Project 47: Covering Soles with Love - Greece

We are partnering for the third time with Samaritan’s Feet; which is an organization that serves & inspires hope in children by providing shoes as the foundation to a spiritual and healthy life.

Our givers will support Samaritan’s Feet with the distribution of 500 pairs of shoes and socks throughout refugee camps along with Father’s Heart in Athens, Greece.

In the last 25 years Greece turned from an emigration to an immigration country. Because of armed countries, in the decade, the vast majority of refugee and asylum seekers cross Greece on their way from Turkey to Northern Europe. Since the March 2016 agreement restricting border crossings, some 40,000 refugees—the majority from Afghanistan and Syria—remain stuck on the Greek islands of Lesbos, Chios, Kos, Samos and Leros.

Many are forced to live in overcrowded and dangerous conditions as they wait months for their asylum cases to be heard. Greece has become something like a waiting room for people seeking asylum. Most have been traumatized by war and require emotional support and counseling, medical aid, and other basic things like clothing and footwear.

By providing shoes, Samaritan’s Feet supports communities by preventing foot-borne infections, restores self-esteem because kids now have shoes they can proudly wear and gives hope so they might pursue their dreams.