Aerial photo taken on July 4, 2021, shows a volunteer collecting garbage in between concrete tetrapods at the coast near Piraeus, Greece.(Photo: Xinhua)

 

Photo taken on July 4, 2021, shows volunteers collecting garbage in between concrete tetrapods at the coast near Piraeus, Greece.(Photo: Xinhua)

 
It was a hot weekend afternoon and many people gathered in the Peace and Friendship Stadium (SEF), a multi-purpose arena located in Piraeus, on the coastal zone of Attica, Greece.

Instead of enjoying the summer and the sun, after the lifting of months-long coronavirus restrictions, they accomplished a special mission: To collect as much garbage as possible from the area in a coordinated cleaning operation.

Hundreds of people pooled their efforts to make this possible two weeks ago. They were all volunteers from all over Athens and sent a message of healing and recovery after the pandemic.

"When we come home from work instead of going for a coffee or just sitting in the sofa, we take part in the clean-up and have the feeling that we do something right and meaningful," Alexandros Pasaras, one of the volunteers, told Xinhua.

The organization that coordinated the clean-up in SEF, one of the many similar initiatives in Greece and abroad, is called "Save your hood."

"You can save your neighborhood, your forest, your beach, the place that you live in and love," read the motto of the group that started during the first lockdown in Greece in spring 2020 and flourished during the second which started last autumn.

"The volunteer project started with a cleaning action in Tourkovounia, the tallest and most extensive hill range in central Attica. It is a place I love, as I grew up there," said Vassilis Sfakianopoulos, the man who started the initiative.

After the first action, more people from Athens offered help. "Our answer to those people was that ... they could do something that will matter to them and their daily life in their own neighborhoods," Sfakianopoulos said.

In eight months, "Save your hood" has gathered 5.92 million liters of garbage in 192 municipalities, through 2,573 actions, with more than 22,569 volunteers and 38,900 task members, claimed the project.

About 69 percent of the participants are women, mostly 25-34 years old, and many children came along with their parents.

The initiative, started in Greece, has expanded to Cyprus and inspired people to take action in Turkey, Italy, France, Germany, Serbia, Romania, Poland, Russia and Mexico.