The New York City-based Greek America Foundation awarded a $5000 grant to Kivotos Tou Kosmou, or Ark of the World, a charity on the island of Chios that tends to the needs of dozens of children and families in need.

The grant is the second consecutive annual donation to the Greek charity by the U.S.-based foundation, which also sent a team of volunteers to the Chios facility in August 2020 to help with various projects, including the painting of a badly-rusted fence and other maintenance work that was needed at the center.

More than just “orphanages,” the Kivotos centers based in Athens — with satellite locations throughout Greece — help kids heal from emotional and psychological abuse and trauma, while providing them with critical skills that will help them later in life.

The charity is continuously ranked as one of the best in the world by numerous ranking bodies, and its founder Fr. Antonios Papanikolaou even won the 2018 European Citizen award — one of the continent’s most prestigious awards.

The donation was made while six staff and volunteers visited the Chios facility in August.

Darden Livesay, the Foundation’s outreach coordinator, announced the donation to Elli Papaioannou, the volunteer coordinator at Kivotos, who spoke a bit about the organization’s mission and thanked the Foundation for their gift and support.

The Greek America Foundation has a long-standing tradition of supporting charities in Greece with financial support, through its Project Hope for Greece project that was launched in 2013 in response to the financial crisis in Greece. To date, the organization has sent hundreds of thousands of dollars to numerous Greek charities that was raised by grassroots projects and fundraisers.