Greek Bailout Fund Raising – A Samaritan Wants To Help

It’s the tiresome-but-important saga that has dominated news headlines for months: Greece and its debt crisis.

But while it might have strained the patience of key players like Jean-Claude Juncker and Alexis Tsipras, it was a 29-year-old from London who finally snapped.

Thom Feeney, fed-up with the ongoing deadlock between Greece and its international lenders, set up a crowdfunding campaign in a bid to help Athens.

In just two days it has raked in – at the time of writing – around 600,000 euros, from around 36,000 people.

Crowdfunding is a way of raising money online from ordinary people, instead of going to a bank.

Mr Feeney, who works in a shoe shop, said: “All this dithering over Greece is getting boring. European ministers flexing their muscles and posturing over whether they can help the Greek people of not. Why don’t we the people just sort it instead?

“The European Union is home to 503 million people, if we all just chip in a few Euro then we can get Greece sorted and hopefully get them back on track soon. Easy.”

Mr Feeney, to attract more people to invest, has offered a sliding scale of Greek-related perks.

For example if you ‘invest’ three euros, you get a postcard of Alexis Tsipras, the Greek prime minister. If you are feeling more generous a 5,000 euro donation will get you a week’s holiday in Athens.

Mr Feeney said if the 1.6bn euro target is not reached – the sum Greece needs to repay to the International Monetary Fund – all money will be refunded.

He added: “I’m not just making a statement, this is a real attempt to do something.

“But at the very least it’s important to raise the issue of the plight of the Greek people at this time. Not just the profiles of politicians.

“We can help our Greek cousins by buying wonderful Greek produce such as feta, olives, wine and more. And maybe considering Greece as a holiday destination.

“That’s part of the idea behind each of the perks on the crowdfunding page. Trade will help Greece and the Greek people out of their current situation.”