AHEPA e-News! - Vol. 11 Issue 6 - Wednesday, February 8, 2017  



New Media Share | Latest St. Nicholas Appeal Video
AHEPA has produced its latest appeal video to help #RebuildStNicholas. 
Program Update | AHEPA Collegiate Network 
In just one week, the AHEPA Collegiate Network (ACN) has more than 100 members. In fact, we connected our first perspective student with two ACN members who provided the student help with the college admissions process!  If you are a student interested to utilize ACN, email [email protected]
Book Your Room! | 2017 Supreme Convention!
REBUILD SAINT NICHOLAS SHRINE CAMPAIGN


 
THANK YOU!

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.  

The AHEPA family of Tampa, Fla., presented a donation during 2017 Epiphany Celebrations.

Visit our #RebuildStNicholas campaign webpage.
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
 
A look at Tower 1 at the World Trade Center through the dome of St. Saint Nicholas National Shrine at the World Trade Center. (Photo credit: Theo Nicolakis, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese)

Live Webcam!
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.
WASHINGTON UPDATE



It's a New Congress! Help Grow the Hellenic Caucus!
The 115th Congress is well underway. And with it, the work renews for the Congressional Caucus on Hellenic Issues, led by Co-chairs U.S. Reps. Gus M. Bilirakis (R-FL) and Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY).  The Hellenic Caucus begins the 115th Congress with 120 members.
The Hellenic Caucus has been an active, bipartisan group in Congress since its founding in 1995. 
The Ahepan

ICYMI Check out the winter 2016 issue of The Ahepan! Share it with family and friends by forwarding this electronic version.
  
Read about how the AHEPA family reached a milestone in cancer research grant-giving, how young professionals from Greece are battling "Brain Drain, and how Ahepans are continuing to provide aid to the victims of the Flint water crisis. Also, don't forget to catch-up on the latest ways AHEPA chapters are giving back through community service.

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

March
10 | Deadline to apply for the 2017 Journey to Greece Program
31 | Deadline to apply for an AHEPA National Educational Foundation      
       Scholarship
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.
 
 
 
Greece reports mass Turkish air incursions as tensions simmer Reuters (Feb. 1)  Greece reported mass incursions by Turkish military aircraft on Wednesday, amid tensions over Athens' failure to hand over Turkish soldiers Ankara accuses of involvement in a coup attempt.  Defense ministry officials said they had recorded 138 violations of Greek airspace over islands in the central and southern Aegean, an unusually high number. They were intercepted, they said.  Greek Defence Minister Panos Kammenos criticized what he called Turkey's "cowboy antics"."We want peace, we are not looking for a fight or for trouble in the Aegean, but there won't be an aircraft which will not be intercepted," Kammenos told Antenna Television.  A Greek court last week blocked the extradition of eight Turkish military officers Ankara accuses of involvement in a failed coup in July 2016. Turkey said relations between the two countries would be reviewed.  read more  

Cyprus: UN Security Council Has Role in Reunification Talks ABC News (Feb. 6) U.N. Security Council member states must take part in a future summit aiming to remove a key stumbling block to a deal reunifying ethnically divided Cyprus, the island's government spokesman said Monday. Nicos Christodoulides told Associated Press that Security Council members have expressed their readiness to "actively and effectively take part" in such a summit, and that he expects their participation. He said that the U.N. Security Council, which has been involved in Cyprus talks for more than five decades, should ensure the implementation of a peace accord - something that concerns both Greek and Turkish Cypriots. A summit scheduled in Geneva next month will be a follow-up to a January gathering of Cyprus' rival leaders as well as the foreign ministers of the island's 'guarantors' - Greece, Turkey and former colonial ruler Britain.  read more

 
Greece hopes migrant burden will turn into boon Yahoo (Feb. 5) Two decades ago, an influx of half a million migrants boosted Greece's economy. Today, the government and some experts hope a new wave of migrants will do the same.Some 60,000 refugees, including many young Syrians, Afghans and Pakistanis, have been stuck in Greece for the past year, languishing in camps after the doors to Europe were shut.But unlike in the 1990s and early 2000s, when the migrants, mainly from Albania and Bulgaria, benefited from a booming economy, Greece has been unable to make the most of the recent arrivals.  "The refugees we have now are different" since many still hope to reach northern Europe and have no intention of settling in Greece, said Stavros Zografakis, an associate professor at the Agricultural University of Athens.  Many of the 500,000 to 600,000 migrants who entered Greece 20 years ago, by contrast, quickly found their place in Greek society, with jobs in agriculture and construction.  read more

 
Charity turns old blankets into winter coats for refugees Associated Press (Feb. 5) t's been a miserable winter in Greece, especially for the many thousands of refugees staying in tents in old factories and warehouses. At a tiny workshop in the northern city of Thessaloniki, they're trying to make a little bit of a difference.Volunteers are working long hours to try to keep the refugees warm, with bursts of noise from sewing machines revealing their mission: To turn discarded blankets into jackets, overcoats and other winter wearables.  There's an almost endless supply: The blankets - mostly army issue, gray with red stitching - came from the sprawling refugee and migrant encampment at Idomeni on the Macedonian border that is now closed.    read more

 
Billy Zane is the New KFC Colonel Greek Reporter (Jan. 27) Billy Zane has just taken on a new unexpected role: that of the famous Kentucky Fried Chicken colonel, Colonel Sanders.  In a new ad campaign released by the fast food giant, a gold-painted, almost unrecognizable Zane promotes the chain's new Georgia Gold chicken. Previous celebrities that stepped into the colonel's shoes include George Hamilton, Rob Riggle, and Vincent Kartheiser.  Each star has been picked to match a different promotional theme; to promote "Georgia Gold", Zane was picked thanks to his penchant for playing rich guys in several films, such as Cal in "Titanic." read more 

Opinion | It's The IMF That Has A Greek Debt Problem, Not Greece At All Forbes (Feb. 7) There's an old saying that if you owe the bank �1,000 then you have a problem, if you owe them �1 million then the bank has a problem. It is indeed an old saying so we should probably update it to �1 million and �10 billion to get the correct sense of scale here. But it is this which insists that it is the International Monetary Fund which has the problem over Greek debt, not Greece itself. Greece simply cannot, and therefore will not, repay the amount of money that it currently owes. Thus this is a problem for those it is owed to, not Greece itself. All that remains is to find out how it won't pay rather than whether.  read more



George Marcus Donates $1 Million to Hellenic College - Holy Cross
The National Herald (Feb. 5) George Marcus one of the most successful and prominent Greek-American businessman in the U.S. living in California and his family donated one million dollars to Hellenic College and Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology.  read more (subscription required)

Video | IMF Discusses Bailout for Greece Bloomberg (Feb. 6) MacroPolis Editor Nick Malkoutzis discusses the International Monetary Fund's meeting on the Greek economy and debt reduction. He speaks on "What'd You Miss?"  watch here




 
 
 
This is an electronic news service of the American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association.
For more information visit the AHEPA Online Headquarters at www.ahepa.org.
1909 Q Street, NW Washington, DC 20009 Tel: 202-232-6300 Fax: 202-232-2140 Email: [email protected]