The members and players of Olympiacos Football Club opened their arms wide to embrace the ELPIDA children for the tenth consecutive year. At the initiative of Mr Vaggelis Marinakis, the entire team visited the Children’s Oncology Unit, on Wednesday, 29 January 2020.
Mr Marinakis and the Olympiacos team were welcomed by the President of the Association of Friends of Children with Cancer “ELPIDA,” Marianna V. Vardinoyannis, the Director of the “P&A Kyriakou” and “Agia Sofia” Children’s Hospitals, Manolis Papasavvas, as well as members of the Boards of the ELPIDA and ORAMA ELPIDAS associations.
The event was also attended by the Mayor of Piraeus, Mr Giannis Moralis, the honorary President of the team, Mr Savvas Theodoridis, members of management, and the team manager, Mr Pedro Martins with his team.
“Every year, on the day of your visit, the enthusiasm of our young patients and their families as well as the personnel and the members of ELPIDA runs high! Your visit is a special moment in the life of the Hospital, it gives us strength, and is an expression of the deep sensitivity of Olympiacos F.C., of Mr. Evaggelos Marinakis, of the members and the athletes and Piraeus in general, with the presence here of Mayor Giannis Moralis. I would like to thank you all deeply for your invaluable support, the smile and light you put on the faces of the children and the message of support and the fighting spirit which you are conveying”, Mrs Vardinoyannis said, welcoming Mr Marinakis and the Olympiacos team.
“I am very happy that we are all here today for the tenth year in row, and I would like to point out two things. The success of Mrs Vardinoyannis’ and the ELPIDA Association’s work for children with cancer. This is your 30-year anniversary, and my wish is that you will reach 100 years, and continue at the same pace and with the same passion, always recording successes. At the start, as you said, it was very difficult for the children, to survive and be cured. You have now reached the point where three out of four children are cured. And the goal now is four out of four. We have something in common, because ELPIDA and OLYMPIACOS have learned to be winners, in every game and every practice session, in our life in general. You do the exact same thing every day. This year we are invincible in Greece, and I would like to wish that you too will reach the point where all children will be cured”, Mr Marinakis noted.
At the same time, Mr Marinakis assured Mrs Vardinoyannis that both Olympiacos and Piraeus will support her in the “Thermopylae-Salamis 2020” Anniversary Year, and will honour on their part in any way they can this significant anniversary.
“For the anniversary of the Salamis battle, which took place right outside our Piraeus, I would like to say that we will be there for you. This battle was a milestone in the history of the western world. We will be there to help as much as we can, we will be there for you”, added Mr. Marinakis.
After that, Mr Marinakis handed once again to Mrs Vardinoyannis a cheque, to support the work of the Children’s Oncology Unit. Mrs Vardinoyannis, on her part, in recognition of the great support of Olympiacos F.C. and Vaggelis Marinakis personally, offered an olive branch wreath, wanting in this symbolic way to honour him for his important contribution in the work of the ELPIDA Association.
Mrs Vardinoyannis also honoured for their support the Mayor of Piraeus, Mr Giannis Moralis, the honorary President of the team, Mr Savvas Theodoridis, the coach of the team Mr Pedro Martins, and awarded the “Supporter’s Medal” to all the team’s players.
The football players then visited the young patients of the Hospital, took pictures with them and offered them a football with their signatures, a scarf and cap of Olympiacos.
The following football players visited the Children’s Oncology Unit:
Jose Sa, Bobby Allain, Konstantinos Tzolakis, Ilias Karargyris, Konstantinos Tsimikas, Omar Elabdellaoui, Vassilis Torosidis, Ousseynou Ba, Ruben Semedo, Pape Abou Cisse, Avraam Papadopoulos, Yassine Meriah, Svetozar Markovic, Andreas Bouchalakis, Torres Guilherme, Mady Camara, Giorgos Xenitidis, Lazaros Christodoulopoulos, Kostas Fortounis, Giorgos Masouras, Lazar Randelovic, Maximiliano Lovera, Mathieu Valbuena, Bruno Felipe Souza, El Hilal Soudani, Youssef El Arabi, Martin Angel Guerrero.