Chapter News - May 2026

Christos Anesti!

I hope you all enjoyed a lovely Pascha! Our Anthousa Chapter was extremely busy this past April as we started off the month by baking thousands of koulourakia and hundreds of loaves of tsourekia. Many thanks go out to our devoted volunteers, who lovingly baked for our Annual Pascha Bake Sale and Homebound Parishioner Baskets. Thank you to our wonderful St. Spyridon community for continuously supporting our Pascha Bake Sale, as your support enables our Anthousa Chapter to sustain our ministries and assist those in need.

On April 19, Lynn Jury, Alexandra Mouzas, Christine Tradas and I attended a lovely fundraising event for our Kids ‘n’ CancerCamp Agape Ministry. It was such a beautiful day, as Philoptochos members from across the Metropolis, led by His Eminence Metropolitan Gerasimos and Metropolis Philoptochos President Jeannie Ranglas, came together with the mission of helping children and families affected by Cancer. Thanks to donations from our membership and our community, the Anthousa Chapter was able to donate $6,000.00 to Kids ‘n’ Cancer Camp Agape, and the total amount raised by the San Francisco Metropolis was $450,000.00, including a $30,000 donation from Stater Brothers. This was my first time attending the event, and to see the Camp Agape families and hear their brave stories of survival just warmed my heart. These children are precious, and we are so fortunate that Camp Agape is there for them, so they can perhaps forget (for a short period of time), that they are a child fighting cancer. May God bless them.

On April 21 & 22, Philoptochos was honored to assist Father Andrew with his Metropolis Clergy Retreat at St. Spyridon. We provided meals for the attending clergy and assisted when necessary. To have Metropolitan Gerasimos visit, along with numerous Priests from our Metropolis was a lovely sight to behold.

SUNDAY FELLOWSHIP Please consider sponsoring a Sunday Fellowship Hour with your friends and family by providing simple refreshments (donuts or bagels, fruit and juice). You can honor family members or celebrate special occasions. Contact Olympia Kyriakidis at 619-507-6521 or karpenisiotisa@gmail.com

ICON ADORNMENT Philoptochos invites every family to commemorate a special Feast Day in honor of your special someone by offering a donation to cover the cost of decorating the icon with beautiful fresh flowers for veneration in the Narthex. The liturgical year presents many opportunities to honor your family members and an important day in the life of the Church (suggested donation is $85). Please contact Soula in the church office at 619.297.4165 to reserve your date now.

Once again, I am truly grateful for your generosity, as your generous donations allowed for our beautiful Epitaphios (Kouvouklion) to be adorned for your reverence on Great and Holy Friday.

As we look ahead, please mark your calendar for Saturday July 11th and put on your tennis shoes as we will take the Seven Bridges Walk through Balboa Park, Bankers Hill and Hillcrest...more to come later.

Please follow us on Facebook at ‘Philoptochos Anthousa Chapter’ , on Instagram at ‘anthousaphiloptochos’ or at www.anthousa.net, to stay in the know about the activities of the chapter.

As a reminder, please visit the Membership page on this website to join or renew your membership for this year. Please note that the National and Metropolis Philoptochos treasuries each receive $15 of every membership donation; any amount over $30 remains in our local chapter’s treasury. Please contact Maria Platis at mplatis@hotmail.com with any questions about membership.

In Christ’s Sisterhood,

Michelle Defelippi

Anthousa Chapter President