February 2024 Monthly Report

In February 2024, we at Wave served 2,801 hot meals, welcomed 2 new arrivals, distributed 522 clothing items, 58 sleeping bags, 55 blankets and 595 hygiene items, ran 102 showers, charged 230 phones and power banks, and washed 68 loads of laundry. In the past month, we supported 42 people detained in Pre-Removal Detention Centres with clothing, hygiene items and coffee.

Ramadan Fundraiser

Across the last two months, there has been a rise in the number of people visiting our centre; we are currently averaging 93 portions of warm, nutritious food every day. With Ramadan fast approaching, Wave would like to mark this holy month by cooking extra special and traditional dishes for our community to enjoy- these recipes often include more expensive ingredients such as olive oil, honey, butter and, when possible, meat. In consideration of Ramadan, we launched our Ramadan fundraiser in the middle of February to raise 1500 euros to try and make this time as special as possible for our community- many of whom are set to observe this holy month in precarious living structures far away from friends or family. We would be very appreciative of you helping reach this target. Please consider donating to help make this time as special as possible.

Team Changes

This month we sadly say goodbye to our volunteer coordinator Sam who will be dearly missed. During his time as a volunteer and then volunteer coordinator, Sam brought new insights, ideas and a sense of warmth, spirit and passion to the various projects he was involved in and initiated at Wave. We are sad to see you go but wish you all the best in your new adventures. In addition to Sam’s farewell, this month we also say goodbye to our interns Kilian and Wout. Both have been heavily involved in the project since arriving in Thessaloniki five months ago. Thank you both for the energy you brought to the project and for your dedication throughout these months. Good luck! As the team continues to change, we warmly welcome Cassadra who will take on Sam’s position as the volunteer coordinator. Cassandra has lived in Greece for some years and has a wealth of experience working in various projects. We look forward to learning from your expertise and working as a team.

Sustaining our Prison Package Service

Project Elpida has consistently supported us with material assistance at Wave from afar, regularly carrying out winter clothing collections across Germany and sending shipments of essential items to us here in Thessaloniki. During their winter campaign to Northern Greece in both 2022 and 2023, the team visited Thessaloniki and kindly bought on our behalf essential items to sustain efforts to support our community. In an effort to extend their support further, Project Elpida have donated a large pocket of funding which will enable us at Wave to continue operating our prison package service for the next months. As mentioned in previous monthly reports, there is an ever-growing demand for material assistance in pre-removal detention centres across Northern Greece as migration policies, procedures and legislation become increasingly volatile, violent, harsh and fraught. Thank Project Elpidia for your continued support.