The Stavros Niarchos Foundation announced Thursday it will provide $8.1 million in bonuses to 5,000 hospital staff in Greece.

This is part of a $31 million first round of grants to reach areas hardest hit by the coronavirus. Greece will be the recipient of $11.9 million of these grants.

“Under the current circumstances, the Foundation is taking the extraordinary step of providing $8.1 million in support directly to the most critical element of the country’s health system: individual hospital staff. An SNF gesture of appreciation to be shared equally among nearly 5,000 frontline nurses, doctors, and cleaning personnel working in ICUs at COVID-19 clinics will acknowledge the altruistic efforts of these heroes on the front line of efforts against the pandemic in Greece who risk their lives to save others,” the Foundation said in a press release.

The Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) also provides $3.8 million for access to food and mental health support in Greece.

In collaboration with the Central Union of Greek Municipalities (KEDE) it will provide “food supplies through Social Food Outlets in municipalities around Greece for the immediate support of people suffering from the socioeconomic effects of the pandemic. The grant will be implemented with the collaboration and supervision of Deloitte to ensure fast, effective, and transparent distribution of the supplies.”

Through the program “Boroume” (We Can), SNF will implement “a transparent voucher system in coordination with Greek municipalities to provide impacted families with food in the middle term of the crisis, from September to December 2020.”

In collaboration with the Greek Ministry of Health, SNF will fund the provision of psychological support in response to needs engendered by the coronavirus pandemic.

SNF will also fund many actions around the world, according to its press release:

In France, Italy, Portugal and Spain, it will give grants totaling over $1.35 million to 10 NGOs to provide, as in Greece, access to food and mental health support.

In Africa, “working in collaboration with Bloomberg Philanthropies, SNF will make a $3 million grant to Vital Strategies’ Resolve to Save Lives initiative. This will enable rapid-response grants to governments across Africa to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, including understanding the impact of social distancing on hunger and communication and dissemination of accurate health information. The grant will also provide support directly to frontline workers throughout Africa, including vital infection control training.”

In the United States, “SNF grants totaling $5.93 million, made to both individual nonprofit organizations and collaborative funds, focus on ensuring access to food and other essentials, offering mental health support to populations specially affected, and providing emergency relief to artists.”

Specifically, $3.63 million will go to nine organizations for access to food, $1.5 million to five organizations providing immediate psychological support for frontline workers, seniors, children, and other vulnerable populations and $800,000 will go to three collaborative funds for emergency relief to individual artists and small to medium-sized arts organizations.

SNF is also granting $3 million each to Johns Hopkins University and Rockefeller University for research and testing.

Source: Ekathimerini