AUGUST 2025 MONTHLY REPORT

At Wave in August 2025, we served 2,098 hot meals, welcomed 16 new arrivals, charged 136 phones and power banks, ran 129 showers, and washed 76 laundry loads, distributed 656 hygiene items, and 344 clothing items. 

 

The total population we supported this month was 1,358.

 

August Updates

Summer in Northern Greece lasts very long and we’ve lived through another dry, hot month of August! As the city got emptier and emptier – as its citizens escaped the heat to reach their holiday destinations – at Wave we haven’t closed our doors and we’ve kept our essential services running. We’ve witnessed a similar trend in the requests coming from our community – similar to the previous month of July – with higher demands for sanitation services such as laundry and showers. At the same time, the total number of people coming to the center has increased a little compared to July (+17%), with the number of total meals distributed following a similar trend.

 

What is worth noticing is the increase – compared to the previous month – in the number of non-food-items (NFIs) that were distributed at the center. We’ve given out almost double the amount of clothes and hygiene packages compared to July (+98% and +103%), but it’s good to point out that we didn’t have the capacity for NFI distributions at the beginning of July – due to the high number of requests – which led to a lower total number of distributed items in July. Nevertheless, what we’ve been witnessing is an overall steady rising number of requests for clothes and hygiene products, which we believe supports the fact that Wave is filling the gaps left open from the closure or downsizing of other similar services in the area during the last year alone (like Alkyone, UNHCR office in Thessaloniki and Blue Refugee Center). Members of our community depend on our weekly NFI distributions to access basic services such as hygiene and sanitation. Each hygiene pack contains boxers and a pair of socks, toothpaste and a toothbrush, hand soap bar and small bottle of shampoo.

 

Finally, let us spend some words on the general atmosphere at Wave. We are well aware of the difficulties and harsh conditions that our community members have to face every single day, and, despite all this, our team has lately noticed some more engagement and participation in activities and games in the community space: the ping pong table is always very busy, some members are drawing or painting and our volunteers and community members are often playing games such as chess, backgammon and cards. It’s quite easy to overlook the importance of social interactions, in the context where other basic human needs are at stake. We are very grateful to our whole community – especially to our members – to contribute to the social aspects of our space.

 

Team Changes

We’re glad to welcome to our team our new Volunteer Coordinator, Chris!

This role is responsible for recruiting, training and managing our volunteer team and to serve as the focal point for volunteers: conducting interviews, inductions, check-ins and exit interviews as well as taking care of everyone’s well being. Chris will join us starting from September, but she already knows the project, since she has been volunteering at Wave for two months in May and June this year. We’re excited for her to bring to the team her enthusiasm and passion for the cause, her experience as a teacher and her knowledge in volunteering, since she engaged in the past in similar projects – such as BAAS in Ioannina.