Charity Shop ''Folia'' in Athens.

''Folia'' ( Φωλιά = the nest ) is a charity shop located at Veikou Street 79 in Koukaki, Athens. It is one of a kind, as there are no other similar shops in Greece. ''Folia'' helps low income and needy families with minor children by supplying them with first need goods.

But how exactly does it work?

Well customers of the charity shop ''Folia'' can find and buy numerous products in very low prices - not only food but also clothes, books, school supplies, board games, shoes, toys and many more. On every customer's first buy the shop adds the symbolic amount of 1 euro, which works as a membership fee and thus all customers get to become members of this community. The money the charity shop collects by the end of the month is used solely for supplying the poor and needy families with everything they might need. Obviously, these families never get charged for the products they receive; they get everything for free.

''We have a list of all the needy families that have requested help from us and we prepare every month a box full of supplies for every each one of these families. Of course before preparing the supplies we contact them in order to get a clear picture of what they specifically need. Consequently, after preparing the packages, we begin shipping them. We absolutely prefer delivering the goods at their place rather than have them coming by our shop and queuing. We try to protect their dignity,that is why.'' Konstantinos said, one of the numerous volunteers of ''Folia''.

Pinelopi, who is a psychologist and a volunteer as well, told us: ''We have no specific sponsors. Our only sponsors are everyday people who visit our shop and buy what they need from us instead of going at a supermarket. Plus, we heavily rely on our volunteers who tremendously help us. Some political parties as well the Church of Greece have approached us several times in order give us a helping hand, as they said, but we have turned down their offers. And that's because we don't want them to make use of us and exhibit themselves. We only accept help from people who do it from their heart. That's the aim of our community after all: to help people in need from our hearts. And believe me it is not always easy - very often even we struggle at the end of the month to find the necessary funds to supply the poor families. But thankfully there are always good-hearted people who ultimately help us.''

Roubini, who is the founder of ''Folia'', even informed us that they are building student dorms in downtown Athens for low income students, who can't afford to rent a house: ''The dorms are located in Omonoia square. We will absolutely try to build dorms in other parts of Athens too.''

If you're interested in shopping or donating goods at Charity shop ''Folia'', you can find them in the neighbourhood of Koukaki, in downtown Athens. It is easily accessible by metro, at a walking distance from Syggrou-Fix station; the Acropolis metro station is not far either.

You can also find them on Facebook: https://el-gr.facebook.com/ΤΟ-ΦΤΗΝΟ-ΠΑΝΤΟΠΩΛΕΙΟ-Η-ΦΩΛΙΑ-166354293384254/