First Paphos night market to help feed the hungry

By Bejay Browne
THE first Paphos night market to help feed needy families will be held in the town next week and there are still a few places left for stall holders, say organisers.
The event will be held on Thursday June between 5pm- 9pm and will include around 100 stalls selling all sorts of items including handicrafts, clothes, food, jewellery and new products from local businesses.
Each stallholder will pay a 10 euro fee which will go to the ‘Matthew 25 feed the hungry in Paphos’ project, which is run by the Paphos Christian Fellowship International PCFI.
“Any money stallholders take at the market will be theirs to keep, but all of the money from the fees will go towards helping to feed the hungry. There will also be a PCFI stall and all of the money made there will all go towards feeding the needy,” said one of the organisers, Sonia Stephanou.
She said that organisers believe holding an evening market will encourage more people to attend, as it’s a cooler time of day, and people can come after work and bring their families.
“The Paphos Post and Revival Fashion, supported by Sunshine Radio Cyprus, want to create a wonderful evening for locals and holidaymakers and raise lots of money for charity,” she said. “If you would like to get involved and take a stall at the event, then please contact us. We already have about sixty taken.”
Ahead of the event, the public are also able to make donations of clothes, bric a brac or any other items which can be sold on the ‘Matthew 25’ stall on the day.
Organisers say that they are in the final stages of sorting out the evening, which will include a ‘fast, fun, fashion show’, street dancers and live musical entertainment. There will also be activities for the children.
A PCFI spokesman said that the project is currently helping to feed around eighty families a week on a regular basis, which equates to about 150 grocery parcels. These contain dried goods, staples and necessities, such as pasta, bread, canned food, cereals and toilet paper.
The last time the project handed out food, 180 families arrived for help, which has wiped out stores, meaning they have had to cut back on food parcels.
“It would be wonderful if people could bring donations of food to the event as well. We are having to turn people away as we don’t have enough to go around and it’s heart-breaking. These people are desperate and we usually give away the food once a week, but have now had to cut back to three times a month as we don’t have enough to go around.”
Many of the families which the PCFI is helping are refugees from Syria and Egypt, although they are
The market will be held in the large car park adjacent to the main coastal road which runs from Paphos to Coral Bay and in front of Revival fashion store and the Paphos Post office. It’s close to hotels and tourist apartments and organisers are hoping both holidaymakers and locals will attend the event.
“We really need people to get behind this idea and support it. It will be a fun evening and all for a good cause. We would like this to be a successful event, so that it can happen regularly once a month. If anyone had any suggestions, we would love to hear from them.”
The Paphos Night Market on the Paphos to Coral Bay road Thursday, June 4 from 5pm-9pm.
For further information call Sonia on 26 632 564, or Judith on 99 168 545

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