At The Bench, one of our core values is caring about our communities and environment. This has encouraged us to continuously, through our events and gatherings, develop opportunities where we can champion specific charity causes that either improve the lives of communities or protect the environment for future generations.

As opposed to simply donating a lump sum amount to a charity, we encourage our community or event sponsors and attendees to participate together in activities such as runs, auctions and the like to raise funds and, most importantly, raise awareness of the issue through their participation for the charity cause being championed. For IDEEA 2022, we decided to support a local charity in Greece called METAdrasi.

METAdrasi is a Greek NGO founded in December 2009 which helps facilitate the reception and integration of refugees and immigrants in Greece. Most of METAdrasi's activities are innovative and implemented for the first time in Greece. The activities are focused on the areas of interpretation and developing a comprehensive safety net for unaccompanied minors.

Following the war on Ukraine, millions of Ukrainian nationals were forced to leave their homes, and METAdrasi quickly coordinated efforts to support those that arrived at Greece's doorsteps. The support provided ranged from offering food and shelter for women and children to empowering individuals to find jobs with the assistance of support services such as language courses, legal help or counselling.

On day two of IDEEA 2022, we organised a charity walk & run and raised €2,740 from our delegates, sponsors and partners onsite. Lora Pappa, Founder & President of METAdrasi was present at the event to thank the IDEEA community for their contributions and share how these funds will be utilised to support Ukrainians who arrived in Greece, fleeing from the war.

If you would like to support METAdrasi, you can also donate an amount today, small or large, through this link: https://metadrasi.org/en/support-us/