A Message from the President – May 2017
Dear friends,
May has arrived, reminding us that summer vacation is around the corner. Nevertheless, there are projects on track that must be carried out. The Holy Church of Koimisis tis Theotokou interior is scheduled to be completed in mid June. The administration of the HCGM has been authorised by the General Assembly to proceed with all that is necessary, in order to complete St. George Cathedral’s pedestrian bridge as well as the Community Centre’s roof, which is in need of repair. The presentation of these two projects has been posted on our website, so our members are able to have access to all important information.
On April 30, the Hellenic Community Centre Adrian-Maris, was filled to capacity in support of the Magic Mission’s annual luncheon event. So far the M.A.G.I.C. Mission has donated more than $731,852 in non perishable goods and clothing, school supplies etc. to forty five different children’s organisations and charities in Greece, something that would have been impossible without the support of the community at large.
Once again this year, the “Children First. We Can” event, takes place on May 11th, 2017 at the Palace Reception Hall. This event benefits two great organisations: the Giant Steps School of Montreal and l’École Socrates-Démosthène. This is an initiative taken by two important members of our society, the Honorable Senator Leo Housakos and the Vice-chairman in wealth management of RBC, Tony Loffreda. I wish to encourage every one of you to attend this event and support our children.
For the first time, our “Socrates-Démosthène” students proudly participated in the Boston Greek Independence Day Parade, which was organised by the parent committees of our school. Our students represented our school and our Community on the streets of Boston, waving the Greek and Canadian flags, making us all proud.
Furthermore, this year’s edition of the annual déjeuner-causerie of the graduates of École “Socrates-Démosthène” was a great success. Joseph Polossifakis, a former École Socrates-Démosthène graduate was the guest speaker. Joseph is a Canadian Championship Fencer and member of the Canadian Fence Olympic team. Mr. Polossifakis has competed around the world, as well as in Canada and he ranks 14th in the world. It was an honour to have him amongst us.
The lottery campaign of this year comes to an end with the traditional celebration and drawing that takes place on May 28, at the Hellenic Community Centre Adrian-Maris at 1pm. Let’s make it a great success again this year by purchasing the last remaining lottery tickets. Proceeds of the lottery are always in support of the schools of our community.
On Monday, May 1st, 2017, an agreement was signed between the “Health Tourism in Greece” and the HCGM at the Hellenic Community of Greater Montreal Head Office, which provides the HCGM members with a discount for specialised services of health treatment in Greece. I wish to thank Dr. George Patoulis, Medical Association of Athens’ President and City of Marousi’s Mayor, Dr. Nicholas Kouvelas, President of Eurodentica and Petros Mamalakis, CEO of “Health Tourism in Greece” for providing our community with 5% cash back for each health treatment our members will receive in Athens.
Finally, we are proud to announce that one more Greek soccer jersey has been added to our collection. This one is signed by all the players of AEK FC and is the third Greek team (the others are of Olympiakos and Panathinaikos). The HCGM would like to thank AEK FC for the kind gesture and journalist Nicholas Agelidis for the initiative.
Sincerely,
Nicholas T. Pagonis
President