AHEPA e-News! - Vol. 10 Issue 34 - Wednesday, August 24, 2016 
Members of Chapter 517 with Veteran Randy Dexter, his service dog, "Captain," his wife, and two daughters; and Shari Duval (in pink), who is the founder of K9s For Warriors at the Supreme Convention.

AHEPA Teams Up with K-9 Veterans Organization to Help Vets Who Suffer from PTSD
AHEPA applauds the collaboration between Garden State Chapter 517, Holmdel, N.J. and K9s For Warriors, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing service canines to veterans suffering from Post-traumatic Stress Disability, traumatic brain injury and/or military sexual trauma as a result of military service post 9/11, announced Supreme President Andrew C. Zachariades.

Every 65 minutes a veteran commits suicide but service canines--a large majority of which are rescue/shelter dogs--are helping to save their lives. And AHEPA is working to ensure veterans and service canines come together as a team to help K9s For Warriors to reach its goal to empower veterans to return to civilian life with dignity and independence.

"We encourage the community, and specifically our chapters, to explore
"AHEPA" -- Chapter 517's sponsored service dog.
how they can help our veterans by supporting this worthy collaborative effort between Chapter 517 and K9s For Warriors," Zachariades said. "Our veterans have sacrificed so much for our country and this is a fantastic way the American Hellenic community can show its gratitude and appreciation."

AHEPA Chapter 517, through the Zalinski Foundation, is the proud sponsor of a service dog appropriately named "AHEPA" that will be given to a veteran fighting PTSD.  The well-received initiative resulted in a presentation made by Randy Dexter, a combat medic who served two tours in Iraq, and his service dog, "Captain," at last month's Supreme Convention in Las Vegas.

Some facts about the program:
  • 95% of dogs used in K9s For Warriors program are rescue/shelter dogs.
  • 82% of funds donated to K9s For Warriors directly impact programs to help disabled veterans.
  • K9s For Warriors has graduated 241 Warrior-K9 teams, with a 90% re-certification rate.
     
  • LEARN MORE: About the Warrior Program/K9 Academy
  • VIDEO: K9s For Warriors PSA   More videos

 
Sons of Pericles PSP Completes 20 Consecutive Years with NBC Olympics 
Congratulations and a tip of the AHEPA Fez to Brother Billy Gahagan who, with the completion of the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, has worked the last 20 consecutive years of Summer and Winter Games for NBC Olympics, earning four Emmy Awards during the run! 

Brother Gahagan is a Sons of Pericles Past Supreme President.

IN THE NEWS | 
Supreme President Attends Panagia Soumela Celebration Held for 33 Years
A bell rung over and over again in the courtyard adjacent to the Panagia Soumela chapel. Pontians marched a somber path, circling the church and carrying the icon of the Virgin Mary. Led by Greek Orthodox clergy and Pontian club members in traditional folk attire, it signaled the beginning of weekend services - Κοίμηση της Θεοτόκου - Dormition of the Mother of God. 

There, Supreme President Andrew C. Zachariades, the first supreme president to attend these services, spoke with CosmosPhilly about he Turkish government's recent closing of the Greek Orthodox monastery-Panagia Soumela in Trabzon, Turkey.
WATCH & SHARE | AHEPA Rebuild Saint Nicholas Campaign Appeal Video


AHEPA released its recently-produced appeal video for the AHEPA-Saint Nicholas Capital Campaign at the 94th Grand Banquet.  Check it out and share it with family and friends!
EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMING SPOTLIGHT

Thank You to Our Partners at Webster University Athens: 
Webster Athens Hosts 2016 AHEPA Journey to Greece Students
This summer, Webster University Athens welcomed students from across the U.S. and Canada to the unique heritage program, Journey to Greece. The program is sponsored through AHEPA (American Hellenic Education and Progressive Association) and this year full scholarships were provided for the students from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation. 

AHEPA and Webster Athens have a long standing relationship and provide a unique opportunity for students of Hellenic descent to discover their roots in the birthplace of their ancestors. Students spend a month studying the Greek language and Greek culture and society, while they travel around Greece during the program excursions.
WASHINGTON UPDATE

Hellenic Caucus Membership at 137. Help It Grow.













ACTION ITEM | Help Us Grow the Hellenic Caucus!
Congress has started its summer district work period.  Many representatives will be in their districts following their respective political conventions for August.  They will also be on the campaign trail.  This is an opportune time to ask them to join the Hellenic Caucus before the 114th Congress comes to a conclusion.  AHEPA asks for your help to grow the Congressional Caucus on Hellenic Issues to newer heights.  The Hellenic Caucus has been an active, bipartisan group in Congress since its founding in 1995.  It is co-chaired by U.S. Reps. Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) and Carolyn Maloney (D-NY).
  
Membership in the Hellenic Caucus stands at 137.
REBUILD SAINT NICHOLAS SHRINE CAMPAIGN


 
THANK YOU!

Ahepans tour the Saint Nicholas construction site.

AHEPA is determined to meet its Saint Nicholas Capital Campaign fund raising goal of $1 million. Donations--large and small--keep pouring in for AHEPA's #RebuildStNicholas capital campaign.  
  • NEW! | Thank you to new donations from individuals, chapters, and districts and chapters to the #RebuildStNicholas campaign received in recent weeks!  They include: $4,000 from  Chapter 78, Merrillville/Gary Ind., a $2,250 donation from AHEPA Gold Coast Chapter 456, Manhasset, N.Y., $1,000 from Chapter 517, Holmdel, N.J., a $500 donation from Brother Apostolos Vardakis, and $100 from Chapter 543, Henderson, Nev.  THANK YOU!
Visit our #RebuildStNicholas campaign webpage.

NEW! | AHEPA Rebuild Saint Nicholas Campaign Appeal Video

AHEPA released its recently-produced video for the AHEPA-Saint Nicholas Capital Campaign at the 94th Grand Banquet.  Check it out and share it with family and friends!
TAKE ACTION

Has your district or chapter organized a fundraiser for the campaign to #RebuildStNicholas?  Take action and support AHEPA's campaign today! Please tweet about your fundraising activity by using #RebuildStNicholas to share your work with the broader community!


PROJECT UPDATE
Thanks to a live webcam, you can watch progress being made with a first-hand look at the site where Saint Nicholas National Shrine will be build.
The Ahepan


ICYMI Check out the summer issue of The Ahepan! Share it with family and friends by forwarding this electronic version.
  
Read about how AHEPA celebrated Greek Independence 2016 and AHEPA Sunday. Get a recap of the Supreme President's Leadership Excursion to Greece, Cyprus, the Ecumenical Patriarchate and Israel. Also, don't forget to catch-up on the latest ways AHEPA chapters are giving back to the community through service.

Click on the magazine icon to read it today! 
Upcoming Events
 

September
17 | 2016 Governors' Conference, Washington, DC
24 | Testimonial Dinner for Past Supreme President John Galanis, Milwaukee, Wisc.
30 | Supreme President Andrew Zachariades visits District 20

November
5 | Fifth District Cancer Research Foundation Gala, New Jersey
Olympics Spotlight: Rio 2016


 
Helen Maroulis beats Japanese legend for first gold in U.S. women's wrestling history Washington Post (Aug. 18) Add Helen Maroulis to the list of history-makers at the Rio Olympics.  The 24-year-old from Rockville upset the woman widely considered to be the greatest female wrestler of all time Thursday to take a gold medal in women's freestyle in the 53kg weight class.  Maroulis, a first-time Olympian who typically competes in a higher weight class, the non-Olympic 55kg class, took down three-time defending gold medalist Saori Yoshida of Japan, 4-1.Maroulis's win adds to a recent tear that includes her first-ever world title at the 2015 world championships; she currently holds the longest winning streak of all American wrestlers.  read more


Stefanidi wins pole vault gold for Greece Reuters (Aug. 20) Greece's Ekaterini Stefanidi won the Olympic pole vault on Friday and her country's first athletics gold since the 2004 Athens Games, then defended its integrity after barred Russian Yelena Isinbayeva blasted the event as sub-par without her in the field.  Stefanidi cleared 4.85 meters to beat American Sandi Morris, who took silver."Every single athlete in there would have wanted her to be there and have a chance to beat her," Stefanidi said of the two-time Olympic champion, who was excluded from the Rio Games as part of a mass ban on Russian athletes over a doping scandal.  "Things are how they are and we had nothing to do with it.  "The competition took place hours after Isinbayeva announced her retirement and said that whoever won would not have earned "a proper gold medal" due to her absence.  read more

Ancient Combat Sports Biblical Archeaology (Aug. 16) "You know that the Olympic crown is olive, yet many have honored it above life," wrote the Greek orator Dio Chrysostom (c. 40-110 C.E.).  Indeed, the occasional philosopher or doctor may have condemned the brutality and danger of ancient athletics, but the Greek public nevertheless accepted a good deal of hazard, injury and death.This is particularly true of the three Greek combat events-wrestling, boxing and pancratium (a combination of boxing and wrestling that allowed such tactics as kicking and strangling). Their history at ancient Olympia is long and eventful: Wrestling entered the program in 708 B.C.E., boxing in 688 B.C.E. and pancratium in 648 B.C.E. These grueling sports reveal much about the aspirations and values of ancient Greece, about what was deemed honorable, fair and beautiful, both in the eyes of those of who competed and those who traveled to Olympia to watch.  read more
Greek American News Digest 
 
Editor's Note: Editorials, Commentaries, and Opinion pieces are shared for information purposes only and do not necessarily reflect the views or policy positions of the Order of AHEPA, its affiliated organizations, and members.
 
 
Greek Villagers Rescued Migrants. Now They Are the Ones Suffering New York Times (Aug. 17) Stratis Valamios revved the motor on his small white boat and steered under a thumbnail moon out of the harbor of this fishing village, perched on the northern tip of Lesbos, Greece's third-largest island.Skies were clear enough to see the purple mountains of Turkey a short distance across the Aegean Sea. It would be easy on this tranquil evening to catch calamari. These days, he needed a good haul to make ends meet.A year ago, he and other fishermen in the tiny village, Skala Sikaminias, were making a more unusual catch: thousands of sea-drenched asylum seekers who streamed across the Aegean to escape conflict and poverty in the Middle East and Africa.  read more 
 
 
Concerns rise amid migrant uptick, news of German plan to pressure Greece  Ekathimerini (Aug. 19) The steady increase in refugee and migrant arrivals from neighboring Turkey to the Aegean islands fueled concerns in the ranks of the government on Friday amid reports that German authorities have a contingency plan to apply pressure on Greece in the event of the collapse of a deal between Ankara and the European Union to curb migration.  The report in weekly news magazine Der Spiegel indicates that Berlin has drafted a plan B to deal with the fallout of a possible collapse of the Turkey-EU migrant pact.   read more 

  
Hopes rise for deal to end 40-year frozen conflict in Cyprus The Telegraph (Aug. 21) Talks to resolve Europe's longest-running frozen conflict will enter a "critical phase" this week, as the leaders of Turkish and Greek-controlled Cyprus engage in what diplomats are calling a "final push" to reach a historic deal to reunify the island.The leaders of both communities, which have been locked in mutual enmity since the island was divided north and south by the Turkish invasion of 1974, will start a fresh round of intensive talks on Tuesday that diplomats hope can finally unlock one of Europe's most vexed political questions. "There is a greater sense of urgency than I can ever remember," an EU diplomatic source close to the talks told The Sunday Telegraph, "there is a real sense that the time for a deal is now, and the window for a deal will start to close after the end of this year."  read more
 
U.S. Vision for Mideast Stability Runs Through Gas Pipelines Bloomberg (Aug. 21) The potential to benefit from new gas discoveries has created a rare opportunity for eastern Mediterranean countries including Israel and Turkey to forge closer ties, according to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's envoy on energy affairs. Countries in the region must work together if they hope to unlock multibillion dollar gas discoveries in Israel and Cyprus, US diplomat Amos Hochstein said in a telephone interview. As Israel looks to develop its offshore Leviathan gas field, it's considering a pipeline to Turkey -- a strong energy consumer as well as a portal to European markets -- while mulling an undersea pipeline to Egyptian liquefaction terminals.  read more
Upstart 'Greek Plays' Takes on a University of Chicago Press Classic Wall Street Journal (Aug. 17) For more than 60 years, students of Greek drama have turned to the University of Chicago Press's "The Complete Greek Tragedies." Now, like Sparta challenging Athens, two classics scholars are setting out to topple the long-time incumbent of Greek drama. Next week, Penguin Random House's Modern Library is publishing Mary Lefkowitz.  read more, subscription required 

Al Pastor-Influenced Greek Food in Hollywood LA Weekly (Aug. 17) Like many successful restaurants, the Good Greek Grill owes its existence to a delicate balance of careful planning and fortunate mishaps. Co-owner Dino Pantazis says he and his partners had always planned for a brick-and-mortar location, but it was a broken-down food truck that urged them to finally pick an address. Their most productive employee was a long-shot hire with no experience whom they found on Craigslist, and their flagship sandwich, a gyro stuffed with shavings of crispy pork and french fries, might never have taken shape without help from a taco specialist.   But that sandwich has turned this tiny takeout into a bit of a neighborhood anchor. And it's that same foil-wrapped gyro that will call diners to a soon-to-open location on Yucca Street in Hollywood. When Village Pizza shuttered, Pantazis and his partners jumped on the address.   read more




 
 
 
This is an electronic news service of the American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association.
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