HELBI

The Act of Hope Telethon broadcast by Alpha channel on May 16 raised the sum of 2.8 million euros that will go toward establishing the first oncology hospital for children. Alpha’s owner Dimitris Kontominas and director Nikos Hadzinikolaou were at the helm with Eleni Menegaki coordinating. “Alpha’s telethon brought us much further along the difficult path toward building the hospital,” said Marianna Vardinoyianni, president of the Elpida organization, announcing the impressive sum. “It met a large part of the needs of this many-sided endeavor, which will soon turn hope into reality.” Vardinoyianni thanked all those who contributed: large firms, schoolchildren, art organizations and sports teams from all over Greece, from Crete, to prisons and people at the northern border. A promising sequel for the planned hospital is to be announced at a press conference on June 22 by Antonis Papadimitriou, president of the Alexander S. Onassis Foundation and Vardinoyianni at the foundation’s offices. After the Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center, established by the Onassis Foundation and dedicated to the memory of Aristotle Onassis and his children Alexander and Christina, the new hospital that will mean so much to children with cancer has found a warm supporter in the foundation’s president. More news after the press conference.