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So, we are back again, just keep on sending your messages
both to NP-space-your message and send to 54160
and to Facebook, we are expecting your Christmas trees
the competition has already grown hard we are updated that they have sent many trees
we will show the best tree during the show shortly
Just have a little patience- we will leave some time so we will catch up later with more photos of trees
so the best tree will stand out Net pantou, our Facebook page and, of course, on Twitter @netpantou
we are expecting your comments and especially your trees to accompany us today
However, before trees, we are already experiencing the Christmas spirit
we have entered Christmas season and many times, many of us discover or remember solidarity these days
however, others turn solidarity into action and one of those people is our guest today, it’s Doros Antoniadis
Good morning Good morning Good morning, good morning
So, Doros has set up a site, along with a partner of yours Achtida Yes, Achtida Magrioti
Right…you have set up a site, named "Trade or Donate" TradeOrDonate.com where, Doros, what is it exactly about
can we make offers or exchanges there as well as donations to charities?
Exactly, any user around the world can offer products or services for exchange
with other users in a web community or neighborhood it can be from here, Greece, Italy, Spain, anywhere
it doesn’t really matter, this is one thing and the other is to donate to a charity
there are charities registered in our site so one can say I’am donating, I chose a charity
-there is a drop-down menu- or I leave it for a charity to claim
We are already viewing the Home Page of your site and we can see some objects on offer
Right,these are all objects on offer and any completed offers bare a "closed" sign that the offer or donation is -let's say- closed now
Doros, all this is for free, right?
Absolutely free, from beginning to end, that is registration is free and all products are either for exchange or donations to charities
there is nothing monetary, neither the platform supports it or anything
So the only thing one has to do is to look thoroughly in his or her room
his or her closet in order to find cast-off objects he/she does no longer need, pick them out and then log in, register and make his or her offer, right?
Right. And in many occasions there are some objects that seem useless to us but there are many others who might need them, right?
Sure and what we actually try to do is to say to the people to first change themselves
this is our mantra, we prompt you to register and first make your offer for product exchange or, if you don’t have any objects for exchange
you can offer your time, because by time more and more people don’t have jobs or money but they at least have time, therefore...
So, there are time offers Yes, services, like I "offer my time", "I exchange my time"
Like, for example "I offer English language courses"
I provide courses, there is a lady that offered a couple of hours on Saturday mornings
to help with children's homework if a mommy does not have the time to do so herself, this is the exchange she offers
So, next to product exchange there is services exchange as well
Services, yes, or in other words "time exchange"
Could you describe the procedure to us for someone who wants to take part in this, what does he/she have to do?
The procedure is that he or she can register easily, if he/she has a facebook or twitter account
he/she can register instantly, there is an icon at the top, that he/she can press, it connects with his/her account and register directly
if he/she doesn't have that he/she completes a form with username and password in order to acquire access to the site
and become member and then you begin, you can put your offer, you can see what others have offered, you create your profile
you say who you are, you upload your photo, you write down your needs -this is a part used mostly by charities
because this is the important thing- there is a "needs" section so that one can easily find out what the needs are so that he/she can offer an exchange
this is the most important thing especially for the charities and then the user enters the site and he/she can find out what all needs of all charities are so
that he/she can make a donation. This is it and then if you see something you like you contact the user directly either by personal message or via e-mail on how the exchange can be done
And they arrange that themselves Yes, this is something outside the platform
The site doesn't get involved Not at all, we’re nowhere there, we're just there to connect people who want to do this, to exchange or donate
We asked famous people that we see on TV or on stage and we asked them if they are willing to participate
in such a process, that is to what extent we are familiar with that give and take
with that kind of exchange with that exchange, yes
that becomes gradually more extended in Greece And let's see what they told us Let's see what they told us
Food, clothes, shoes My soul (laughter)
You shouldn't consider it like giving away your excess, there are many things we possess but don't use while some others could use and need more than we do
I very much appreciate any social bazaars, medical services, charity meals, I highly appreciate them and especially those
that are not guided neither by political parties nor even by NGOs, that are one helping another
and this is because we cross charity and enter solidarity and this means that one helps another and the one that has been helped helps another
I never got a chance-I would offer a song, I would take some oil
I usually take-not give. Yes, I'm a collector, that is why
A song from Mr. Zouganelis! I would like to emphasize what Marilena Katsimi told about connections with NGOs
and Mr. Antoniadis, what is this relationship? Have any NGOs registered so that you can have a further co-operation?
Well, we prompt charities-when someone is about to be registered he/she can chose if he/she will be an individual or charity membership-
so we prompt charities to register and make their charitable status known, we then of course verify if they actually are charities
we check their activity, address etc, we contact them, so we prompt charities, we send press releases and mails inviting them to register
Is there any response to that?
Uuum…not that high. I don't really know the exact reason
well, some charities have already registered but I would say they are rather aloof, I don't know if this is all new to them or suspicious
like they don't know who is sending the e-mail or they can't verify, however the response isn't high, at least it's not what I expected
You see, there are unexploited donations in our site, for example violin lessons or theatrical movement courses
offered by well-known people or objects that have not been accepted by any charity
That's impressing
And I ask charities to just enter the site, register and take them, they just contact us and take them, it's simple
Could I ask you something, if I want to donate something to a particular charity can I do that through your site? Or should it be a charity registered at your site?
Well,it can be done, it’s just that (the charity) has to be registered then
You just write that you want to donate something to that particular charity and we contact the charity asking them to register in order to take the offer. It only takes a minute.
You can actually contact the charity, that is
Of course, this has been the case already, somebody says I want to donate to that charity, I contact the charity by phone or via e-mail
I say "hi, there is a user who offers this, would you like to register in one minute, I' ll help you through, so that you can take the offer?", that’s it
So apart from the charities, are exchanges between individual members going better?
Yes, exchanges between individual members are going better
There is visitibility then
There is higher visitibility, I have to admit that this wasn't going that well at the beginning
but I can now see that people are gradually understanding what this is all about and especially the mentality we want
that is I see people logging in and not searching for existing offers to take, I mean now
because at the beginning this is what most people did, they didn't fill in their profiles and they were rather looking what to take
but lately I see people logging in, putting offers, creating user profiles
they put a few things and then they make contacts on offers they would want to take and say "hi, this is my offer, can I take yours?
What do you have for exchange?", which is what we initially had in mind, first change ourselves, show that we have changed and we offer and then claim and take something
Could we move to more personal things? How did you decide to make this site, what urged you?
Well, it's something rather familiar, I guess it happens generally to everyone
OK, the financial crisis brought many bad things to everyone, however I think it also brought some good things as well
We were urged to look for new things, to check out if we have other competencies and return to our more humanistic nature
I think we had lost that for the last years and this is the reason
I mean if we had an inner need to do something good for us and for everybody else
and deriving from a talk last year which lasted quite long, it lasted about a month
we started doing that which is an idea tested in the past, solidarity and exchange is not something new, they have long been existing
it’s just that now we brought it to a new dimension using technology and the web and we put it in a new different dimension and we expect people to respond and embrace it
Do you have Christmas trees offers?
No but we are waiting people to offer their old tree and take a new one, it's a good exchange I think as we are getting easily bored of our Christmas tree
Doros stay with us to see the first trees that viewers have sent us, some of the trees. Here is the first one
I have to turn slightly to have a better view. Good
This is a nice tree These are the trees picked by our colleagues at the control now
This is from Mr Pavlopoulos From which area? From what area is he?
We go on, this is a hyper-production Hyper-production!
I'd like the presents underneath
Here is another tree. Mr Papaspalieris is sending it, the last one was from Joan Nice
Trees are very nice, we are expecting more trees, these were three out of the trees you sent us
we are waiting for more trees of yours, you see that? Christmas trees corners are nice in homes
Yes, they are nice, we have to decorate, Costas, we haven't done anything yet
At home or here? At home, our colleagues have already catered for decorating her, we have crib, reindeers, deer, everything
However, we don't live at the same house We don't live at he same house
We don't have to decorate We have to decorate two houses
I'll decorate yours and you'll decorate mine
Indeed. So, before we go Mr Antoniadis what is the message you would like to convey
especially after one year of operating the site, at least I hope that people's response generates hope about continuing
Well, not something special as a message, we are happy that lately response is higher
we would like this to go on and we especially want this to expand abroad
we are making efforts, contacts with people abroad, we have users from Italy, England, Spain, Cyprus, we would like people from all over the world to embrace it
there is no reason for it to be restricted to Greece, this will make us happy, people to get in touch and exchange or donate to charities
Good, more charities then have to overcome their reluctance and take action in order to make use of all these donations waiting for them
There are donations that may be of use to them but remain unexploited
Well, thank you Thank you very much Doros