Hostel and day-care center for disabled children of seamen opens
In an atmosphere of joy and emotion, the Hostel and Day-Care Center of the Argo Association was opened on September 22 at Kalyvia, Attica. Greek seamen’s wives, who are mothers of children with severe disabilities, set up the association in 1985 and succeeded in establishing the day-care center. Argo President Despina Papastylianou said that the uncertainty over their children’s future, particularly when their parents would no longer be around to care for them, created the need for a hostel. The 1,000 square meters of buildings are to house two units, the hostel and the day-care center, which will include a school for the residents of the hostel as well as children in the local area. The Lyras Family Charitable Trust provided the funds to complete the buildings and landscaping in the memory of Costa, Chrysanthe and Angela Lyras. Its president thanked the families of Marika Costas Lyras and Yiannis Markos Lyras for their «generous support throughout the construction phase» and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation for completing the landscaping. The opening was attended by Deputy Finance Minister Petros Doukas, Deputy Education Minister Giorgos Kalos and the general secretary of the Merchant Marine Ministry Yiannis Tzoannos, among others.
