Cretan abbot decries ‘trash’ sent to donation drive for quake victims

An abbot on Crete posted a scathing comment on Facebook on Wednesday, decrying what he described as “trash,” including dirty underwear and damaged clothing, that was sent in by people from different parts of the country to a donation drive for the island’s earthquake victims.

“Helping means respecting, not clearing out your storage space [and] cupboards. There are recycling bins [for that],” archimandrite Agathaggelos Giannarakis said in the post, adding a photograph of a wedding dress and an astronaut suit to illustrate some of the inappropriate items that were sent to his church.

He said that donations have included tons of rags and useless clothing, carnival costumes, ratty blankets, used and laddered stockings, dirty underwear, torn sheets and thousands of damaged shoes.

“Hundreds of volunteers are trying to sort through clothes when they could be doing something else. Please. Don’t send rags and trash,” said the abbot of the Metropolitan Church of Arkalochori, Kastelli and Viannos, who has put together a group of more than 200 volunteers to help residents who lost their homes and belongings in the 5.8-magnitude that struck the region of Iraklio on September 27.