Loader
Advertisement

The refugees' Santa delivers life-saving presents

Aris Vlahopoulos
Aris Vlahopoulos
Copyright 
By Apostolos Staikos
Published on
Share Comments Add Euronews on Google
Share Close Button
Copy/paste the article video embed link below: Copy to clipboard Copied

Winter on Lesbos can be a tough time, but one man has made it his mission to help those in need.

Aris Vlahopoulos was sitting on a beach one day, reading a book when a refugee boat came ashore nearby.

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

"At that moment I had three choices," he recalls. "Get up and leave or disappear, take photos or help them."

The choice the former shipping worker made, changed his life completely.

Vlahopoulos went on to establish the NGO Attica Human support and now presides over a warehouse stocking almost every product imaginable, from clothes and toys to bikes, blankets and tools, donated from the length and breadth of Europe.

His primary "customers" are at the infamous Moria refugee camp a short distance away on the island of Lesbos. They can call or send a Whatsapp message for anything they need and a daily delivery van is packed up and dispatched.

But locals in financial difficulties can also take advantage of the free service. Some refugees refer to Vlahopoulos as Santa Claus but the presents he delivers are life savers, rather than stocking fillers.

Go to accessibility shortcuts
Share Comments Add Euronews on Google

Read more

UN says 2.4m refugees will need resettling in 2027 and warns of shortage of options

EU considers tightening protections for military-age Ukrainians

South Africa and Afrikaners reject US claims of humanitarian crisis for white people