The heir to a Greek shipping fortune has formed a charity that aims to chip away at the country’s crisis-level debt by raising money to buy Greek bonds, according to NPR.

The Greece Debt Free campaign is based on the island of Santorini, which Peter Nomikos’s family helped build into a major tourist destination. The charity, launched two weeks ago, encourages ordinary Greeks to contribute toward buying up discounted bonds to reduce the country’s sovereign debt, which tops $400-billion.

“Greece has given me an awful lot,” Mr. Nomikos said. “I feel it’s not necessarily an obligation, it’s a desire. And I feel very patriotic.”

The campaign has raised about $3-million, more than half of it from Mr. Nomikos and another donor, the owner of popular Greek soccer club Olympiakos.