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4 THE SHEPHERD • MAY 2020 • SAINT SPYRIDON GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH OF SAN DIEGO 1 FR. ANDREW Χριστός Ανέστη! Christ is Risen! I wanted to take a moment to say thank you to Father Andrew for leading us so beauti- fully throughout the Paschal season. I am sure we all felt a range of emotions and I am thankful we were able to watch all the ser- vices on the live broadcast. ank you to our Chanters, Michael Haddad and Michael Bertram , for being beside Father Andrew and to Jim Gilpin for setting up the Zoom for the Great and Holy Saturday service. It was so wonderful to see so many of our church family in attendance. On behalf of our Board, we are all thankful for your continued support of our annual Tsoureki fundraiser and by now, you should have been reimbursed. We will have better days, God willing soon enough. I personally reached out to all our homebound parishio- ners to let them know we won’t be sending the tsoureki gi basket and also to see if they were in need of any groceries. I did not get to speak with all, but all whom I spoke with were most appreciative of the call. It warmed my heart. Although many of our upcoming activities were cancelled, our Board still has import- ant items to discuss and thankfully for Zoom technology, we had the opportunity to visit with each other and make some important decisions. We will continue to have these Zoom meetings for as long as needed. One topic was how we can continue to sup- port our local community. Our Operation Classroom Initiative allowed us to help 8 teachers (grades K, 4, 5 and Special Educa- tion) with necessary tools such as ip chart paper, ip chart markers and phone / tablet stands to aid them while they are distance teaching. We are thankful for their passion and dedication. We were also able to deliver catered food to a local hospital and monetary donations to Fa- ther Joe’s Village and to Focus Outreach. is is made possible because of your continued support of our Anthousa Chapter. Our thoughts and prayers go out to all of our students as they are experiencing distance learning. Michelle Defelippi from our Col- lege Connection Outreach will be contacting our High School and College Seniors to con- gratulate them on their accomplishments. We’d love to hear how your College Seniors are doing so please have them reach out to mdefelippi@san.rr.com . During these uncertain and unstable times, I am extremely sensitive and hesitant to ask for any donations at all. However, since the Kids ‘n’ Cancer event was cancelled this year, a link has been set up to accept donations. $5, $20, or however much you can a ord would be most appreciated. Hundreds of Camp Agape families may turn to us asking for additional support so a link at www.sf- philoptochos.org was set up to accept dona- tions. Lastly, were able to set up a temporary sched- ule of events for the fall: September 27: Munchies, Mimosas and More October 4: Church Musicians Appreciation Fellowship November 1: Military Appreciation November 8: anksgiving Luncheon ank you for your love and support. If you know anyone that is need of help, please reach out to me at 619-520-3660 or mkdou- genis@prodigy.net and we can do our very best to help. Be well and stay healthy. In Christ, Marian Dougenis Anthousa Chapter President PHILOPTOCHOS NEWS Dear St. Spyridon Community, ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! We hope that you are staying safe and healthy. As you all know, due to the COVID-19 outbreak and subsequent directives issued by our state and local governments, Greek School has been cancelled for the rest of the school year. We look forward to commenc- ing again in the Fall of 2020. For all those of you who have already paid tuition for the spring semester 2020, a prorated credit will be applied to the Fall semester of 2020. Should you have any questions please email Maria Xourafas at mxourafas@gmail.com. is year’s Greek Independence Day cele- bration had to be canceled. For those of you who purchased tickets to this event, a refund has been issued. Credit card payments have already been refunded back to the credit card used, checks have been returned and any cash payments are being refunded in the form of a check. If you have any questions or concerns regarding your refund, please con- tact the church o ce at 619 297-4165. Looking forward for all of our ministries to be up and running again soon! ank you all for your support. Athena Kotinopoulos Georges, M.Ed. San Diego Greek Language School Director athenakotinopoulos@gmail.com 619-992-4452 GREEK LANGUAGE SCHOOL Χριστός Ανέστη! Hope you all had a blessed Πάσχα! ere is no question that the Senior community has been the hardest hit by the COVID-19 crisis. Please be safe and stay home, and reach out to friends and family members by phone to keep in touch. In this period of social distancing, I would like to update our e-mail log for our mem- bers. Please e-mail me at skotinopoulos@ hotmail.com so I can create an updated list. I am hoping to set up a Seniors zoom meet- ing next month if we have enough available members. If you do not have an electronic device, need help with setting one up, or if you are in need of groceries or general supplies please con- tact me at (619)855-2991. I can’t wait for the day we can break bread together again. Until then, keep in touch and stay well. With lots of love, Sophia SENIORS face to face in our Church Temple I so ap- preciate hearing from so many of you and reassuring me that you have been and will continue to be with me as we celebrate the divine services of the Church together. I hope and pray that you will continue to be with me for now “from afar” as we continue to o er the celebration of the divine services of the Church via our parish LiveStream until this is all over. I must admit and confess that I need you as well. I need to know that you are still out there with me “from afar” praying with me as we o er our “service” to God. I can’t do it without you. As we move forward in our recovery I need you to continue to be an encouragement to me as hopefully, and by God’s grace, I have been to you – for we are all in this together. In this way we will continue to keep Christ Ris- en as we look toward what a more bright fu- ture will eventually look like – Christ is Risen! Let’s keep Him Risen! + Fr. Andrew