Koufos also put out an emotional appeal on Facebook to locate Chatzifotiadis
A file photo of Giorgos Chatzifotiadis, who broke down in Greece's Thessaloniki last week. (Photo: AFP)
Sydney: An Australian touched by an image of a pensioner sobbing outside a Greek bank said on Wednesday he was flying over to Europe to support the man financially after discovering he was a family friend.
Giorgos Chatzifotiadis, 77, broke down in Greece’s second city of Thessaloniki last week and cried in despair after he failed at four different financial institutions to withdraw a pension of 120 euros on behalf of his wife. James Koufos, an Australian-born chief executive of a finance firm, saw the photo published in Sydney and thought the retiree looked “so much like a friend of my dad’s”.
The 41-year-old said he was talking to his mother, who lives in Greece, on Facebook and she confirmed Chatzifotiadis was an old friend of his late father, who died 18 months ago. “When I saw this, I said to mum, ‘What can we do?’,” Koufos said
“I got my mother to take out some cash, to find the man and give him some immediate support.” Koufos also put out an emotional appeal on Facebook to locate Chatzifotiadis, and has since set up a trust fund welcoming further contributions. He is set to depart Sydney on Saturday for Athens, before heading to Thessaloniki to meet the pensioner. “We’re going over there to surprise him and just give him quite a substantial amount of money, plus we’re also raising some money now from corporations who want to donate,” said the businessman.
( Source : AFP )
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