How Ionian and Aegean Island Holidays raised £20k for NHS scrubs
Alexis Matsoukis, director of Ionian and Aegean Island Holidays, is co-leading an initiative providing sets of scrubs to frontline NHS staff, rallying the travel industry in the process
In the past two days more than £8,000 has been donated to an initiative co-founded by Ionian and Aegean Island Holidays’ Alexis Matsoukis.
The director and his friend Yani Zertalis have been dedicated to producing and delivering reusable scrubs to frontline NHS staff fighting coronavirus for a few weeks, and now that money raised for the cause stands at over £20,000 they’re showing no signs of slowing down.
“It’s a massive learning curve for us as a tour operator,” Matsoukis says. “We’ve had to learn very fast, and by the end of next week we will have produced and delivered close to 1,000 scrubs.”
MAKING THE MEANS
Zertalis was already laundering scrubs for his local Covid-19 medical centre (for free through his dry-cleaning business), but after teaming up with Matsoukis the pair have acquired a small rent-free factory space, eight socially distanced seamstresses and a large amount of fabric donated from fashion giants.
Generous contributions from travel industry friends including travel agents and the operator’s clients – one of which gave £1,000 – have made this possible.
“Everyone is backing us on this as much as they can,” says Matsoukis. “Travel is one of the worst-hit industries in this crisis but [people] are still finding the time to donate – it’s heart-warming,” he adds.
So many sets of scrubs have been supplied to Covid-19 centres in the London boroughs of Camden and Westminster that word is spreading and new requests are flooding in from care homes, hospices and Barnet-based centres.
The director says delivering the scrubs has been a touching experience for him, explaining that NHS staff members collecting the clothing are so grateful their eyes often well up with tears.
“I don’t think I’m ever going to experience anything more dark than what we’re going through now, and this [initiative] has given me so much hope,” he says.
“It’s given hope to the community [too] and we will keep going for as long as [our scrubs] are needed.”
STATE OF AFFAIRS
Meanwhile, Ionian and Aegean Island Holidays is weathering the storm well, with Matsoukis reporting that nine out of 10 bookings are being postponed rather than cancelled, adding the operator has had “hardly any cancellations”.
He puts this down to Ionian and Aegean Island Holidays’ solid 20-year foundation, a loyal and trusting client base and Greek island villa holidays being one of the safer travel options when the virus begins to retreat.
“We are prepared as a business, we’ve made some difficult decisions, managed cash flow, spoken to suppliers, owners, seasonal staff and have had to furlough a few [team members] in the office,” he explains.
“Every day there’s a difficult decision to make. That’s why this [initiative] has been such a breath of fresh air and given [us] the feel good factor.”
Should you wish to support Matsoukis and Zertalis in their efforts, donations can be made here.
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