Afksendiyos Kalangos: the Greek heart surgeon who has operated on 15,000 children for free (video)

Greek media have given Dr. Afksendiyos Kalangos many names. They have called him “the doctor of the poor,” “a saint without a halo,” “the greek heart surgeon who saves children,” “the guardian angel,” and “the doctor with the golden hands.”

But the most accurate of all the epithets should be “the greek heart surgeon who operated on 15,000 children for free.”

 

Dr. Kalangos began his career as a cardiovascular surgeon at the Geneva Medical School Hospital in Switzerland in 1993. In 1998, the philanthropic doctor founded the “Coeurs Pour Tous” (Hearts for All) foundation, and in 2002 he founded the “Kalangos Institution” for which he also serves as Chairman.

In the past ten years, he has traveled all over the world along with his medical team, performing his “art of saving the lives of children” as a Greek journalist put it. He and his crack team have traveled to a total of 25 countries, performing pro bono heart surgery on fifteen thousand children.

Dimitri Neonakis: the pilot making wishes of Canadian children come true

Dimitri Neonakis, a Greek-Canadian from Messinia who lives and works in Nova Scotia, Canada, impresses all in the local community with his inspiring way of expressing his solidarity with his fellow citizens — especially the younger ones.

Following the terrorist attacks of April, 2020 in Nova Scotia, where 22 people tragically lost their lives, Neonakis wanted to find a unique way to express his solidarity with his community.

So he decided to begin creating figures in the sky with his airplane as a way to transmit symbols and messages of solidarity in the air. After these routes are depicted on a map, they show what he says are uplifting images of hope.

Following this unusual gesture, Neonakis decided to take a further step and introduce the "Dream Wings" initiative, which gives children with mobility issues and serious health conditions the opportunity to take a once-in-a-lifetime ride on his plane.

Greek athlete Marios Giannakou carries disabled student to peak of Mount Olympus

“There is nothing more real than the dream. 09:02 am We reached the top of Greece with Eleftheria and our team,” Marios Giannakou's Instagram post read in reference to Mount Olympus.

This was the post of the long distance athlete who informed about the successful completion of, what he described a few days ago, as the most important and beautiful race of his life. He conquered the top of Mount Olympus, carrying on his back, in a specially modified backpack, 22-year-old Eleftheria Tosiou, who has mobility problems.

“There is nothing more real than a dream,” writes the athlete from Drama in northern Greece, accompanying his post a photo of himself with the young biology student on his back, the Greek flag in his hand and a wide smile of satisfaction on the faces of both.

When Eleftheria met Marios through one of their common friends, she confided in him that she wants to ascend to Mount Olympus.

Without a second thought, the Drama athlete checked the diary, studied the meteorological forecasts, organized the appropriate support team and made his young friend’s dream come true.

The mechanics of philotimo: volunteers repair cars damaged in Evia floods (video)

In early August, the Greek island of Evia was hit by a catastrophic flood that killed eight people and caused incalculable destruction. In the wake of the disaster, residents found their homes and possessions destroyed. 

They were left to wonder how they could ever recover from this catastrophe. Now, a group of mechanics from Athens has volunteered to fix vehicles that were heavily damaged in the flood as soon as they saw the aftermath of the natural disaster.

The flooding was caused by the extraordinary amounts of rainfall that fell over a relatively short period of time. While the weather forecast had called for 63 mm (2.5 inches) of rain, Evia was deluged by 300 mm (11.8 inches) in just 8 hours, making the natural disaster one of the most devastating in the region’s history.

Tragically, eight people, including one infant, lost their lives in the terrible storm. Thousands of homes on Evia were flooded with water and mud, and many cars were swept away into the sea by torrents of water.

The amount of damage left by the flood is simply unimaginable. The most heavily-impacted regions on the island were Psachna, Politika, Bourtzi, Vasilikou and Lefkandi.

Upon seeing images of the destruction left in the wake of the flood, car aficionado Vasilis Papanikitas decided to go to Evia with his friends to help the residents there. “It started when I saw the cars in Bourtzi that were destroyed. People were saying that local mechanics didn’t believe that the cars could be repaired, and they should be discarded,” he explains.

Although Papanikitas is not a professional mechanic, but a cafe owner – his ‘Cafe Racer’ is a popular spot among car aficionados, in the Athenian suburb of Kifissia – he’s happy that he has now proved them wrong.

“I really like cars and I love repairing them. I couldn’t accept that the cars couldn’t be fixed. Nearly every car can be fixed,” he stated as he cleaned car parts that had been covered in mud during the flood.

The good side of Greece radiates

Elona Angoli sewed 600 masks in Grevena. The Saabo family is doing the same in Trikala.

In every corner of Greece an "outbreak" of donations and volunteering and a strong mobilization in the battle against the coronavirus is manifesting.

Residents of Nea Filadelfeia donated more than 200 units of blood. In Agia Paraskevi, 114 units were collected. In Petrana and Kroko Kozanis, 15 and 21 units respectively.

A network of Emergency Seamstresses is created in 37 prefectures to arm the front line with 40,000 reusable masks. The volunteers of Covid-19 Response Greece design and manufacture more than 25,000 face shields. And they keep going.

Football legend Mimis Domazos opens first free Soccer Academy in Greece

Retired Greek football legend Mimis Domazos, who is considered by many to be one of the best players that Greece has ever produced has opened the first free soccer academy in Greece, which will also support stray animals in Athens.

According to the announcement made by the Academy of Greek Football, the 77-year-old nicknamed “The General” is inviting children between the ages of 4 and 16 to enroll and train for free throughout the season, while also supporting stray dogs and other animals in the Greek capital.

The only catch is he requests that those who are in a position to do so, provide dry food, canned food and anything else they wish to donate towards stray animals in Athens.

'The HOME Project' NGO is taking refugee kids off the streets of Athens (video)

Children are the silent heart of the refugee crisis. More than half of the world’s displaced population comprises minors torn from their war-ridden homelands who cross European borders in search of security and well-being. Many are unaccompanied and particularly vulnerable, prone to exploitation or violence similar to that they are fleeing. With the closure of the Greek borders, it is estimated that 2,100 children remain homeless and stranded in the country.

At the same time, an eight-year financial crisis has led to the creation of another problem in the Athenian urban landscape: numerous uninhabited and often abandoned buildings across the center of the city, in various states of continuous decay.

Where most people would detect two unrelated problems, Sofia Kouvelaki envisioned a solution that would benefit everyone. Kouvelaki is the head of the HOME Project, a nongovernmental organization that aims to provide security, support and social inclusion services to young refugees arriving in Greece. The principal tool of the initiative is the organization’s shelters: 11 formerly abandoned buildings which the initiative has rented and refurbished, converting them into welcoming homes for unaccompanied minors.

"The good side of Greece" supports the GoFundMe campaign for seriously injured diving champion Androgeos Sampsakis

Please donate here: https://www.gofundme.com/seriously-injured-diving-champion 


A message by Evangelos "Stefanos" Tzivopoulos, Head Diving Coach / President of the Hellene Clavadistas:

My beloved friends all over the world.

I am doing this GoFundMe for my beloved friend National and International Junior Champion Androgeos Sampsakis.
 
Androgeos is 17 and is an extremely sweet and talented kid. He is the Greek and Balkan champion this year and a very promising athlete.

Act of kindness to wine expert goes a long way for Paxos seller

The smallest acts of kindness can go a long way. A recent example comes from world-renowned wine critic and journalist Jancis Robinson, who had been planning a week-long family vacation with her children and grandchildren on the Greek island of Paxos in the Ionian Sea.

Robinson had booked a villa and arranged all sorts of activities when she came across the Paxos Wines electronic store on the Internet. She selected various wines and was assured by the company’s owner, 37-year-old Andreas Diamantis, that they would be delivered to the villa. “They will be there waiting for you,” he told her, adding that she could settle the bill when she arrived on the island.

Hours before departing, she received a text message informing her that her flight had been cancelled. The next available flight for Corfu was three days later and had just two seats left. She cancelled the villa, her children changed their holiday plans and Robinson off for Paxos with her husband, Nick Lander, a food critic, staying at a simple hotel.

In the confusion, she almost forgot about the wine that was on its way to the villa. When she sent an email of apology to Diamantis, she was surprised by his answer.