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7 THE SHEPHERD • DECEMBER 2021 • SAINT SPYRIDON GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH OF SAN DIEGO PHILOPTOCHOS NEWS e Anthousa Chapter ocially kicked o the Holiday Season by hosting our ANNUAL THANKSGIVING LUNCHEON on Sunday, November 14th, a tradition for over 40 Years and one of our favorite parish events. It was heartwarming to see friends and family gath- er again in the true sense of anksgiving. We have much to be thankful for and are blessed by our St. Spyridon community. Pro- ceeds from the luncheon enable our charita- ble outreach. It truly takes a village to make this lun- cheon possible! I want to thank the “heart of the house” those ladies who prepared and cooked all week to make this delicious lunch possible. And to the ladies who never say no – those who decorated, took your reser- vations, made our rae possible – our com- munity is blessed to have so many generous volunteers! Special thanks to James Pappas and Jim Gilpin who went above and beyond by staying late to serve as our clean-up crew! THANK YOU!! Our heartfelt thanks goes out to the un- derwriters of our anksgiving Luncheon: Nancy and Spiro Chaconas, Julie and Tasos Karagianides, Harriet Kounaves, Vicky and Gus Mellos, Christina and Gus Marantos, and Katherine Samouris. Our rae was also a huge success – thank you to our generous donors: Dr. & Mrs. Mi- chael Couris & e Mattel Company, Jenny Capetanakis, Gina Balourdas (My Greek Home), Marian Dougenis (Beautycount- er), Irene Veca, Stella Pappas, Lynn Jury, Harriet Kounaves, Dr. & Mrs. Greg Balour- das, Francesca Captain, Christine Tradas, Maria Stokes, Melanie Anastopulos, Kelly Samouris, So a Samouris, e Yeatts Fam- ily, Christina Marantos, Janet & John Bur- gess. HOLIDAY BAKE SALE Sunday, December 19th A Taste of Greek Christmas is our largest fundraiser of the year. We need volunteers to help with baking, packaging, and distri- bution! Baking will take place from Decem- ber 7th thru December 9th. Please contact Vicky Mellos at vasilico@aol.com to sign up. We will be packaging all baked goods on Saturday, December 18th , beginning at 10 am in the church hall. We need your many helping hands! Please contact An- thea Billings to sign up: (760)419-8950 or antheabillings@yahoo.com ANGELS CHRISTMAS PARTY Monday, December 20th We will host our Kids ‘n’ Cancer children and their families in the Church Hall for our annual Angels Christmas party. Many of you have been generous over the years in volun- teering your time to assist the night of this event and with gi -giving. Please reach out to Marian Dougenis (619)520-3660 mkdou- genis@prodigy.net if you would like to par- ticipate in any way – it is truly a gratifying experience. Our Kids ‘n’ Cancer families are incredibly appreciative of this night because it provides their children with the true magic of Christmas. SUNDAY FELLOWSHIP is cherished tradition of gathering to vis- it with church family is only possible with the support of our St. Spyridon community. Please consider sponsoring a Sunday Fellow- ship Hour with friends and family by provid- ing simple refreshments - donuts or bagels, fruit and juice. Visit Signup Genius https:// bit.ly/3CXKbRw or contact me to reserve a Fellowship Sunday for your family. I invite you to join us as we continue to put faith into action through the many gratifying opportunities to serve through our Philopto- chos ministry. Yours in Christ, Sofia Samouris, Anthousa Chapter President 619.518.4537 ssamouris22@gmail.com A Charmed H eart In Memory of our son George M. Platis STEWARDSHIP COMMITTEE PRAXIS OF FAITH I write this message to remind you that as we grow in our faith as Orthodox Christians, and worship, praise and thank God each Sunday regardless of our circumstances, we grow in spiritual strength and thus our ability to love one another. is is the true meaning of being a “good neighbor”: we all nd unique and ap- propriate ways to express it not only with one another but also our next-door neighbor and our work colleagues and our families. is is a practical and rewarding way to live one’s life! us, we are called to live as Orthodox Chris- tians as we have been taught and continue to be taught as we attend church and are atten- tive. We do this tangibly through the giving our “Time, Talent and Treasure”. In other words, we are asked to o er our “presence” and our “presents” to our beloved church, our neighbors, and our beloved fam- ilies. With this money to support forty-three ministries within the church – big and small – all made available as a banquet of ministries which meet you at your moment of need – weddings, funerals, memorials, anksgiving luncheons, youth groups, senior groups, and all those ministries in between. As we have grown as a community of wor- shippers, we are faced with a broad spectrum of personal and social challenges to both heal and grow in our faith and our praxis of faith. us, as we open our hearts and our doors to those in need, we ourselves may grow in faith. is is a challenge and a blessing. As we enter the month of December, we re- spectfully ask you to please take a moment and to help your community nish strong with our 2021 stewardship e orts as we look toward 2022. Please take a moment to make sure you are on track to ful ll your steward- ship pledged amount for 2021. en, if you have not already done so please complete your 2022 pledge card and mail it to the oce today; and please do so in joy and in sacri ce: that is where the opportunity for spiritual growth can be found. e Stewardship Committee of Saint Spyridon GOC John Kalas Fr. Andrew Scordalakis Stewardship Parish Priest Chair Shop for the Holidays at acharmedheart.com to give a gift from your heart. 100% of the net proceeds go to Rady Children’s Hospital Heart Institute.