Call for back-to-school supplies for poor children  

Volunteer Commissioner Yiannis Yiannakis is calling on people to donate school materials for around 10,000 poor pupils in Cyprus.

Talking to the Cyprus News Agency, he said that the number of pupils in need had fallen from 12,000 last year to 10,000.

“This year, as we have done in previous years, in larger numbers, for now fewer children, we will meet the need for school supplies which are new or in good condition, whether these are clothes or bags or pencil cases or stationery,” he said, adding that he hopes that those who offer items will do so until the beginning of September as children in primary and secondary schools should have them for the start of the new school year.

Yiannakis said the campaign depended on initiatives of non-governmental organisation such as the Pancyprian Volunteerism Coordinative Council (PVCC) and Hope for Children as well as the parents’ associations of schools.

Those who would like to donate items such as school bags, clothing, shoes, books, educational games, desks and desk chairs, computers and stationary are asked to contact the PVCC’s offices; Nicosia 22-512602, Limassol 25-737761, Larnaca 24-650525, Paphos 26-953725, Famagusta 99-124521, Κyrenia 97-743185.

Like last year, Mavrommatis bookshops support the effort and special collection boxes will be placed in their shops in all towns. All collected items will be given to the PVCC to distribute.

 

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.