1975
The initiative to establish SOS Children’s Villages in Greece belongs to Klodía Katsará, who, as a friend and member of the Children’s Villages in France, came to Greece with a big dream and a clear purpose: to create an SOS Children’s Village in our country for children who, for various reasons, could not grow up close to their parents.
1975
The newspapers of the time, and especially the magazine GYNAIKA, spoke about the idea of an SOS Children’s Village that would revolutionize child protection. The efforts of all these people bore fruit, and the association “SOS Children’s Villages Greece” was founded at the end of 1975 as a specially recognized non-profit charitable organization.
The founding members of the association were: Klodia Katsara, Ioannis Vallis, Spyros Garzonis, Theofilos Sarikas, Panagiotis Chronopoulos, Charis Kladaki, Semiramis Mavropoulou, Evangelos Terzopoulos, Vasilis Chatzipanos, Elli Eleadou, Adamantia Marinopoulou, Georgios Lysikatos, Nikitas Tyrakis, Aikaterini Filippou, Mrs. Marina Katsara, Eleni Koutouzi, Elisaveta Koutouzi, Aikaterini Papadrianou, Foula Panagiotakou, Kalliopi Rapidi, and Theano Konstantinidi.
1999
The main change during this period occurs with the launch of the prevention programs. The commitment to children extends to their families, and work begins with them to prevent potential separation between parents and children.
At the same time, the second SOS Children’s Village begins operating in Plagiari, Thessaloniki.
2011
The economic crisis hit the most disadvantaged segments of society particularly hard, including children. It was then that we intensified our work and doubled the number of children served through our programs.
Throughout all these years of our operation, we have received significant recognitions from the Academy of Athens, the Hellenic Red Cross, the “A. Onassis” Public Benefit Foundation, the Ministry of Health & Social Solidarity, and many associations and organizations, for our work with children who are deprived of, or at risk of being deprived of, the care of their parents.
Our mission remains unchanged several decades later, and we have added a stronger commitment to prevention, to avoiding the separation of parents and children, and to supporting adolescents and young people until they are fully integrated into society.
