enhanced by means of monthly financial aids, meaning that the “Ark” is paying rents for small houses and, with these financial aids to mothers, pays for water and electricity bills, and, at the same time, helps mothers find a job with the ultimate goal to help them stand on their feet, to take life in their hands and to take the full responsibility of their children. The “Ark of the World” was awarded in November 2003, at a heart-warming ceremony at the building of the Old Parliament, by the President of the Republic Mr Constantinos Stefanopoulos as one of the best organizations dedicated to child care in Greece. Also, the European Observatory against racism and xenophobia chose the “Ark of the World” as “the brightest example against racism and xenophobia in Greece for the year 2003”. In December 2004, the Ark was awarded by the UNESCO for its work. On December 5th, 2005, at a ceremony at the Presidential Palace, the “Ark of the World” was awarded again by the current President of the Republic, Mr Carolos Papoulias, as one of the best organizations in Greece dedicated to child care. More recently, on 30.12.2008, the Athens Academy awarded a prize to Father Antonios, priest and founder of the non-profit organization “Ark of the World”, for his excellent voluntary work, as a Greek person who excelled in practising humanism and social virtue, helping needy and abandoned children. Moreover, a guest house with a capacity of 40 beds was prepared and is functional since 2008, in a second room, for homeless and abused mothers, because a great need arose for the<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The “Ark of the World” is a Non-Profit Organization for the Special Care and Protection of Mothers and Children which operates on the care of children who were living under conditions of negligence and abandonment, … Read more<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":250,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[99],"class_list":["post-249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-foundations","tag-99","infinite-scroll-item","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-50","resize-featured-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charityidols.com\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charityidols.com\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charityidols.com\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charityidols.com\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charityidols.com\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.charityidols.com\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charityidols.com\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charityidols.com\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charityidols.com\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charityidols.com\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}