ST. NEKTARIOS PHILOPTOCHOS
2023-2025 Board
President: Madalina Lowen
1st Vice President: Katherine Cestrone
2nd Vice President: Deidre Lepkowski
Treasurer: Evelyn Klund
Assistant Treasurer: Sharon Koutroumpis
Recording Secretary: Missy Davis
Corresponding Secretary: Christine Malatras
Members
Helen Bakos, Michaelina Franks, Phyllis Gianakopoulos, Renee Keretses, Ana Levantis, Stephanie Scolinos
Contact us at: philoptochos@stnektarios.org
Support Philoptochos by Donating Here:
Membership
Women and men over the age of 18 who are members of our parish are invited to become members of Philoptochos. Women would be full members, men would be associate members. Our annual membership drive begins in January with our annual Membership Tea and culminates in April. However, we encourage membership renewals and gladly welcome new members throughout the year.
Click here to pay your membership
Christmas Brunch to Benefit Charlotte Rescue Mission
2020 CHAPTER CHALLENGE PRESENTED AT THE 2022 CLERGY-LAITY CONGRESS
Our Philoptochos Chapter was chosen to represent the Metropolis of Atlanta for the 2020 Chapter Challenge
What is a Chapter Challenge?
Nine chapters are selected in consultation with the Metropolis Presidents, one from each Metropolis, at each National Convention. They are given $100 seed money each and the challenge is to select a project that reflects the work of Philoptochos. Chapters develop, design, and implement a project of their own creation and choice. Some suggestions are literacy, the disabled, food bank, shelter for women and/or children developmentally challenged children, and Alzheimer’s. Projects are monitored and the chapters report and share their experience at the subsequent Convention. The first group of chapters presented at the 2006 National Philoptochos Biennial Convention.
Our Chapter Challenge Goal
Provide needed improvements to the Waiting Area of Shelter Health Services so that the women and children who are served are welcomed into a warm, caring and compassionate environment. Our main projects are to install secure storage compartments, refurbish the waiting area and update the small restroom.
Shelter Health Services is a free health clinic providing healthcare and health information to uninsured, medically indigent, homeless women and children living in poverty and staying in the Salvation Army Center of Hope, the region's largest shelter for homeless women and children. http://shelterhealthservices.com/home/shelterhealth-home.php
Shelter Health Services' mission is to remove health issues as barriers to self-sufficiency and upward mobility for homeless women, and as impediments to development and readiness to learn for homeless children, by providing free healthcare and health information that is easily accessible. http://shelterhealthservices.com/home/shelterhealth-about.php
*******Click HERE to see our completed project!*******
While the word “philoptochos” means “friends of the poor,” it does not begin to describe the many facets of our organization. We are part of a national organization of over 30,000 members. We are involved in all areas of philanthropy. Whether it be on a global scale, helping earthquake and tsunami victims and supporting our mission work, or the parish benevolence fund; helping local parishioners. We seek to serve those in need. Following the dictates of Christ, we seek to aid those who are in physical or emotional pain, work in homeless shelters, conduct food drives, raise funds for cancer, autism & other medical needs. We extend our hand to as many as we can. As we do this work, we find not only the joy of giving and helping, but in creating fellowship and treasured friendships among our members.
For I was hungry and you gave Me food;
for I was thirsty and you gave Me drink;
I was a stranger and you took Me in;
I was naked and you clothed Me;
I was sick and you visited Me;
I was in prison and you came to Me.
In as much as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren,
you did it to Me. (Matthew 25:35-36, 40)
About Philoptochos
"Philoptochos, established in 1931 by the late Patriarch Athenagoras I, means 'friend of the poor.' It is a national volunteer organization that promotes charitable, benevolent and philanthropic outreach to preserve the sanctity of life and family and to perpetuate and promote our Orthodox faith and traditions." www.philoptochos.org
Philoptochos Mission
The Greek Orthodox Ladies Philoptochos Society, Inc., is the duly accredited women's philanthropic society of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. The mission of the Society shall be:
- To help the poor, the destitute, the hungry, the aged, the sick, the unemployed, the orphaned, the imprisoned, the widowed, the handicapped, the victims of disasters, to undertake the burial of impoverished persons and to offer assistance to anyone who may need the help of the Church through fund raising efforts; and
- To promote the charitable, benevolent, and philanthropic purposes of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, through instructional programs, presentations, lectures, seminars and other educational resources;
- To preserve and perpetuate Orthodox Christian concepts and the Orthodox Christian Family, and through them, to promote the Greek Orthodox Faith and traditions, in accordance with its doctrines, canons, discipline, divine worship, usages and customs;
- To promote participation in the activities of the Greek Orthodox community, with the cooperation of the Parish Priest and the Parish Council.
The charitable work of the Society shall be performed with discretion, courtesy and kindness.
St. Nektarios Philoptochos
In 1999, our local chapter, The Ladies Philoptochos Society of St. Nektarios, was formed with great excitement. Thanks to the generosity of our members, the financial support of our community, and the efforts of all involved in our fundraising, our chapter annually raises and distributes thousands of dollars to the charities we support. The generosity does not end with money. Our chapter donates hundreds of Christmas gifts to inner-city children, hundreds of blankets to hospitalized youth, hundreds of sandwiches to soup kitchens, hundreds of snack packs to the homeless, plus many more items for poor new mothers, homeless women, and orphaned children.
In addition to supporting our National and Metropolis obligations and charities, we have offered time, talent, or treasure to the following over the years:
Allegro Foundation
Alzheimer's Association
A Child’s Place
Baby Bundles
Carolina Brest Friends
Charlotte Rescue Mission
Clergy Education Fund
Crop Walk
Diakonia Retreat Center
Dove’s Nest
Hemby Children’s Center
Holy Angels of Belmont, NC
Hospice of Charlotte
Juvenile Diabetes
Katrina Disaster Relief
Leukemia Society
Levine Children’s Hospital
Loaves and Fishes
Love In the Name of Christ (Love INC)
Make a Wish Foundation – Celebration of Hope
Matthews Help Center
Mission and Outreach in Kenya
Pajama Project
Parkinson Association of the Carolinas
Project Mexico and St. Innocent Orphanage
Roof Above
Samaritan’s Feet
Salvation Army Center of Hope
Shelter Health Services
St. Anastasia Medical Fund
St. Nektarios Altar Fund
St. Peter’s Soup Kitchen
St. Stephen’s Camp
Susan J. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation
Thomasboro Academy
Thompson
USO, and many more