Lina (Pashalina) Belios is just your average Greek yiayia, who has lived in Australia for the past 50 years.
A seamstress before retirement, she called up our offices at Neos Kosmos on Wednesday telling us that she had made 100 pouches for Australian animals as well as 400 gloves but didn’t know where to donate them.
“I feel so sad to see the poor animals suffering and I wanted to help in my own way,” she told us.
“My son Con (Belios) and daughter-in-law Helen live on Kangaroo Island, and I watch the news and worry about them. So to take my mind off my worries, I decided to sew some pouches. I got the idea from reading Neos Kosmos.”
We couldn’t resist asking this amazing mother of two and yiayia of five grandchildren to send us a photo of her creations that was snapped by her granddaughter of the same name, Lina.
Born in Xyloupoli, a small village close to Serres, she came to Australia on the PATRIS, like so many other migrants, half a century ago with her husband Demosthenes and son, Con. Here, she worked as a seamstress, at a chocolate factory and volunteered at numerous Greek Australian organisations, being one of the founders of Panagia Soumela Church and a great supporter of the Greek school at East Keilor. She currently lives in Sydenham and told us that she feels blessed but worries about their future following the environmental disaster caused by the fires.
Today is her 74th birthday, and we’d like to wish her the best one yet!
To take yiayia Lina’s example and help rescue native animals in distress, call Wildlife Victoria on 03 8400 7300 or Wildlife Rescue for NSW on 1300 094 737.