Charities in overdrive as Christmas nears

WITH CHRISTMAS fast approaching, charities across the island are going into overdrive with a series of events and campaigns in an attempt to help those in need.

Refugees and asylum seekers have hit the headlines with increasing regularity this year, with many allegations of the Immigration Department coming down too hard on them.

Future Worlds Centre, in co-operation and with the support of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees in Cyprus, is therefore offering them free legal advice.

FWC is also organising a gift collection as a means to support the families of refugees and asylum seekers in Cyprus.

According to a press release, “we kindly request that all gifts are wrapped and the age and gender for which they are intended (0-14) is written on. This Christmas let us all give some joy to the children of these families by offering them a gift.”

For further information, please telephone 22-873820.

Meanwhile, yesterday, an event was held in Limassol by Virardi Enterprises and Buyagift. The companies announced their co-operation with the children’s cancer association, Make a Wish, to which they are donating one per cent of their sales.
The Cyprus Red Cross has so far this month organised an AIDS campaign, packages for families in need and presents for children.

Today, a children’s Christmas festival is taking place at the organisation’s Polemidia office at 10.30am.

Also scheduled between 1 and 2.30pm is a singing and dancing festival at the Stelios Ioannou Foundation featuring over 400 schoolchildren.

On Saturday, a bazaar will be held at Eleftheria Square and City Plaza between 9am and 9pm. It is scheduled to be opened by First Lady Photini Papadopoulou, and will offer attractions, such as shopping, school choirs and food and drink.

Next Wednesday is a musical day, with Christmas carols sung for the President along with political and church figures at embassies, ministries, municipalities and schools.

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.