FOOD BANK

Reduction of food waste in the central vegetable market of Athens and at the same time covering the food needs of community groups and institutions that help people in need, throughout Attica.

Vulnerable social groups, who are in a state of food insecurity or hunger.

The duration of each action is a few hours but the action can continue as long as there are people who are hungry and vegetables that, although suitable for consumption, are thrown away.

In consultation with a store that maintains a position in the central vegetable market of Athens, every Monday and Friday, the Food Bank sends volunteers or its employees who receive quantities of fruit and vegetables that are not marketable even though they are suitable for consumption and distributes them to benefiting charities and institutions in all of Attica.

The Food Bank combines the facilities (cold rooms, warehouse) and the appropriate network of organizations to take full advantage, reliably and safely of these sensitive foods. Few organizations in Greece have the ability to preserve and rapidly disperse large quantities of perishable food.

We work with volunteers from the organization SOS Refugees, who help us every other week in receiving the food.

Both the employees of the Food Bank and the volunteers of the same or other organizations in its network, participate in the action, transferring the food either directly to food banks and/or structures in order to use them or to the Food Bank itself where they will be stored for a short time period until they are distributed to organizations in its network.

The place of action is the central vegetable market of Athens, the Food Bank where the products are distributed.

As a result of the initiative, since the beginning of 2022, more than 20 tons of vegetables, nutritious foods that were destined for destruction have been distributed.

Instead, food was given free to vulnerable groups such as refugees and people below the poverty line, meeting their nutritional needs.

The networking with shops of the central vegetable market and the presence of the Food Bank in the area of the vegetable market at regular intervals, opens new avenues of cooperation that can yield even greater quantities of food in the future. Further promoting the foundation's fight against hunger and waste.