13,000 families receive aid, says NGO commissioner

THIRTEEN thousand families are receiving aid from non-governmental organisations, local authorities and the church, Volunteerism and NGO Commissioner Giannis Giannakis said yesterday after a meeting with Archbishop Chrysostomos II to brief him on the current state of aid distribution.

Giannakis said that more than a thousand new families sought aid in the last six months, up from 12,000 last year.

He also referred to reports that the aid system was being abused by people who visit more than one community market in order to get free food and supplies.

“Incidents of abuse have been reported, so, we have taken over the coordination of distribution to tackle those who exploit the system and help those who are in need,” the commissioner said, adding that better coordination is needed on a district level.

Giannakis also said that president Nicos Anastasiades fully supports these efforts.

Archbishop Chrysostomos expressed his satisfaction for the work done by the commissioner, admitting that he had mistakenly thought that the system was being blatantly abused. “We thought things were a lot messier, that people went to two-three community markets at a time. That does not seem to be the case”, he said.

Chrysostomos added that the goal is that nobody is left hungry.

Asked whether the Church of Cyprus has considered taking over the aid distribution, the archbishop said that the whole effort is very well coordinated “so there is no need for us to take over”.

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