Ilias Chronopoulos

Dear friends, family, and kind-hearted strangers,

My name is Katerina Chronopoulou and I am writing on behalf of my beloved father, Ilias Chronopoulos, who recently passed away on November 1st, 2024 after a long and difficult battle with liver and pancreatic cancer.

My father was born and raised in Kalamata, Greece. He travelled to Athens in his 20s to take care of his mother and find a better job since his father had passed away. After a few years of being his mother’s primary caregiver, he met my mother, Eleni Zike. Not too long after that, they got married and had my younger brother George and me. We were an incredibly happy family. As my parents both grew up poor, they had a desire to provide us with more opportunities than the ones they had for themselves. Unfortunately, the financial situation in Greece was grim and opportunities were hard to come by.

In search of a better future for our family, my father made the courageous decision to leave the country in 2011, when I was only 10 years old, and George only 8. Upon moving to Toronto, Canada, my father was faced with even more hardship. Over the course of 13 years, he worked nonstop trying to make ends meet to save as much as he could to create a home for us and set up his children for success. Since my father was never able to successfully obtain permanent residence status in Canada, he was forced to take on lower paying positions. At times he was juggling 3 jobs, regularly working 120 hours per week and sleeping on the train between shifts. Every penny he made was saved for us. He lived in a basement apartment by himself, getting through the cold winter nights with his jacket and some blankets. During these years, we only got to visit my father once as a family in 2019 as my brother and I were still attending school in Greece. After this, our family unit as we knew it ceased to exist.

My mother’s last trip to visit my father was in June 2022. She never got to go back to Greece because my father was diagnosed with Stage IV metastatic pancreatic cancer the following month and has taken care of him ever since. After March 2024, his illness overtook his ability to work, forcing them to live off the little savings my father had acquired. After battling his disease for 2.5 years, he finally closed his eyes forever just last week with his whole family by his side.

The cost of my father’s funeral and burial is far beyond what we can manage. Since the government of Ontario only covers funeral costs to families with less $6,000 in savings, we are being forced to pay out of pocket for the funeral and burial. This would drain nearly all of the savings my father collected over his time in Canada and leave us unable to pay for basic essentials such as food, rent, and school.

We are asking for your support, no matter how small, to help us get through this incredibly difficult time. Your generosity will allow us to give my father the respectful goodbye he deserves, while also helping us stay on our feet as we continue to cope with this loss.

We are deeply grateful for any contribution and appreciate all the love and support we have received during this time.

Thank you,

Katerina Chronopoulou, George Chronopoulou, and Eleni Zike