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Initiative

"Care on the move": The 1st in Europe shower bus for homeless people

"Care on the move": The 1st in Europe shower bus for homeless people
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PAPASTRATOS

Papastratos, in 2017 turned the page in its long history and, with a significant €300-million investment, transformed its factory in Aspropyrgos into an exclusive heated tobacco sticks production unit for IQOS.


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Objective Action

The action aims to:

  • Provide a relief to those who live on the streets by offering them the opportunity to bath, and to access first aid services.
  • Systematically record and understand the needs of those people who live in areas that still have not been explored.
 

Target Audience

The target audience of this activity are the homeless. The initiative "Care on the Move" aims to benefit more than 1,250 homeless per month, while it is being estimated that the visits will reach 15,000 per year.

 

Duration

The shower bus will start operating in Athens at the begging of September 2016 for indefinite time provided that there will be more initiatives found through the Social Responsibility of the Business World to support this afford.


Description

The Action "Care on the move" is the first in Europe and the third globally shower bus for homeless people (Mobile Day Center). The need for a moveable center of daily care emerged straight after the results of PRAKSIS’s team of street work observations.

Only 7% of those who were found in abandoned buildings in the borders of the center of Athens and Peristeri, Aegaleo and Rendi had visited the Open Homeless Center that PRAKSIS operates since 2012. Additional needs have been recorded in the areas of Tauros Moschato (248 people) and Peristeri (422 people).

The provision of some basic hygiene services has been proven to be so far a major contributing factor to someone’s motivation for a change in his/her everyday life. An easy access to such services has a multiplying positive impact on the society.

This is the need that the mobile unit that begins its journey will come to serve in order to relieve our homeless fellow citizens through the provision of personal care services (shower, chemical toilet) and first aid needs though a medical area for emergency situations.

Recording of people who live on the streets and their special characteristics, understanding the conditions that led them to live on the street and the duration of time that they are living under these conditions are important elements; these help not only in individualized support but also in implementing interventions that will reduce as much as possible the people who live on the street. Experience has demonstrated that no one actually leaves his/hers house if there isn’t a very serious reason.

The NGO PRAKSIS runs the shower bus’s operation, which currently moves between some selected locations in Athens providing moments of care to our homeless fellowmen. It is being sponsored by PAPASTRATOS, supported by the Ministry of Labour, Social Security and Welfare and OASA. The bus has been granted and converted by OSY, whose employees used their expertise, imagination and passion for this project.

The bus will be stationed in those areas of Attica that have a high concentration of homeless.

Moreover, the beneficiaries will be given toiletries, towels and clothes. Finally, a social worker will record homeless’ needs and will respond to any additional needs they have may.


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Impact on Society

The initiative "Care on the Move" aims to benefit more than 1,250 homeless per month, while it is being estimated that the visits will reach a total of 15,000 per year.

Extensive publicity has been given to the synergy "Care on the move" (106 publications) urging other companies to follow this example and to contribute substantially and actively to the society. The NGO PRAKSIS has at its disposal an essential tool that helps them to approach and relieve those who need it the most, the main reason of their existence.



Initiative Location

The center of Athens and particular those areas of Attica where there is a high concentration of homeless.


Working with Organization

The innovation in this action is not confined by its uniqueness. It recommends a model of synergy, as organizations from the private and public sector and the civil society have been cooperating from the first moment of its design.

The implementation was made by the NGO PRAKSIS, sponsored by PAPASTRATOS, the auspices of the Ministry of Labour, Social Security and Welfare and the support of the Institutions of OASA and OSY.


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Workers Participation

A large group of employees from different organizations/institutions have cooperated for the realization of this project. From Papastratos’ side, the employees that participated were the higher management, a cross functional team by corporate affairs, finance and internal controls departments as well as from the legal one.

At the same time, a large group of the NGO Praksis, the Ministry of Labour, Social Security and Welfare, OOSA and OSY worked on the conversion and the functionality of the bus.


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Benefits for Οrganization

The extensive publicity that has been given highlighted for once more PAPASTRATOS’s social sensitivity and it made even stronger the feeling of pride of the company’s employees, fact that has been proven by the number of articles’ re-postings and comments in the social media by the employees.




Connection with Global Goals



No Connection with Global Goals found





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