Greece's Defense Minister, Chick-fil-A President Honored at Grand Banquet; Veterans Recognized for Service
Check out highlights from the 95th Grand Banquet. Honorees included Minister of Defense of the Hellenic Republic Panos Kammenos and Chick-fil-A President/COO Timothy P. Tassopoulos. Veterans were presented with the AHEPA Medal for Military Service. read more
Ohio Native, Veteran Carl Hollister Elected Supreme President
Read our full news release announcing AHEPA Family elections for 2017-18 and learn more about newly-elected Supreme President Carl Hollister. click here
U.S. Ambassador to Greece Tweets Congrats
U.S. Ambassador to Greece Geoffrey Pyatt tweeted his congratulations to Supreme President Carl Hollister, stating he looks forward to AHEPA's continued partnership with the U.S. Embassy in Athens.
Bilirakis Statement following address to 95th Grand Banquet
U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R- FL), Co-Chair of the Congressional Hellenic Caucus and the Congressional Hellenic-Israel Alliance (CHIA), released the following statement after speaking at the American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association (AHEPA) Supreme Convention on July 29, 2017 in Orlando, Florida.
“As Co-Chair of the Hellenic and CHIA Caucuses and a proud Greek-American, I was honored to join Archbishop Demetrios, Greek Defense Minister Kammenos, and Walt Disney Resort President George Kalogridis to provide a congressional update recently at the AHEPA Supreme Convention celebrating 95 years of dedicated service. AHEPA’s mission to promote Hellenism, education, philanthropy, civic responsibility, family, and individual excellence has set the standard for ethnic organizations and has helped Greek Americans become one of the most successful ethnic groups in the United States. I am proud to work with AHEPA to strengthen relations with Greece, secure religious freedom and protection for the Ecumenical Patriarchate, and promote solutions to the Cyprus and Macedonia problems."
Rebuild St. Nicholas Campaign
AHEPA is $160,000 short of meeting its Saint Nicholas Capital Campaign fund raising goal of $1 million. We are determined to meet it! Donations--large and small--keep pouring in for AHEPA's #RebuildStNicholas capital campaign. Will yours be the one to get us to the historic $1 million milestone?
NEW! | Thank you to the districts and chapters that presented donations to our capital campaign at the 95th Grand Banquet in Orlando! Also, last week, Liberty Chapter 127, Cincinnati, Ohio, donated $1,000 to our campaign! Thank you!
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!
Share Media
St. Nicholas Appeal Video
AHEPA has produced its latest appeal video to help #RebuildStNicholas.
TAKE ACTION: Donate Today!
MORE TO SHARE: Initial appeal video released at the 94th Grand Banquet!
Project Update
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
Tell Congress to Back the Return of the Parthenon Marbles
Members of the U.S. House of Representatives are home for August recess. AHEPA commends the introduction of H.Con.Res.51, a bipartisan, concurrent resolution that expresses the sense of Congress that the Parthenon Marbles should be returned to Greece. U.S. Reps. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), and Donald Payne, Jr. (D-NJ) introduced the resolution, May 2.
Find & Urge Your U.S. Representative to Co-sponsor H.Con.Res.51, or call the U.S. Capitol switchboard, 202.224.3121.
Help Grow the Hellenic Caucus! Membership at 126.
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 has 126 members.
Is your U.S. representative a member of the Hellenic Caucus? Click here to find out
Download & Share: Action alert to help you outreach to Congress
The Hellenic Caucus has been an active, bipartisan group in Congress since its founding in 1995.
Upcoming Events & Deadlines
August
14 | Deadline for fall issue of The Ahepan
September
15-17 | Governors Conference, Washington, DC
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.
The Greeks really do have near-mythical origins, ancient DNA reveals
Science (August 2)
Ever since the days of Homer, Greeks have long idealized their Mycenaean “ancestors” in epic poems and classic tragedies that glorify the exploits of Odysseus, King Agamemnon, and other heroes who went in and out of favor with the Greek gods. Although these Mycenaeans were fictitious, scholars have debated whether today’s Greeks descend from the actual Mycenaeans, who created a famous civilization that dominated mainland Greece and the Aegean Sea from about 1600 B.C.E. to 1200 B.C.E., or whether the ancient Mycenaeans simply vanished from the region. read more (more from Smithsonian Magazine)
Stefanidi completes collection of major pole vault titles
Reuters (August 6)
Greece's Ekaterini Stefanidi, the new queen of the pole vault, added the one missing gold medal to her big-event collection when she soared to the world title with the best vault of her life on Sunday. read more
Greek MEP demands Elgin Marbles become part of Brexit negotiations
The Telegraph (August 4)
Greek politicians are campaigning for the Elgin Marbles to be returned to Athens as part of the Brexit negotiation between Britain and the European Union.. read more
Time to get rid of guarantors, president says
Cyprus Mail (August 5)
President Nicos Anastasiades said Friday it was high time to get rid of the curse of the presence of third parties or those who want third parties controlling Cyprus, as he criticised those who blamed the Greek Cypriot side too for the failure of the talks. Speaking at a farming festival in Paralimni, Anastasiades said he was truly saddened when people tried to assign blame on the Greek Cypriots. read more
Cypriots among the forgotten troops of Dunkirk
in Cyprus (August 5)
Seventy-seven years ago, 476 Cypriots found themselves huddled on the beaches of Dunkirk waiting for their evacuation, along with approximately 330,000 other allied troops. Perhaps overlooked, if not forgotten, Cyprus’ contribution to the British war effort during WWII was considerable as, proportionally, Cyprus contributed the most troops in the Commonwealth in the fight against the Axis Powers. read more
Meet the Art World’s Antiquities Sleuth
Wall Street Journal (August 2)
Some of the world’s biggest cases of antiquities looting—including the Greek vase relinquished by New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art last week—were cracked by a forensic archaeologist in Cambridge, England, who is better known for sifting documents than dirt. Christos Tsirogiannis, a 44-year-old archaeologist who lectures at the Association for Research into Crimes Against Art, a Rome-based think tank, grew up surrounded by ancient ruins in the northeastern Greek city of Thrace. He got his sleuthing start in Athens in...read more