Donation of Goods Worth €760 to ARSIS - Season 23/24
The donation for the 2023/24 season is here and it marks the largest amount ever contributed by the Supporters Club! This year, with 133 memberships plus some last-minute donations, we reached €760!!! This donation supports the ARSIS institution in Oreokastro, Thessaloniki, which houses boys aged 6-12 and girls aged 12-17. Club members Andreas Kotsifakis and Giannis Kakoulidis delivered the goods and took the photos. Read more about the institution.
Piggy Bank for Defibrillator Purchase for the Neighborhood!
A long-term project of the Supporters Club—whether or not it turns out to be—is the creation of a piggy bank aimed at purchasing a defibrillator for use by the entire neighborhood. This is a very expensive item, but we trust the process and are starting to take many small steps to raise the funds. The piggy bank is available at the Supporters Club location at Baltadorou 8. For those who wish to help from afar, donations can be made to the bank accounts listed on the membership registration page, with the reference "Defibrillator."
Donations of Goods Worth €600 - Season 22/23
In the first season where we decided to set aside €5 from each membership fee to support institutions, we made our initial donation in the winter to the Municipal Infant Home "ο Άγιος Στυλιανός" in the following items: rice, oil, flour, cleaning supplies, and more. George Chatzimichailidis purchased the products, and George Stantzos and Yiannis Kakoulidis transported them to the institution.
The second donation of the season by the Supporters Club was made in the spring. Yiannis Kakoulidis and Andreas Roumeliotis purchased the goods (food, cleaning supplies, etc.), and Yiannis delivered them to the Thessaloniki Girls' Orphanage "Η Μέλισσα". We learned that despite being a well-known institution, this year they faced urgent needs, as support for "Η Μέλισσα" decreased significantly following dark revelations about other institutions in Greece.
Bernd Leno: "Stay Home"
During the quarantine period, we always tried to stay creative and keep the club evolving! In one of our initiatives, we ended up hearing the German goalkeeper Bernd Leno urging us to "stay home" in flawless Greek, which was the motto of the Covid era! One of the best goalkeepers in the Premier League and the world reached out to the Supporters Club and sent us the video thanks to Ioannis' mediation.
Thank you both very much!
Friendly Match with the National Homeless Team | Support for the “Ελληνικό Παιδικό Χωριό στο Φίλυρο”
On December 15, our 5×5 team will participate in a friendly match between Fan Clubs League Thessaloniki and the National Homeless Team. For the second consecutive year, all the foreign team clubs in the city will join forces to play a symbolic game, sending important messages of unity and dedication to causes that truly deserve our attention and energy.
We have attached a photo with the needs of the “Ελληνικό Παιδικό Χωριό στο Φίλυρο” and invite you to bring whatever you can from the list below to the upcoming Arsenal games at Mpaltadorou 8. All items will be collected on the day of the friendly match and sent to the children’s village by a delegation from the FCLT tournament. Feel free to share the photo on your social media as well.
2018 Night Half Marathon | Meeting Chuba Akpom
For the fourth consecutive year, we gathered at the City Hall for the 5km run of the Night Half Marathon. This time, however, we had a surprise encounter! While running the second half of the route, Giannis Kakoulidis and Giorgos Chatzimichailidis came across former Arsenal player Chuba Akpom on Nikis Avenue. After recognizing him, they had a brief conversation in which Chuba kindly asked how the race was going and mentioned that he was aware of the Arsenal fan club in Thessaloniki. After a quick chat, they wished him well in his career and invited him to watch an Arsenal game with us!
Elneny Greets Thessaloniki!
When Mohamed Elneny was with the Egyptian national team in Bergamo, Italy, we had a surprise waiting for him. We had already met with the Greek trainer Antonis Sarioglou in Thessaloniki, and we gave him a small gift to pass on to Elneny. We were thrilled to present him with an official t-shirt of the Thessaloniki Supporters Club, and he thanked us in a video greeting!
Meeting Steve Morrow
Thanks to Mr. Lakis Papaioannou, we had the pleasure of meeting Steve Morrow, a former Arsenal player and the current head of the elite academies worldwide. On August 29, 2015, we gathered at a well-known hotel in the city to exchange a few words about our efforts to establish an official club and the operation of the academies. Mr. Morrow emphasized the significance of setting up the elite academy in Thessaloniki, especially for geographical reasons, as it attracts talent from across the Balkans.
