On February 23, a double online event was organized, where the results of the 2021 programs were presented. First in Greek and then in English, we were honored by the participation of many collaborators, members, volunteers and friends of ARCHELON from Greece and abroad.

At the end of both events, 30 names of people were heard who gave significant help, even where we did not expect it. These are the ARCHELON Over and Above awards for 2021.

Kyriakos Kyvelidis, Isabelle Mageren, Vassilis Ntasis, Rania Spanidou, Nektarios Kosteletos, Nikos Manias, were the people who particularly supported the work of the Rescue Center. They undertook transport of injured animals, supported the care, completed guided tours and responsibly completed the collection of reports on the outbreaks and nests of 2021.

Kanellos Daveros in Gythio, Sotiris & Theodoros Mandalas in Mavrovouni, Lakonikos, Simon Wakefield, Ciara O'Sullivan and Jimmy Ferguson in the gulf of Messara, Dimitriis in Dimitaris Sean Johnstone in Chania, provided valuable support to field programs in the Southern Peloponnese and Crete. They recorded and protected nests, helped set up Information Stations, undertook technical work in the camps, provided us with storage space and organized other volunteers and events. Also, Maria Aroni and other members of the Association "Tulipa Goulimi" hosted the volunteers of the Lakonikos project during the wild fires in Gythio, when they had to evacuate the campsite. Without all these people, 2021 would have been much more difficult.

2021 was the year with the highest citizen participation in the reporting and protection of sporadic sea turtle nests, so far. It was with great enthusiasm that the following people collaborated with ARCHELON protecting nests : Giannis Patsavouras in Bouka Messinias, Vicky Denaxa and the managers of Plaza resort on Syros island and the Coast Guards and Municipality at Markopoulo in Attiki, near Athens.

"These awards are a nominal thank you and I apologize in advance to those who were not mentioned, there are indeed many more people that contributed" said Thomas Arapis, President of ARCHELON. "We are grateful to all the volunteers, friends and members of ARCHELON who helped in our projects for nature and the environment”, he added.

A special group of people spread joy and hope with its participation in the communication activities of ARCHELON. Over and Above Awards were given to Joanna Stournara, a longstanding volunteer at the Rescue Center, who contributed to the evaluation of the stories of #turtle-challenge 3. We also heard the names of Panagiota Souridi teacher of literature and her students of the 3rd High School of Argyroupolis: Panagiotis Angelakopoulos, Nikolou Eleftheia , Eleni Thanopoulou, Emmanouil Karagiannis, Christianna Karathanou, Lamprini Lazaridi, Eleni Loi, Katerina Mantzari and Vivian Halvatzara, and last but not least, of film director Iris Baglanea. All of them gave their time, ideas and enthusiasm into the creation of a short film about the Rescue Centre, entitled “One strange day”, which is participating in film festivals in Greece and abroad.

"The motto of ARCHELON is" We can all live together”, says the Director of ARCHELON, Daphne Mavrogiorgos. "By combining scientific work with volunteering, we seek to activate society through information and education for a better and more sustainable planet."

The volunteer projects for 2022 are open. Application forms are submitted online from our website.

More information https://www.archelon.gr/contents/volunt.php?mid=2