Fronditha Care to Name Dementia Wing After Generous Migrant Couple

Fronditha Care will name its new memory support unit in St Albans after a generous Greek Australian couple who pledged $850,000 in their will. 

Evangelos and Elli Ioannou promised a large part of the sale of their Armadale home to Fronditha Care, the not not-for-profit aged care provider.

The couple received numerous services from Fronditha Care as they aged, from help at home to eventual residential care in the organisation’s Clayton facility.

Fronditha Care’s Board of Directors made the decision to honour the couple and add to their legacy, by naming the 30-bed dementia unit in the new St Albans residential facility after them.

It was one of their dreams, with Evangelos saying before he passed that “I want our names to live on."

Construction of the Evangelos and Elli Ioannou Wing has already begun, with completion expected by 2021.

The love story of Evangelos and Elli

Evangelos and Elli met in Greece when Evangelos’ family moved to Argos Kastorias.

While the couple didn’t have any children, they worked extremely hard to change their fortunes. From an agricultural/farming life in Greece, they moved to Melbourne in the 1950s alongside thousands of fellow Greeks to start a new life.

Evangelos began working as a welder at a company called Milton and Elli worked as a seamstress in Melbourne, with the couple combining their earnings to eventually purchase their home in Armadale.

They had a strong connection to the Greek community in Melbourne, and were well loved. Evangelos was known for his green thumb, and Elli for her love of music and song.

They travelled back to Greece regularly to visit friends and family, but their lives shifted when Elli started showing signs of dementia.

It was Evangelos who cared for her for 14 years as she lived with the disease. Fronditha Care was able to help the couple at home for a time until Elli needed 24-hour care, and entered the Clayton facility before passing away.

Evangelos soon followed, eventually passing away at age 92 at the organisation’s Clayton facility.

The couple made adequate provisions for their family, but wanted to see their labours help others like them.

They left a significant bequest for Fronditha Care to make sure the high level of care they received continued for years to come for other elderly couples.

Bequest generosity continues through Antonis Vitou

As one of Fronditha Care’s benefactors and clients, Antonis Vitou also decided to give part of his estate to the organisation on top of the generous donations he made.

He gave $80,000 dollars in his will after his passing to also help build the new St Albans residential aged care facility.

Mr Vitou’s name can be found on one of the wings of our Templestowe facility after he donated $300,000 in 2005. He proceeded to donate more than $10,000 during Fronditha Care’s radiothons and other fundraising initiatives. 

Find out more about Fronditha Care.