This Sunday 9th November your favourite Backroads leaders and TPSs will be running the Athens marathon to raise money to house asylum seekers in Athens. We are:

Jenna Hay

Rose McSkimming

Niek Jochemus

Isabel Bailey

Marco Garcia

Milo Johnson-Wheeler

We are running to support Mazí Housing, a grassroots charity that works with young men seeking refuge in Greece. As Mazí's Managing Director Milo is duty-bound to run.

Mazí Housing runs 3 supportive houses in Athens, providing a safe place to live for 40 young men a year, and a platform for them to rebuild and move on in their lives.

People seeking asylum in Greece are made to choose between detention or destitution, life in the camps or on the streets. This is no accident: European governments want to deter others from arriving by creating "hell" for those already here.

Very few services for young men in this situation exist, least of all housing options, largely because they are so difficult to fund. Not because they are expensive, but because they are for men.

This is why we depend on crowdfunding (ie YOU) to cover Mazí's core costs.

Here's what your donation could get you:

€50 - a fresh set of linens (towels, sheets, pillowcases)

€200 - electricity for the month (lights on, stove hot, taps running)

€500 - food for the month (cupboards supplied, fridge stocked, bellies full)

€1000 - 1 person's rent for the whole year (a roof over their head, a place to call home)

Mazí supports residents to deal with health and mental-health concerns, develop skills, find work & pursue goals, helping each resident to leave behind prison-like camps, precarious basements, and rough-sleeping on the streets, for good.

I am running for Mazí Housing because I know that our homes are the foundation of our lives. That Mazí brings choice to young asylum seekers who need help and care to make the transition from adolescence to adulthood.

Much of Mazí's budget is covered by grants from eg Choose Love, Oxfam Novib, and in the past SNF and OSF. But core costs like rent and utilities are incredibly hard to cover. We are running to raise these funds this November.

Please help us fund Mazí's core costs through 2026. Your support is vital to keep Mazí houses running. After all, providing stable housing isn't a sprint, it's a MARATHON !