Philoptochos Chapter #5030
Holy Trinity, Charleston SC
 

The Philoptochos from Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church in Charleston, SC found creative ways to continue annual traditions despite restrictions imposed by the pandemic:

No carb/No calorie Vasilopita

This year’s Vasilopita luncheon was replaced with a parish mailing including a letter describing St. Basil Academy, a request for donations, and the “lucky” gold coin. A total of $3,025 was collected to benefit St. Basil Academy.

Valentines on Wheels

The annual Valentine’s Day Luncheon for the senior citizens of our parish was cancelled so Philoptochos members delivered meals to those seniors who were unable to pick up their meal at church. Each Valentine’s bag contained a to-go container of pasta and sauce, garlic bread, homemade bon bons, and kourambiedes all made with love by our members and a craft made by our Sunday School students.




Philoptochos Chapter #
St. Elpis Chapter
St. Demetrios, Ft. Lauderdale, FL

Our St. Elpis chapter at St. Demetrios in Ft. Lauderdale, usually looks forward to welcoming the community to our annual festival.  We help sell pastry, offer church tours, give cooking lessons and point people to our wonderful young ethnic dancers.  This year we can't do any of that, so we decided to reach out to the community by delivering 100 Greek lunches to nearby Holy Cross Hospital.  A local restaurant, Greek Islands Taverna, worked with us and produced a lovely lunch of spanakopita, salad and baklava.  
It was fun for us, and a welcome change for the healthcare workers.  



 


Philoptochos Chapter #5005
St. John the Divine
Jacksonville, Florida


St. John the Divine in Jacksonville, Fla. Sponsored a luncheon for the respiratory and physical therapist at Baptist Hospital. We fed about 50 men and women that work so hard everyday to help the Covid patients and all the other patients at Baptist Hospital. The food was prepared by one of our parishioners that owns a great Greek restaurant. 
    

Betty Carantza and Roxanne Attanasio presented 270 pairs of shoes to the Jacksonville City Rescue Mission. This was an outreach project for the whole church sponsored by Philoptochos. Roxanne’s neighborhood heard about it and donated almost 100 pairs of the 270.



Philoptochos Chapter #5030
Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church
Charleston, SC

Our chapter, St. Irene Ladies of Philoptochos of Holy Trinity Charleston, South Carolina made a donation in October and November of $150 to the Low Country Food Bank. Each donation feeds 825 members of the Low Country community. Attached you will see a picture of our blessing box. The Blessing Box is a small food pantry that our members and members of the parish and neighborhood stock with non perishable food items, basic toiletries, baby supplies and anything that might be considered a blessing to someone who finds themselves in need. Each week the box feeds about 40 to 50 people. The Blessing Box has been in operation since the middle of October.

Philoptochos Chapter #5060
Saint Mark Greek Orthodox Church
Boca Raton, Florida 

Support of Schools/Backpack Buddies:
In regards to schools, for the 2019-2020 school year, the Ladies of Saint Mark Philoptochos Society, the Sunday Church School and GOYA partnered once again with families at Florence Fuller Child Development Centers on an outreach program to provide back to school backpacks and supplies for needy students. We more than met our goal this year is to sponsor two kindergarten classes with over 50 brand new back to school backpacks, filled with age appropriate supplies.   In addition, Philoptochos donated $500 in gift cards to put a $10 Publix gift card in each backpack. 
 
  This is the second year Philoptochos has sponsored this event.  For the 2018-2019 school year we sponsored with 26 children.
 
Florence Fuller Child Development Centers located in Boca operates two campuses: one in East Boca and one in West Boca. They serve over 700 students each year. Their objective is to improve a student’s academic performance to increase the rate of school promotions to the next grade level. Florence Fuller Child Development Center is dedicated to helping economically disadvantaged children realize their full potential both socially and academically.  They provide after school care, tutoring, enrichment and summer camps to some of Boca's most needy children.
 
Shown here are Michelle Voicu, Kat Spiliopoulos (Project Lead from Saint Mark), Ally Vagelos and Olga Bearhope (Florence Fuller).
 
POLI Schools:
One of our ladies of Philoptochos will be traveling to Constantinople in two weeks for the Archon Pilgrimage.  At that time, she will be taking a donation from us to His All Holiness for the benefit of the schools (elementary through high school) that are continuing to function both in Constantinople as well as in Imvros. The Imvros school opened with four elementary students about five years ago and now has both an elementary and middle school which are flourishing.  All of the schools are functioning but need assistance.  It's an opportunity for us to show our love for the children of the Phanar.
  
Meals Prepared and Delivered:
With regard to meal preparation, the Ladies of Philoptochos with volunteers from the entire Saint Mark family banded together in an effort to provide lifesaving nutrition to thousands of local malnourished children. Over one hundred volunteers stayed after Liturgy to help pack 20,000 meals in our Fellowship Hall. More than 100 parishioners assembling 20,000 meals for the hungry. The event was a remarkable opportunity for community service, and gave our parish a tangible way to make a significant difference here in South Florida. The event was made possible thanks to our partner “Feeding Children Everywhere,” who provided the materials, training, and then organized the distribution of the meals through Boca Helping Hands.
 
Also every third Thursday of the month, the Ladies of Philoptochos gather to support the Caring Kitchen a local soup kitchen located in Del Ray, Florida. 
Current 2019 total: 1,167

 
Pic of Fr. Alex K. and our Ladies of Philoptochos prepping the food for Caring Kitchen.

Homeless Support:
In addition, for Make A Difference Day the Ladies Philoptochos Society of Saint Mark supports HOPE South Florida which is a faith-based organization that offers a holistic response to homelessness with a focus on rapid re-housing. The Sunday Church School Students and the Ladies of the Saint Mark Ladies Philoptochos Society have partnered over the past several years to provide Toiletry bags for the Hope South Florida Mobile Shower Unit. The Mobile Shower Unit provides showers and shared meals at various locations in Pompano Beach and Fort Lauderdale three to four times per week.  To date, we have provided over 850 toiletry bags to Hope South Florida with 200 being prepared this past weekend.  The Ladies Philoptochos Society supports this project by purchasing the toiletries that are not normally donated in large quantities:  Deodorant, combs, shaving cream, razors, lotion and are on hand to help prepare the bags.  Pictured:  the Kindergarten class of Saint Mark Sunday Church School and the children of Saint Mark. 


Saint Barbara Chapter #5002
Saint Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church
Daytona Beach, Florida 

Saint Barbara’s Philoptochos of Saint Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church in Daytona beach Florida has been helping schools around the county for the last few years. We have donated backpacks filled with school supplies in the beginning of the school year, (100 children received backpacks)also we provide meals for the holiday breaks Thanksgiving Christmas, and Easter (approximately 75-100 children’s families fed)

We are also helping again with the angel tree, in the past we have provided 2 local high schools with approximately 25 to 40 gifts and stockings for children and siblings who otherwise would not get anything.

We also get a big donation from the Jaguars NFL team yearly which has helped to feed 25 to 50 families during the Christmas holiday. We choose a school or two in most need. 

Saint Philothea Chapter # 5024
Dormition of the Theotokos Greek Orthodox Church
Greensboro, North Carolina

Operation Classroom Initiative

Chapter Projects
The fall and winter months are some of the busiest times in our Philoptochos Chapter! The Saint Philothea Chapter in Greensboro, North Carolina supports our National Philoptochos "Feeding the Hungry" project throughout the year with donations received in our Year Round Food Bank, which began over 12 years ago to help families facing financial difficulties. In addition, our support of the newly established "Operation Classroom" is reflected in our past 10 years partnering with the Doris Henderson Newcomers School, a unique school in the Guilford County School system, that services refugee children in grades 3 through 12 and their families. New families arrive throughout the school year with few articles of clothing and limited resources. The children are allowed to stay at the school for one year learning the language and reaching their appropiate grade level for entry into their neighborhood school. Our Philoptochos Chapter has provided the Newcomers School with school supplies, food, clothing, furniture, Christmas gifts, and summer activity boxes for these very needy children.

On October 29, 2018 the Backpack Beginnings program was recipient of 247 pounds of donated non-perishable food (which is the equivalent of 206 meals) collected in our parish during September and October. These generous donations from Philoptochos members and parishioners helped middle and high schools in Guilford County restock their Food Pantries and provide food to their neediest students.

On Sunday, October 21st our Philoptochos Chapter sponsored a Seasonal Flu Shot Clinic coordinated and administered by our own Dr. Emily Mihelich, pharmacist. Twenty four parishioners took advantage of this wonderful and convenient opportunity to receive the H1N1 and seasonal flu immunizations on this day.
 

Care Kits for the Homeless were assembled at our October Philoptochos Meeting and made available to all parishioners to distribute to individuals we see in and around town who may be homeless and/or in need of food. This was our Third Annual Care Kits project and provides a gallon ziploc bag filled with water bottles, packs of crackers, beef jerky, a warm hat, gloves, scarf, socks, band-aides, and hand sanitizer, all donated by Philoptochos members and parishioners and collected for over a month prior to the assembly. This year over 125 care kits were assembled.

On November 11th we remembered the military veterans in our community. Cards thanking them for their service were sent and a flag, with stars with the names and military branch for our living veterans and angels with names and military branch representing our veteran parishioners who have passed, was displayed in the Fellowship Hall.



On Saturday, November 17^th  Philoptochos members volunteered for the Salvation Army as Holiday Bell Ringers. For the past fifteen years, each November, our chapter schedules a day to volunteer our time and service in support of this important community outreach project.









During December several of our Philoptochos members and friends of Philoptochos visited our sick and homebound parishioners, reaching out to our brothers and sisters who have not been able to attend church. Poinsettias and pastries were also given to add holiday cheer.
 
As an extension of our Children in Need projects, during December our Philoptochos Chapter adopted 2 of the newest and neediest families at the  Doris Henderson Newcomers School, and provided needed clothing, shoes, socks, shirts and tops, coats, and pajamas for all family members. Adults received beds, mattresses, bedding, cooking utensils, and household items, in addition to fresh meats, fruits, vegetables, and non perishable food items to assist them in meeting their everyday needs. Children were given items on their wish list such as their first doll, ball, art supplies, or game.  Not only were we able to make the children’s wishes come true, but we provided enough food to each family to have many nutritional meals throughout the holiday and into the new year. Joining the school's social worker and interptreter a group of 10 including Philoptochos members, spouses, supporters of Philoptochos, and Father Sarantis, and Presvytera Norma deliverd the many gifts on December 18^th to a newly arrived family from Guatemala and another family from the Congo. The excitement in the eyes of the children and the joy and appreciation from the families speaks volumes for the good deeds of our chapter and church family in their support of this most worthy project.

Neither ice nor power outages discouraged  our chapter from having the blessing of Vasilopitas and our Vasilopita Auction in late January. Although we were postponed, our Auction was a huge success!
 
You could see RED everywhere on Sunday, February 3, 2019 in support of the Go Red for Women Movement. Members and parishioners, were encouraged to wear red and red ribbon and red dress pins were available for distribution, in addition to literature on heart health and cardiovascular disease for women. We were so pleased to see many parishioners wearing red in support of the American Heart Association and women's heart health awareness.
 
We held our Third Annual One Warm Coat Drive throughout the month of January. Fifty five warm coats of various sizes and a number of sweaters, scarves, and gloves were donated and delivered to the very grateful Greensboro Urban Ministry on February 5.
 
Our year round Food Bank is currently collecting each Sunday non perishable food items. Donations of canned vegetables and fruits, soups, oatmeal, cereal, powdered milk, beans, rice, canned tuna or chicken, and pastas collected in January and February will be delivered to The Blessed Table, a faith based area food pantry, staffed by various church volunteers, and provides food to struggling families in the Greensboro area. Our Chapter  donates food items every 2 months to a Guilford County Food Program serving the greater Greensboro community to help with food insecurity in our community.