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| Hellenic News of America | |
| 26 West Chester Pike Havertown, PA 19083 | |
| tel: 610-446-1463 fax: 610-446-3189 | |
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By LEFTERIS PISSALIDIS NEW YORK- Under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture a very special night for the Hellenic-American based businesses was held on Sunday 17th of November at the Concordville Inn in Philadelphia area, organized by the founder, publisher and owner of the monthly "Hellenic News of America", Paul Kotrotsios and the Committee and his Staff. Always having the Hellenic-American businessman and businesswoman in mind as the best way to promote and expand the trade markets between Greece and USA, the Hellenic-American newspaper "Hellenic News of America" celebrated it's 15th anniversary amongst good friends and supporters, well known personalities from every aspect of public life and of course strong supporters of the "great cause that Paul Kotrotsios started 15 years ago" as one of the guests pointed out. Following the dinner, Paul Kotrotsios, president and founder of "Hellenic News of America" and the annual international trade fair "HERMES EXPO" along with members of the committee presented the prestigious "Hermes Award" to Manny Stamatakis, Chairman of the Delaware River Port Authority, one of Delaware Valley's most notable Greek Americans. Following the award presentation, the annual distinguished "Hellenic News of America Award" presented to five prominent Greek Americans who have distinguished themselves in their fields and the community. To Dr. George Ahtaridis, Physician and Past President of the Federation of Hellenic American Societies and the Pan-Macedonian Association, the Hon. Georgia Athanasopoulos, Consul General of Panama, Nicholas Gage, Renowned Author & Film Director and to the Reverend John Limberakis, Pastor Emeritus. Special guest at the gala event was Irene Aindili, 2000 Gold Medalist, which performed various gymnastic acts, accompanied by the well known Hellenic American Ballet of Helen Skarla. The event opened the Vice Chairman of the gala night, Chris Christakis, followed by the singing of the national anthems of Greece and USA by Cheri Christakis. The Rev. James Pavlow gave the invocation and followed the introduction of the MC of the event, the well known journalist Ike Pappas. After the introduction, Paul Kotrotsios greeted all the recipients of the awards as the guests of the event, followed by Dr. Sotiris Vahaviolos and Assad Khoury. The keynote speaker of the night was the Honorable Rep. Chris Spyrou, Chairman of the Hellenic American Union, on the topic, "The Olympic Games of 2004 and the Greek American Community". "It is a privilege for me to be here with you this evening to celebrate the 15th Anniversary of the Hellenic News of America which is headed by my long time friend Pavlo Kotrotsios, and to participate in honoring prominent Greek Americans who have distinguished themselves in their profession and in their communities", said Spyrou in his introduction. "I would like to begin by congratulating Pavlo for his accomplishments and for hanging in there all these years, sometimes, under difficult conditions. He is a true levendis, and I am sure, I join each of you in wishing Pavlo continued success. I accepted to speak tonight on the topic, "The Olympic Games of 2004 and the Greek American Community" which for us Greek Americans, is an enormous topic, an enormous opportunity and an enormous challenge. As a Hellene who has spent 47 years as a Greek American living in the city of Manchester, New Hampshire, I feel obligated to discuss both the opportunities and the challenges, for they apply to me as well. I believe that as Greek Americans we have an opportunity in 2004 to make a statement. A statement of purpose, a statement of values, a statement of pride and a statement of knowledge", said Chris Spyrou. And continued on the importance of the Olympic Games for the Greek people: "Following the revolution of 1821, the first time that Greece and Greeks had the opportunity to take center stage in the day-to day consciousness of the average American citizen was in 1896 when the first Olympic games of modern times took place. It was certainly a newsworthy event. After all, they were the first such games in over a millennium. The last Olympiad before that was held in 393 AD. The Olympic Games of 1896 were an opportunity for world-leaders and opinion-makers to discuss the Greek spirit of the Olympic Games and the ideals of noble competition, sportsmanship and peace as a counter weight to the growing Prussian militarism of the time. The next time that Greece captured the interest of the American public, journalists, radio commentators, political cartoonists and writers was in 1940, when Greece alone, amongst her European allies managed to resist, and to win battles while delaying the advancement of the fascists into the Balkans. Those achievements added the image of the tenacious, brave Greek freedom fighter to that of the athlete schooled in the ancient Olympic values of fair competition, decency and sportsmanship. The image that Americans had of Greeks as an "ethnos" fiercely devoted to the ideal of freedom was reinforced when Greece captured the imagination of the American people with the publication of Nicholas Gage's book Eleni. The book and the movie detailed the struggle of ordinary Greek women and men during the Greek civil war to resist the advance of communism in their land. On a different plain, two other films dealing with Hellenes have also had an impact on the image that Americans have about us; Zorba the Greek, exemplified our love of life and purpose of living. More recently the film My Big Fat Greek Wedding inspired the American imagination about Hellenic family values, joy and ethnic pride. Each of them: Eleni, Zorba the Greek and My Big Fat Greek Wedding have, in their own way, offered portraits of different people whose convictions inspired admiration among others. We now come full circle with the 2004 Athens Olympic Games".
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE COMMUNITY "The 'community' as a whole, can do this", said Chris Spyrou. "But, we can do this only if we manage to overcome the petty rivalries and competitiveness amongst us. We can do this if we put aside the futile and self-perpetuating bickering over which organization is better suited to represent the interests of the "community". We can do this only if we embrace the Games whole-heartedly, and support them in practical and meaningful ways. What kind of practical and meaningful support am I talking about? First and foremost, Hellenes in the United States must promote the Games ourselves by talking about the ideals, the history and the value of the Games. We must talk with our co-workers, our neighbors, our friends, our teammates and with our colleagues. We must talk about the Games with our children, with our relatives, in our schools, our churches and throughout our communities. Those of us who are writers should write about the Games, those of us who are teachers should teach about them, and those of us who are speakers, should speak about them. The idea is to raise awareness of the significance as well as the excitement of the games. We should also encourage and urge as many fellow Americans as possible to attend the events in Greece in 2004. Another initiative for the Hellenes of America is to organize travel to the games in 2004. It is important that we not only promote Athens and other cities where the events will be held, but also the cities and villages where we, our parents, or grandparents were born and raised. It is practical and it is meaningful.
2004 OLYMPICS AMBASSADOR "My unsolicited advice for the Athens 2004 Olympic committee leadership" continued Spryrou, "with whom I have had no direct contact to date, is that they now appoint a Greek American Athens Olympics 2004 Ambassador. They should assign a Greek American Good Will Ambassador who is respected and recognized by the "community". Someone who is articulate and knowledgeable about the Olympic spirit, the Olympic values and the Hellenic "ethos". This person can travel for the next year and a half from Maine to California to galvanize the "community" into coordinated action in order to participate in unison in the Games of 2004. The 2004 Olympic Games need a leader in this country and they need that leader now. As the "community" promotes the Games, we will need to speak with conviction and enthusiasm. There is no need for dwelling on construction delays or security concerns. Greece is and will continue to be a safe country, and the Games will be secure. The infrastructure for the Games will be ready as we Hellenes are noted for the immense bursts of energy and activity to deliver in the final stretch. As some of you may know, the Kallimarmaron Stadium in Athens was completed just before the first Olympic Games for which it was designed. We should also promote the significance of the Hellenic spirit to the Games and take great pride in the fact that the Games are finally returning to the country where they first began. The Olympics emerged from Hellas and embody values that are an important part of the cultural legacy of Greece. Although that legacy may have faded a bit in modern times, the Athens Games are the ideal opportunity for the world to be reminded of those values; the values of camaraderie, honor and noble competition. Participating in the Games was honor enough for the athletes in Ancient Greece. Each wanted to win, of course, but the desire to win never overshadowed the commitment to fair play and good sportsmanship", mentioned Spyrou. Paul Kotrotsios worked meticulously and managed to sustain, cultivate, grow and extend beyond its base in Philadelphia a comprehensive and informative newspaper which covers not only Greek and Greek American related news and commentary, but also all issues affecting the bilateral political and economic relations between United States with Greece and Cyprus. "Hellenic News of America" covers every month the most important Greek American news in two languages, English and Greek.
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A TREMENDOUS OPPORTUNITY "These Games", said Spyrou, "offer the Greek American community a tremendous opportunity to learn about Olympic history, and to reconnect themselves with the Olympic spirit and the Olympic purpose with Hellenism. My feeling, however, is that the vast majority of Greek Americans are somewhat ambivalent towards the 2004 Olympic Games, and for some reason they do not feel they need to be vocal in their support of them. Those who have expressed interest seem to be limited to questioning the safety of the Games and the ability of the organizers to have the venues ready on time. The "Omogeneia", however, must support the Games in a visible, practical and effective way. We must work to promote the spirit of the Olympics and the values they embody; not just because the Games themselves are worthy of such dedication and support, but because they offer a unique opportunity for the Greek community in the United States - and I use the word "community" not "communities" deliberately -to demonstrate that Greek-Americans are an ethnic group, which, like Jewish-Americans, Chinese-Americans, Polish-Americans and so many others, has contributed to the growth and rich, diverse culture of this nation", mentioned Spyrou. 
Finally, it is important that we encourage and organize Greek American volunteers for the success of the Games. These initiatives, however, will have great impact only if they are implemented in an organized and systematic way. They cannot be the mere sum of individual efforts, or competing organizations. The more unified the initiative, the greater the impact; as in a chorus, the effort of thousands of singers is best amplified when in unison. Our greatest strength lies in our numbers and in the force of our vision. Our voices will best be heard when they are united. What we need is a leader who will assemble, coordinate, and organize a working committee. This committee will represent and promote the initiatives of hundreds of organizations and thousands of individual Hellenes throughout the United States", pointed Chris Spyrou. 
Being a bilingual newspaper it managed to reach every generation of Greek-Americans while becoming a national leader in supporting, developing and expanding a two way communication, as for networking among the Greek-American communities in the USA. Paul Kotrotsios' main goal was to establish an independent newspaper which will service the community of Greater Philadelphia and other north eastern states which not only he succeeded but managed to expand in the years to come.