More than 8,000 healthy meals will be provided to Greek schoolchildren in need following a $20,000 donation from the It’s All Greek to Me Comedy Gala to the DIATROFI program.

It’s All Greek to Me Comedy Gala committee member Peter Ziggy and Comedian Katerina Vrana announced the donation at Prolepsis Institute’s offices in Athens on Wednesday.

“It is fantastic to see that our fun event will be assisting so many children in Greece and, with the Stavros Niarchos Foundation’s matching funds, double the amount we raised,” said Ziggy.

“It is timely to be here on the first week of the school year, and know that the funds will immediately help children in need.”

The It’s All Greek to Me Comedy Gala event, held in Melbourne and Sydney in April, was the brainchild of Melbourne comedian George Kapiniaris, who wanted to help Greece through comedy. The stellar international line up of Greek comedians who donated their time were George Kapiniaris, Greece’s Katerina Vrana, Turkish Australian Tahir, Canadian Angelos Tsarouchas and UK-based George Zacharopoulos, and MC Costas Kilias.

In response to Greece’s recent economic crisis, since 2012 Prolepsis Institute has run the large-scale school based nutrition program Food Aid and Promotion of Healthy Nutrition Program-DIATROFI in public schools located in disadvantaged areas across Greece. Since 2012, more than 12 million meals have been distributed to 90,000 students in 530 schools.

“On behalf of everyone at Prolepsis and the DIATROFI team, I would like to express our sincere gratitude for the support from Australia, which will help us to continue our efforts against food insecurity and reach even more students in need,” said Afroditi Veloudaki, Managing Director of the Institute of Preventive Medicine, Environmental & Occupational Health-Prolepsis.

“With the kind donation from the It’s All Greek To Me Comedy Gala, 8,325 free healthy meals will be distributed to students in need. This means that approximately 50-55 students will be able to participate in the DIATROFI Program for the 2016-2017 school year and receive the daily meals.”

In addition, the matching fund provided by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, the founding donor of the program, will double the number of students assisted through this initiative.

Along with Ziggy, the It’s all Greek to Me committee members were Penny Demos, Jorge Menidis and Nick Margiolakis, with the assistance of Kyriakos Gold on the promo videos.