The AHEPAN - Fall 2015 - 8

AHEPA FAMILY NEWS

AHEPA Participates at White House Discussion on Greece
AHEPA applauds the Obama Administration's outreach to the
American Hellenic community with a discussion the administration held on Greece, August 6, 2015, at the Eisenhower
Executive Office Building, announced Supreme President
John W. Galanis.
"AHEPA sincerely appreciates the high level of engagement
by United States government officials to address the crisis in
Greece and its outreach to Capitol Hill and the community
on the crisis," Galanis said. "We found the discussion to be
straightforward, insightful, and substantive, and the community came together to provide its thoughts and ideas on how
to help Greece. AHEPA looks
forward to continued discussions
and stands ready to assist with
the implementation of any sustainable, concrete opportunities
or solutions for Greece and its
people that may materialize."
According to Galanis, AHEPA
raised possible policy suggestions to assist with the tourism
sector and humanitarian efforts.
Executive Director Mossaidis In addition, AHEPA conveyed it
at the Treasury Department
was encouraged to learn about
certain issue areas the administration is looking to address, in
particular, migration and technical assistance to Greece.

Meeting with Treasury Department
Also, Executive Director Basil Mossaidis met with Lea Bouzis,
director, International Affairs Office of Europe & Eurasia, U.S.
Department of the Treasury, to convey in person the community's appreciation for the efforts of Treasury Secretary

Jacob Lew on Greece's debt crisis. The August 5 meeting was
a follow-up to a July 17, 2015 letter Supreme President John
Galanis sent to Secretary Lew on the situation in Greece.
"We thank Director Bouzis for the generous amount of time
she afforded us to talk about the situation in Greece," Mossaidis
said. "It was an informative meeting, and we look forward to
maintaining dialogue with Treasury on Greece's debt crisis.

Background
AHEPA embarked on a campaign to provide humanitarian
assistance to Greece since 2012. As part of that campaign:
AHEPA has collaborated with International Orthodox
Christian Charities (IOCC) to secure nine shipping containers
of medical supplies which have been delivered all throughout
Greece, totaling more than $6 million in medical supply aid.
Each shipping container costs between $15,000 and $20,000
to secure.
A tenth medical supply container is planned to be secured
and sent in September.
In March 2013, AHEPA Canada donated a rigid bronchoscope machine valued at 10,000 euros (or approximately
$12,000 Canadian) to Evangelismos Hospital. The rigid bronchoscope is used to prevent lung bleeding while positioning
stents in tumors.
More than $500,000 was donated to Apostoli Mission in
Athens to help feed the needy people of Greece.
Moreover, AHEPA's 31 chapters on the ground in Greece
are helping their local communities through their own charitable and philanthropic initiatives and programs.
To date, the AHEPA family has raised nearly $700,000 for
humanitarian aid for the people of Greece to secure public
health assistance or to help feed those in need.

AHEPA's Founding Reported by
Atlanta's NPR Radio
The 93rd anniversary of AHEPA's founding was reported by 90.1
WABE NPR Radio, Atlanta, Ga. The station interviewed Georgia State
University Associate Professor of History Dr. Clifford Kuhn, who provided insight on the societal conditions that led to AHEPA's founding
in the Deep South. The interview can be found at http://wabe.org/
Mother Lodge members and chapter delegates get their photo
post/day-history-american-hellenic-educational-progressive-associa- taken at the first AHEPA Supreme Convention, which was held
in Atlanta October 14-17, 1923.
tion-founded or visit http://wabe.org/ and keyword search "AHEPA."
8

THE AHEPAN · Fall 2015

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http://wabe.org/post/say-history-american-hellenic-educational-progressive-association-founded http://wabe.org/post/say-history-american-hellenic-educational-progressive-association-founded http://wabe.org/post/say-history-american-hellenic-educational-progressive-association-founded http://wabe.org/

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