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6 THE SHEPHERD • FEBRUARY 2020 • SAINT SPYRIDON GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH OF SAN DIEGO Hello St. Spyridon Families! ank you for your continued support of our annual Vasilopita Cutting tradition that took place on January 5. Your generous donations bene t St. Basil Academy in Garrison, New York. e Academy is the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese home for at-risk children, pro- viding a loving Christian environment and nurturing these children to adulthood. Be- cause of the generosity of our St. Spyridon family, we will be sending $3000 to help with the Academy’s operating expenses. ank you to Niki Dougenis, Christina Marantos, Jenny Capetanakis, Irene Veca and Vicky Mellos for baking these delicious breads. On January 12th, our Parish came together for our annual Epiphany Cross Dive Services and luncheon. Congratulations to Anthony Kyriakidis for receiving the Leon Balaban Volunteer Award for his many years of ser- vice to our church and our children. So well deserved Anthony! By the time you receive this newsletter, our Membership Luncheon would have already taken place, but I at least wanted to acknowl- edge our Membership Committee chairs, Kelly Samouris and Melanie Anastopulos for all their work and dedication. Our 2020 goal is to reach 200 members and I am hop- ing to see new faces including more men join! Please visit our Philoptochos table in the hall or contact our chairs for more infor- mation. Please help us pass the word around about our upcoming Human Tra cking Forum that will take place on February 29th from 10 am until noon in the Cypress Room. is complimentary event will give us an oppor- tunity to learn more about this crisis as it can happen to any community, age, gender and nationality. All ages are welcomed and en- couraged to attend. Light refreshments will be served. ank you to the families and ministries that o er the co ee hour every week. If you have been thinking about o ering for a celebra- tion, name day, memorial, etc., I assure you, its very simple. If you have not o ered fel- lowship in the past year, please use the sign- up genius in your email from Father Andrew. e donations collected help us continue to serve the needy, unless you are a ministry in which you keep the donations. And at last, is helping the less fortunate one of your New Year’s resolutions? Are you inter- ested in getting more involved with Philop- tochos? As always, we welcome new faces to join us on our quest to help the needy. Please reach out to me anytime. 619-520-3660. In Christ, Marian Dougenis Anthousa Chapter President ΝΕΑ ΤΗΣ ΦΙΛΟΠΤΩΧΟΥ PHILOPTOCHOS NEWS AGAPE MEALS AGAPE MEALS NEEDS YOU! We cur- rently have had several families in our par- ish who are in need of a meal or two. Are you able to help out by cooking and / or delivering (or perhaps both) a meal to a fellow parishioner who may be facing a dif- cult or stressful time in their life (illness, new baby, etc)? If so, the Philoptochos Agape Meals Program is for you! If you would like more information on how you can participate, or know of someone in our community who could use a meal, please contact Stella Weil at 858.694.0570 or 4weils@sbcglobal.net. Please join us as we come together as a community to help one another. ank you. See our entire Philoptochos Chapter’s Calendar of Events at www.anthousa.org e seniors met Tuesday, January 14 and enjoyed 10 Costco Pizzas. ank you to our wonderful seniors ladies who always bring delicious desserts. Our next get together will be Tuesday, Feb- ruary 11 at 11:00. Lunch will be graciously provided by the Ladies of the Philoptochos. Please call or email Cynthia Samarkos at 619.582.4109, tedcynsam@cox.net NO LAT- ER THAN SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 9 to give the ladies time to prepare and to know how many to prepare for. SENIORS and dedicate ourselves to do God’s work on earth; to work in synergy with Him. erefore, being dedicated to God carries a huge responsibility, one that requires us to re dedicate ourselves continually over and over again. But that is one of the beauties of Orthodox Christianity, through God’s mer- cy, grace and love He allows us to do so. He allows us to rediscover, reevaluate and reded- icate our (spiritual lives) and return to Him over and over again. With the Feast day of the Presentation of the Lord into the Temple upon us I pray that you will join me in enter- ing into the temples of our minds and hearts to rediscover, reevaluate and rededicate our Time and our Talent (and our Treasure) to Christ and His Church on earth . + Fr. Andrew 1 FR. ANDREW are participating in the Divine Liturgy each week bringing joy to all our hearts. Please come to our Preview night “Show the Love” to give then your support. Please wish all our dancers, directors and singers luck at this year’s FDF, February 13- 16 . ey have worked so hard and we are very proud of them! We extend our warmest wishes to our Fr. Andrew for a very Happy Birthday! May God grant you many more years! We love you! Singing His Praises, Katherine Loukatos Meck, Music Master 3 NEWS FROM THE LOFT Philoptochos invites you and your family to commemorate a special Feast Day by o er- ing a donation towards the cost of a beauti- fully decorated icon which will be displayed in the church Narthex for all to venerate. is o ering, a oral adornment around the bless- ed icon, is a perfect way to honor both your family member(s) as well as an important day in the life of the Church. roughout the li- turgical year there are many opportunities to select a decorated icon, so please review the list below and re ect if any of these are signif- icant to you. Please visit www.anthousa.org for a list of icons available for decoration in February. Icon Decorations