Rhodes, Greece. 2016. Beneficiaries: 40 children.
In 2016, the St. Andrew's Institute was the only public facility in the South Aegean to take in children with severely disabling conditions and those whose family members could not care for them.
Colourful walls, drawings and games made the institute a welcoming and peaceful 'home'. However, it also suffered from structural inadequacies. The most urgent need was to renew its bedroom floors. They were no longer intact and many tiles had broken. Sharp splinters were injuring the children, forcing even those able to move to stay in bed.
NOVE solved the problem by financing the reflooring of the rooms. Tsampika Diamantis, an architect from Rhodes, collaborated pro bono and also raised awareness among other locals to help cover the remaining costs. By June 2016, the bedrooms at St. Andrew's had new floors which were suitable for the children to move about on again and done up in a cheerful colour.
PARTNERS: St. Andrew's Institute of Rhodes.