By Bejay Browne.
A small group of volunteers led by a Paphos businessman ensured that Christmas was a special time for needy families this year.
Tony Theo, owner of Chalkies Bar in Coral Bay in Peyia which closed due Covid restrictions, along with a group of volunteers have been helping hundreds of families in the Paphos district since the pandemic swept Cyprus and resulted in a first lockdown, which saw many people lose their jobs in March.
They served and delivered in excess of 12,000 hot, free meals to those that needed it, and all from their own pockets and donations.
Tony had been hoping to cook Christmas lunch for those in need, but, due to new measures, he delivered Christmas parcels with ingredients for people to cook at home instead. And, despite having to close his own business, for those that didn’t have facilities, the volunteers cooked Christmas lunch and delivered it on Christmas Day.
“We helped around 50 families. It would’ve been much more before the restrictions as other venues were going to host as well as us,” he said.
Many people donated all sort of items to the initiative, including, fresh vegetables, fruit, cake, mine pies and all things festive.
In addition, ‘Trash the Tash for Cash’, a Paphos based initiative that sees men to grow facial hair and shave it off for charity, raised money for the Christmas lunch appeal, 1,800 euros, and the Paphos cancer patients support group 2,100 euros.
“People also donated presents for children,” Tony said.
Following the initial lockdown, Tony also started a ‘pay it forward’ scheme which saw members of the public buy vouchers for participating venues which could be redeemed by those in need for a hot meal.
However, due to restrictions on eateries, the initiative has recently been concentrating on donating bags of necessary items to around 30 families.
“We are helping all sorts of people of all nationalities including, English, Cypriot, Romanian, Bulgarian, African and Syrian. Most are from our previous list and have no income, They are now out of work, some from hotels, and they have nothing,” he said.
Families are given two bags at a time and they contain all sorts of staples and non-perishable items, as well as toiletries and sanitary products.
Rice, pasta, cereals, tinned soups, sauces, canned meats, cereals, nappies are all delivered by Tony with the help or around 4 or 5 volunteers from a pool of around 40.
“After the first lockdown, I just felt that I couldn’t abandon these people as they are still struggling. But there wasn’t enough money, energy or resource to carry on with the hot meals so we started the pay it forward scheme. Then the next lockdown came, and it’s on our shoulders to carry on.”
Donations of food are still needed.
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