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4 THE SHEPHERD • MARCH 2023 • SAINT SPYRIDON GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH OF SAN DIEGO Youth Ministries has a new website! https:// sites.google.com/stspyridon.org/stspyrid- onyouthministries. You can subscribe to our calendar, check out upcoming and past events, look at weekly newsletters, and vol- unteer! Check it out and plug in! Be sure to follow us on Facebook (St. Spyridon GOC San Diego) and Instagram: @youthstspyr- idon. We would love to hear from you! Do you have youth ideas to share? Service proj- ects? Questions? Contact Julie Dennis, Youth Ministries Director youthministries@stspyr- idon.org or mobile: 619-940-5167. GOYA (Greek Orthodox Youth Association) GOYA youth gathered in January for Game Night and in February for a Mall Scavenger Hunt and dinner! Through these fun activi- ties, relationships with their faith and friends are being built. Our next month’s activities will be bowling and service projects. Be sure to get tickets to our fundraiser: Palm Sunday Luncheon! JOY (Junior Orthodox Youth) This month HOPE and JOY had Family Movie Night in the LOT with our newly pur- chased infatable movie screen! Our upcom- ing youth group events will focus on service during Great and Holy Lent. Sunday School Students participated in Service Sunday on February 5th and served our St. Spyridon and wider community by helping with the younger grades, baking delicious treats, mentoring and playing basketball with the younger students, and wrapping yarn bun- dles for the Magic Yarn Project (magicyarn- project.com ). Our Orthodox Christian Mission Center Coin Drive starts on March 1st. Collection boxes will be available in the Narthex, Fel- lowship Hall, and online. Keep an eye out for our students collecting coins for this won- derful ministry! ocmc.org Dance &Choral In February, our Greek Dance group per- formed at the ActivCare Memory Care Cen- ter in Mission Bay. We were warmly and enthusiastically welcomed by about 30 resi- dents in attendance. We have continued our weekly lessons for both our youngest group (ages 5 to 9) and older group (ages 10 to 18). Our youngest group has been progress- ing wonderfully, and has almost mastered 4 dances. The older group has been learning dances from a range of areas in Greece in ad- dition to a special suite of Cretan dances. We hope to present these dances for all to enjoy at our parish Festival in June. At the end of February we will break for Great Lent, and focus on organizing costumes and planning meetings with instructors, parents and danc- ers. We look forward to dancing again at the Pascha Picnic and beyond. Our Youth Choir will continue to practice regularly during Great Lent. All Youth Choir members are welcome to come to the loft ev- ery Sunday and join in the celebration of the Divine Liturgy with the Adult Choir. If you have any questions regarding Greek Dance, would like to volunteer or inquire about our group performing at an event, please reach out to Timmy Paraskevopoulos, Dance Board President at 714-931-2431 or t_nicolaou@hotmail.com . If you have ques- tions regarding Youth Choir, please reach out to our Choir Master, Kathy Meck at 760- 390-0101 or sprnodiva@aol.com Upcoming Youth Events Mark your Calendars! GOYA PALM SUNDAY LUNCHEON: April 9th Tickets on sale NOW! Join us for a delicious fish dinner, complete with veggies, salad, wine, and dessert. Tickets prices are $25 for adults, and $10 for children. Tickets can be purchased through the Church Office by check or cash or online through the Youth Ministries website: https://sites.google.com/ stspyridon.org/stspyridonyouthministries This event will sell out! Get your tickets soon! HOLY FRIDAY YOUTH RETREAT: April 14th 9am-2pm Transitional Kindergarten – 5th grade can participate in the retreat. The 6th – 12th grade students can be Retreat Youth Leaders. Adult volunteers also needed! We hope you save the date for this wonderful experience for our youth! Retreat planning will start in March. VACATION CHURCH SCHOOL: June 26th – 30th, 9am – 12pm daily Announcing the 2023 VCS Theme! Behold the Light! The Feasts of the Life and Ministry of Christ! Faith, Fun, Music, Games, Crafts! Registration will begin in April. ST. NICHOLAS RANCH YOUTH CAMP: July 9th – 15th Registration OPEN now! Reserve your bus ride TODAY! Bus ride is available BACK and FORTH to the Ranch from San Diego. Camp and the bus will fill up FAST so please talk to Bill Navrides this month for more details. Go to https://gosfyouth.org/summer-camp to register for camp. This amazing experience is open for kids 8 through 18 years old (grad- uating high school Seniors in 2022 can still attend). This is an experience you will NOT want to miss. YOUTH MINISTRIES MARK YOUR CALENDARS GREAT AND HOLY FRIDAY YOUTH RETREAT April 14 | 9 am - 2 pm grades tk-12 ST . SPYRIDON information: youthministries@stspyridon.org MARK YOUR CAL NDARS GREAT AND HOLY FRIDAY YOUTH RETREAT April 14 | 9 am - 2 pm grades tk-12 ST . SPYRIDON information: youthministries@stspyridon.org