The “Kimolos Volunteer Team (Kimolistes)” organisation was founded in 2019.
The Civil Non-Profit Company “I Read for Others” is addressed at people who are not in a position to read, due to illness or disability.
In 2013, the “Kimolos Volunteer Team (Kimolistes)” launched the open-air pop-up cinema “Cine Kalisperitis”, with the support of businesses, owners of tourist accommodation and volunteers from Greece and abroad. Through the screenings of the open-air, mobile cinema “Cine Kalisperitis”, it aims at raising awareness of the environment, while the documentaries/films are followed by discussions, in partnership with the Cyclades Preservation Fund, CineDoc, the Greek Society for the Environment and Cultural Heritage, and Dive in Action. “Cine Kalisperitis” holds screenings on the islands (Milos, Sikinos, Serifos), at selected venues of cultural/religious significance. The organisation runs children’s workshops in Kimolos and 5 other Cycladic islands, where it uses narration and the “Narratives on the Waves” initiative to record cultural data.
The NGO “I Read for Others” supports equal access for vulnerable groups – the blind, the elderly and patients – to knowledge and learning, by creating audiobooks and reading to those who cannot read by themselves. At the same time, it raises awareness on equal access for those people to books, for an inclusive society where everyone enjoys the right to knowledge.
The grant pertains to support for the project “Reading to the Kimolistes”. The Program is aimed at improving the quality of life of the residents of Kimolos, in three ways: a. By providing psycho-emotional support to the elderly by reading to them, b. by connecting them with students, in order for the latter to record information on the island’s cultural heritage from the narratives of the former, and c. by mobilizing the local community to engage in volunteering.
The elderly are a vulnerable social group, as they face various types of loss in their later life: cognitive, physical, economic, social. This is particularly noticeable in rural areas, in remote and isolated regions such as Kimolos. The project has a three-fold aim: a. the psycho-emotional empowerment of seven elderly citizens living on the island of Kimolos, b. the mobilization and training of volunteer readers from the island of Kimolos and/or Milos, and c. the intergenerational connection of students from Kimolos and elderly residents, in order for the latter to record, from the narratives of the former, stories that showcase the cultural heritage of the island. The estimated number of total beneficiaries over the course of the grant is approximately 700 people.
The project is implemented through a grant by the Athina I. Martinou Foundation, as part of the “Points of Support” program, in the area: “Social Innovation in Small Local Seaside Communities”.