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8 THE SHEPHERD • DECEMBER 2024 • SAINT SPYRIDON GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH OF SAN DIEGO The Anthousa Chapter of Philoptochos officially kicked off the Holiday Season by hosting our ANNUAL THANKS- GIVING LUNCHEON on Sunday, No- vember 10th, a tradition for over 60 years and one of our favorite parish events. The proceeds from our luncheon enable our Chapter to support our community through charitable outreach most espe- cially our very own Kids 'N' Cancer Min- istry. I would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to Tasos & Julie Kargianides . Our Thanksgiving Luncheon was completely underwritten by their generous gift and loving spirit. Taso & Julie, your contin- ued support of Philoptochos and our lo- cal efforts is beyond appreciated. I want to thank the “heart of the house” under the leadership of Vicky Mellos. Her dream team was busy cooking for a week to make our delicious lunch pos- sible. Thank you to Niki Dougenis, Ju- lie Karagianides, Christina Marantos, Kelly Samouris, Stella Pappas, Dina Mellos, Angel Gilpin, and Lucy Simitz- es and all the ladies who worked so hard to prepare the delicious lunch we all en- joyed. A special thank you to Gus Mellos, Gus Demos, Andreas Capetanakis, Michael Platis, Demetri Pappas, and Christo- foros Savvides – these men stepped in, did all the heavy lifting to make our jobs easier – we are forever grateful. And Melanie Anastopulos, Maria Stokes, Michelle Defelippi, and Mari- lyn Yeatts , Thank you – these ladies and their team decorated, took your reserva- tions and made our raffle possible – our community is blessed to have so many generous volunteers! We also celebrated Veterans Day by rec- ognizing our own St. Spyridon military veterans of the United States Armed Forces: Stephan Barrington, Alex Cremidan, Michael Couris, Michael Platis, George Stamatopoulos, Niko Stokes, Dr. George Tsopels, Charles Theodore. We thank each of you from the bottom of our hearts for your devo- tion, sacrifice and service to the greatest country on earth, our beloved United States of America. San Diego County is home to more than 100,000 active-duty service members and 240,000 veterans, making it one of the largest concentra- tions of military personnel in the coun- try. It is my pleasure to announce that our Anthousa Chapter has recently es- tablished a Military Ministry under the direction of Jennifer Simpson. Our ministry will align with the goals and initiatives of our Metropolis and Na- tional Philoptochos. It is our goal to sup- port our brave service men and women have made great sacrifices to serve our country and to protect all of us. OPERATION CLASSROOM is a Na- tional Philoptochos ministry that is supported on a local level by our chap- ter. Through this ministry we assist and offer support to teachers and students in underserved or underfunded schools and provide resources that would not have been available through the local school district. We are currently working with Dewey Elementary School (K-4th Grade) in Point Loma. Many thanks to Paulette Gallanis, Angel Gilpin, Connie Pappas and Linda Farrell for serving lunch to students at Dewey Elementary School as part of our Operation Class- room Ministry on November 5th. SALVATION ARMY KROC CENTER ANGEL GIVING TREE: Philoptochos will be collecting toys for children from 0 to 12 years old whose families are strug- gling financially this Christmas season. Gift tags will be on the Christmas tree in our hall with the age of a child and gift suggestions. Parishioners will be able to select a tag off the tree, shop, and bring your unwrapped gift back to our hall by Sunday, December 15th and put it in the marked bin. Please reach out to Ma- ria Platis at mplatis@hotmail.com with questions. ANGELS CHRISTMAS PARTY, De- cember 16th: We will host our Kids ‘N’ Cancer children and their families in the Church Hall for our annual An- gels Christmas party. Many of you have been generous over the years in volun- teering time the night of this event and with gift giving. Please reach out to Mar- ian Dougenis mkdougenis@prodigy.net if you would like to volunteer or donate – this event it is truly a gratifying expe- rience. Our Kids ‘N’ Cancer families are incredibly appreciative of what has be- come an annual tradition that provides their children an evening filled with the true magic and joy of Christmas. AGAPE MEALS are offered to our com- munity members during difficult times. If you know of a family in need or are interested in volunteering to prepare a home-cooked meal, please reach out to Marian Dougenis 619.520.3660 or mkdougenis@prodigy.net Won’t you join us as we continue to put faith into action through the many grat- ifying opportunities to serve our Philop- tochos ministry. Yours in Christ, Sofia Samouris Anthousa Chapter President 619.518.4537 | ssamouris22@gmail.com PHILOPTOCHOS NEWS