Having parked this week in the free car park on Epimenidou, known locally as the “Eliona”, the olive field, I was surprised to see that the trees had a good crop of olives this year, but a lot had fallen and been lost. Does anyone harvest these olives? I don’t know.
I then saw an article (on ekriti) which reported that the University of Crete had harvested the olives on their own complex and had donated the oil that they produced, to the refugees and migrants stranded in the holding camps all over Greece. As their way of showing support for the difficulties facing the migrants and refugees, 450 bottles were the amount of oil produced and then distributed on their behalf. The University thanks local Companies, Albantakis Cretan Mill for the bottling process and Megalonisos-Havakis EPE who handled the distribution for their kind contributions.
So the next obvious question would be, could the Local Councils here do something similar with all the olives groves they have on their land, but do not harvest for one reason or another? If not for the same cause, possibly for the many families that are struggling financially during this time, and who would no doubt, be very grateful for a bottle of olive oil.