«Banish Fear. Give Shelter» campaign by SolidarityNow
Through the message “Banish Fear. Give Shelter” SolidarityNow begins a nation-wide campaign for the Hosting Scheme project “Home for Hope,” that aims to raise awareness, inform, and support citizens to “open their homes” and to host refugees who need shelter for a short period of time.
“Home for Hope”, implemented by SolidarityNow since April 2016 with the support of the UNCHR and funding from the EU, aims to support and give shelter to asylum seekers and individuals who meet the criteria to be relocated to another European country. SolidarityNow has created 800 temporary hosting places for refugees –600 in Athens/Attica and 200 in Thessaloniki and its surrounding area. This will ensure decent housing for these vulnerable groups of Greece’s population, for a limited time period. Until today, and through the Home for Hope project, more than 450 refugees have been hosted.
“Banish Fear. Give Shelter. Give Hope.”
SolidarityNow’s information campaign, targeting to dynamically pass on the message and encourage citizens to take action to host, will be rolled out to the general public from October through December through various actions:
– special website for the program www.homeforhope.gr, that contains all the relevant information about the program, including communication details and online forms for citizens to immediately express their interest to host
TV spot and radio spots entitled “Banish fear!” (which will be disseminated for free by mass media as social messages)
– entries in the press and electronic media
– digital campaign through the organization’s social media
– a building installation that will “dress” the Municipality of Athens’ Cultural Center on Acadimias str.
– promotion of the campaign at Metro and HSAP stations
SolidarityNow’s informational campaign was made possible through the communications company SohoSquare, whereas the movie «Banish Fear» from the company Foss Productions.
The TV message and its stars
The TV message of the campaign entitled “Banish Fear” shows the reality that is lived by refugees – the anxiety about the unknown and the different, as well as coexistence. Fears that are shared by those who are hosted as well as those who are hosting. Fears that only together can be overcome.
In the SolidarityNow television campaign, the refugee that is featured is not an actor. His name is Alaa, one of the refugee beneficiaries of the Home for Hope program. A family of Greeks is hosting him and his family until they depart for Ireland. By taking part in the television spot, Alaa in his own way wants to pass on his own message to the people watching and listening to him: “Banish Fear. Give Hope and Shelter.”
Moreover, in the coming months, real-life hosting stories of refugees and citizens who have opened their homes for hosting will be published on SolidarityNow’s social media, through a photo and video project entitled #WeAreFamily, in collaboration with the award-winning photojournalist Giorgos Moutafis.
The goal is to help our fellow citizens see refugees through the eyes of a relative or friend that opens their home to welcome and host them, and shares: their space, their friendship, their table, their culture.
Through this campaign, SolidarityNow calls on those who live in Athens and Thessaloniki to show their solidarity on more time, by offering to host people who need it most.
“It’s important, in a time where the migrant and refugee issue cheapens and is forgotten – as not urgent – and in a time where the phenomena of racism and xenophobia test our reflexes, to leave fear behind and to show solidarity in actions rather than words. Let’s give the people who don’t even have access to the basics, at least a dignified and safe accommodation,” notes Sophia Ioannou, Head of Communications at SolidarityNow.
For more information click at www.homeforhope.gr or a call at +30 210 32 33 816.
PHOTO: Giorgos Moutafis for SolidarityNow
