Dear friends,
With your donations and with a fund of $30,000 we received for this project we have been able to provide 24 families with materials to repair sections of their homes that were damaged in the fire of August 2018, and to replace furniture and appliances that were completely destroyed. This relieved a lot of the financial pressure the families were under and allowed them to returned to a sense of normalcy.
It has been a humbling experience working alongside people who experienced the devastating effects of the fire. We would like to thank you for standing by their side during the difficult year that followed.
The time has come to close this project and carry on with our main work, which is providing Athens with a multilingual library.
We wish you and you loved ones all the best,
Ioanna Nisyriou
On behalf of We Need Books Team
Dear Friends and Supporters!
As we mentioned in our previous report, we have rented a large space for our multicultural center to move to, which we are currently renovating. All building work is expected to be over by August 15th. Then we will be faced with the daunting task of unpacking and putting on shelves all our books, which are stored in 350+ boxes! Meanwhile, all our lessons and activities have been suspended until September.
The new space will have a teaching room, a large area for reading, for socializing, for exhibitions and events, a children's space and a little back garden. Most of the furniture has been donated and a lot of the work is being done by us, former students of ours and local volunteers.
We will leave you with some more good news. Justine Hanna, an Australian librarian we met last year, has managed to source 4 boxes of Arabic books for us and has even managed to raise the funds needed to ship the books to us from Melbourne! So when we open again in September we will have the largest collection of Arabic books in Athens! We are thrilled!
You can listen to the intervew we gave Ms Hanna here:
We wish you a very happy summer,
Ioanna & Nadir
Founders of We Need Books
Dear friends,
On the 23rd of July 2018 a devastating fire claimed the lives of 102 people and destroyed hundreds of houses.
With your help and with a fund of $30,000 we received, we were able to provide 20 families whose homes were partially destroyed with the necessary equipment and materials to make their homes habitable again. We were able to buy stoves and refridgerators, tiles and paint, children's desks and beds.
Your contributions have made a very big difference to the lives of the 68 adults and children who have benefited from this project.
We thank you with all our hearts!
Ioanna Nisyriou
Co-founder of We Need Books
