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7 THE SHEPHERD • DECEMBER 2025 • SAINT SPYRIDON GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH OF SAN DIEGO The Anthousa Chapter of Philoptochos of- ficially kicked off the Holiday Season by hosting our Annual Thanksgiving Luncheon on Sunday, November 9th, a tradition for over 46 years and one of our favorite parish events. The proceeds from our luncheon en- able our Chapter to support our community through charitable outreach, especially our very own Kids ‘n’ Cancer Ministry and our Holy Cross/Hellenic College Seminarians. Our warmest and heartfelt thanks to the un- derwriter of our Thanksgiving Luncheon, Ju- lie Karagianides and her recently departed husband Tasos . We also celebrated Veterans Day with a short program by Alexandra Mouzas and Frances- ca Captain, recognizing our own St. Spyridon military veterans of the United States Armed Forces: Don “Niko” Stokes, George Stam- atopoulos, Michael Platis, William Moody, Michael Couris, Pamela Hill, David Rivers, Stephan Barrington, Michael Bertram, Aly Rivers, Alexander Cremidan and Sidney Squires. We thank each of you from the bot- tom of our hearts for your devotion, sacrifice and service to the greatest country on earth, our beloved United States of America. I want to thank the “heart of the house” led by Vicky Mellos and her dream team of Jen- ny Capetanakis, Christina Marantos, Kelly Samouris, Niki Dougenis, Dina Mellos, An- gel Gilpin, Lucy Simitzes , and all the ladies who cooked to make our delicious lunch possible. A special thank you to Michael Pla- tis, Andreas Capetanakis, Gus Mellos, and Gus Demos – these men stepped in, did all the heavy lifting and made our job easier – to them we are forever grateful. Warm thanks to Gina Balourdas, Sasha Savvides, Lynn Jury, Maria Platis, Sofia Samouris, and Ma- ria Stokes , the ladies who decorated, took your reservations, and made our raffle pos- sible. Our community is blessed to have so many generous volunteers. Our opportunity drawing broke all records thanks to our generous donors. Your Philop- tochos Board donated all the beautiful items that everyone had an opportunity to win at the luncheon; no Philoptochos funds were used, which is the usual case. SALVATION ARMY KROC CENTER AN- GEL GIVING TREE: Once again Philop- tochos will be participating in the Salvation Army Kroc Center’s Angel Giving Tree. You are all invited to help a child in need by taking a gift tag off our Christmas tree in the hall, shop, and bring your unwrapped toy back to the hall by Sunday December 14th and place it in the marked bin; from there it will be giv- en to the Kroc Center which will distribute your toy to the deserving child. Feel free to reach out to Maria Platis with questions. ANGELS CHRISTMAS PARTY December 16th: Our chapter will once again be hosting our Kids ‘n’ Cancer children and their fami- lies in the church hall for our annual Angels Christmas Party. Many of you have been generous over the years in volunteering time the night of the event and with gift giving. Please reach out to Marian Dougenis at mk- dougenis@prodigy.net if you would like to volunteer or donate. On November 2nd Philoptochos Sunday, your Anthousa Chapter participated in the Susan G. Komen “More Than Pink Walk” be- fore attending Divine Liturgy. At the conclu- sion of the Divine Liturgy, a tray was passed in support of our beloved Ecumenical Patri- archate Fund, which supports the National Ministries of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Thanks to your generous donations, $578.00 was collected! Thank you so much to our wonderful community for supporting our Philoptochos ministries; it is lovingly appre- ciated. Keep a watchful eye out for our mem- bership drive which begins in January 2026, We Are Philoptochos, and you too could be a Philoptochos member! In Christ’s Sisterhood, Michelle Defelippi Anthousa Chapter President PHILOPTOCHOS NEWS