TSN0722

4 THE SHEPHERD • JULY 2022 • SAINT SPYRIDON GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH OF SAN DIEGO On May 21st at our end of the year Coronado kayaking/paddle boarding event we elected our o cers for GOYA for the 2022-2023 year. e new slate of o cers are: Luka Maude – President , Andreana Frangos – First Vice President, Sia Paraskevopoulos – Second Vice President, Nora Kleinhenz – Secretary and Alexios Savvides – Treasurer. GOYAns, please support this new board as they plan your events and activities for the upcoming year. GOYA is dark for July and August but will get together again in September. More details to follow on the September event in upcoming newsletters. Parents GOYA is for 7th thru 12th graders, and ALL are welcome and encouraged to attend. If you haven’t been before, PLEASE come as we promise you will have a won- derful time, learn more about your Faith and make new friends. As I have told the GOY- Ans for many years now, the only thing that separates GOYA from the other activities the kids are involved in outside of Church is their Holy Orthodox Faith. Nowadays, it is so im- portant for our youth (and all of us) to meet other Orthodox brothers and sisters in Christ who can help us on our path to Salvation. GOYA typically meets the 2nd or 3rd week- end of the month (mostly on Saturday night’s). Families if your son or daughter is entering 7th grade, please send your chil- dren’s names and contact information to the Church o ce so you can stay abreast of all the plans GOYA will have this coming year. e o cers and advisors will make your kids GOYA experience memorable. e calendar of events for 2022-2023 will be passed out at the rst GOYA gathering in the fall. Once again, GOYA will be asking for Parent Coor- dinators for the monthly events. Parents your support of these events helps us focus on the kids and activities that we have planned for them and not on the day of event logistics - thank you in advance for your participation. Nine years ago, my wife Stephanie said to me let’s do a Church ministry together. Stepha- nie was already teaching Sunday School to the 7th and 8th graders, and I was already on Parish Council, but we wanted to do some- thing as a married couple for our Church. e Youth Ministry of GOYA was the per- fect idea. Our son John was just nishing 7th grade and our daughter Marina was 5 years younger so we thought maybe we can make our mark on St. Spyridon’s GOYA. We saw there was an opening for GOYA Directors and asked Father Andrew and the Parish Council if we could ll this roll. Little did we know what a blessing this ministry would be to us and our family. As I end my nine-year run as GOYA Di- rector, I humbly thank Father Andrew and the Parish Council for entrusting me (and my wife Stephanie for the rst 7 years) with this wonderful ministry. Bonding with so many kids and parents and building lasting relationships with so many GOYA families has been such a blessing in my life. When Stephanie got sick in the fall of 2019, it was the GOYA families that stepped up with love, prayers and support for me and my family. I will be forever grateful to our GOYA family friends and our entire Church community for all you have done for me and my children these past 2 ½ years. May God continue to bless you all with good health and a long life. I would be remiss if I didn’t thank the many Church families that have supported St. Spyr- idon GOYA these past nine years with their love, prayers and treasures. ank you all from the bottom of my heart. Please contin- ue to support St. Spyridon’s GOYA and all the youth programs of our parish. Our Church kids are amazing and given a little enthusi- asm and encouragement from the Advisors their leadership skills will continue to shine. Lastly, I want to thank the nine GOYA Presi- dents that I/we worked with and their boards. I love you all very much and enjoyed work- ing with all of you during your terms. ank you Lizzy Balourdas, Sean Yeatts, Stefan Kleinhenz, Micha Balourdas, Michael Defelippi, William Gilpin, Dimitri Gilpin, George Dougenis and this year’s President Zoe Maude . It gives my heart great joy to see you all close to your Orthodox faith a er your GOYA years and in some cases for our rst few Presidents a er your college years. Keep the Church at the center of your life, She will never let you down. Working in His Service, Bill Navrides, GOYA Director St. Spyridon GOYA San Diego G . O . Y . A . NEWS GREEK LANGUAGE SCHOOL June is already behind us and with that goes another quite remarkable and eventful year at the Greek School! Speaking on behalf of the entire team of teachers and sta , we thank all of our students (children and adults) for the memories, inspiration, and learning we have shared together this year - for when we teach, we also learn. To the parents of our lit- tle students, we thank you for the privilege of contributing to your children’s education- al journey. Last but not least, we thank the entire community for the warmth, trust, and constant support! Sign Up for the New School Year! We are excited to re- connect with you in the Fall! If you cannot wait and want to ensure your enrollment in one of our classes, we invite you to reach out to us via email or sign up directly through the fol- lowing QR code. Once the schedule is nal- ized and registrations open, you will be the rst to nd out! Looking for Greek Teachers! In addition, we invite the members of our community to join us in our mission and consider joining our teaching sta . Do you speak Greek and are looking for an opportu- nity to enhance other people’s lives? We need you! We have currently openings for all age groups. Reach out to us at stspyridongreek- school@gmail.com and/or (619) 800-8355. July / «Ιούλιος» (Ιoúlios) July is named a er Julius Ceasar «Ιούλιο Καίσαρα», the creator of the Julian Calen- dar. In di erent regions of Greece, July has its own special name. In the agricultural community, July is known as «Αλωνάρης» as at this time the threshing of cereals takes place. In the mountains, it is also known as the Harvester / «Θεριστής» ( eristís) as due to the climatic conditions of the season the harvest takes place in July. In Rhodes, it is also called «Φουσκομηνά» (Fuskominá) or «Χασκομηνά» (Haskominá) because people begin to swell or crack the gs, that is, to rip- en and open. eocharis Papatrechas Greek Language School Director Congratulations Graduates! HIGH SCHOOL Katerina Sidell, Class of 2022, Graduated from Mission Bay High School. She will attend University of California, Davis and will major in Animal Sciences in the fall.