The establishment of the Workshop "PANAGIA ELEOUSA" 26 years ago, by Maria Tsoutsou, mother of George Tsoutsos, for young people with intellectual and related disabilities, is an indigenous, social work of sensitivity and love for our fellow humans with the wounded intelligence .
I would like to welcome you to
the Site, to this great achievement of technology and assure you that after
browsing the site of children with "the Wounded intelligence", you will
feel stronger, more confident and more Responsible for what happens in society.
For you it will
be an unprecedented window to light. You will travel in a world of innocence,
tenderness and purity. Through this journey you will have already shown your
interest and you will have thought that our society needs harmony and Justice in
order to become better.
A day at the
Workshop
When I first went to the Workshop "PANAGIA ELEOUSA", the building, looking
at it, from outside was very nice. I then went inside, there was a room and it
had a lot of seats for the kids. Then I started visiting each department and
all of them had something different, there was also a loom to weave. Then I visited
all the other departments.
When I first visited the place, I liked the facilities, the kids welcomed me
happily. I like the department of ceroplastics very much, I will learn a lot
more there.
Every morning they come and pick me up outside my house by the centre`s bus, in
the morning and at noon, too.
At school, that`s what I call it, they take care of me and they love me very
much, I like the fact that they have song, theater, fairy tales programs and
I`m excited.
By a service user
from the ceroplastics department
The
fifteen-member group of service users’ representatives was created with the aim
of empowering the service users. The service users, are trained on the
definition of difficult concepts in practice, such as representative, electoral
process, etc. In the group, in the presence of the coordinator-psychologist,
they learn to express the needs of all the service users, whom they represent, the
wishes they may have, but also problems that may occur. The role of the
facilitator/coordinator is to safeguard the discussion process so that everyone
expresses themselves in turn for the part that concerns them and for the whole
group. In addition, the service users are informed about their rights and
obligations so that they can then disseminate this knowledge/information to
their fellow service users. In addition, they raise awareness of social issues
and values that we all struggle for together in our organisation, such as the
value to the Human Being, the fight against "stigma" and the equal
rights that all Humans have. In this way, they have the pleasure to participate
in an event e.g. theatrical performance but also to understand why this is implemented.
Moreover, they send to society their own message. The Board of Directors
decided two service users from the 15 members of the representative group to
attend every Annual General Assembly of "PANAGIA ELEOUSA". The
Coordinator is: Ermioni Tsouma-psychologist. The 15-member Representative Group
consists of: Katerina Dimopoulou, Anna Krithimou, Sotiris Zogopoulos, George
Silevistas, Alekos Silevistas, Vangelis Kalfas, Angelos Kapnias, Nikolitsa
Markoutsa, Maria Kladouha, Andreas Vlachopoulos, Nikos Golias, Maria Arvaniti,
George Roussis, Stelios Kassos, Alexandra Tsakni.
The President and the members of the Board of Directors, the service users
with intellectual and related disabilities and the employees of the Workshop of
Special Vocational Education and Rehabilitation "PANAGIA ELEOUSA",
Prefecture of Aetoloakarnania, Messolonghi - Agrinio, express our warmest
congratulations to our service user, Yiannis Nikakis, who participated in the
Special Olympics games in Los Angeles, USA and was awarded in the cycling race
with the silver medal, with the help of the cycling team of Special Olympics coach,
Mr. Apostolos Tsarkatoglou. We wish him and his family Health, Strength and to always
enjoy such successes, which raise the quality of life indicator very high and
make us all proud of our homeland and especially of "PANAGIA ELEOUSA"
Workshop, indicating that the service users with special skills of our organisation,
with appropriate training, can achieve high goals. We also
congratulate the organizers of Special Olympics for their wonderful offer in
the field of sports.
With kind regards, the Board of Directors of the Workshop "PANAGIA
ELEOUSA" and the Honorary President
In the context of the event “THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT AND THE LAKE FISH IN
THE SERVICE OF ALTERNATIVE FORMS OF TOURISM AND EDUCATION”, organized by the
Fisheries Cooperative "Renaissance of Messolonghi", the company Aqua
Action and the Department of Biology of the University of Patras, the service
users that participated from our organization in the fishing process were :
Stelios Kassos, Christoforos Giannitselis, Costas Prentzas, Vivi Gida and Nikos
Kavallieris accompanied by the employees: Dimitris Cheimariotis- Director,
Marina Kassaveti-Social Worker and Katerina Zafeithiropoulou-Physiotherapist. At
the end of the action a discussion followed on the participation of people with
disabilities in such actions.
We announce to all the friends of our Workshop that we
accept food supplies (oil, cheese, pasta, evaporated milk, meat, minced meat,
etc.) for the daily meals provided to the children. We also accept old rugs,
blankets, sheets, new underwear for our young service users and furniture for
the needs of both our residential facilities operating in Messolonghi and
Agrinio cities. During this difficult financial situation that our country undergoes
your offer is extremely welcome.
Account Number of the NATIONAL BANK of Greece: 412/29612373, IBAN: GR5701104120000041229612373, Swift Code (BIC): ETHNGRAA in which the friends of the Workshop can deposit, if they wish, their potential donations after contacting the accounting department at the phone numbers: 0030 26310 26321 & 00302641039750.
