AHEPA honored over 30 legislators from state and national government, with the AHEPA Public Service Award. “Everyday public servants sacrifice their time and energy to ensure our rights, issues and causes are represented across our nation,” said AHEPA Supreme President Ike Gulas. “We are fortunate to be given an opportunity to say ‘thank you,’ present them with a certificate of appreciation and offer AHEPA’s grassroots network to help champion our respective issues of concern.”
This year, AHEPA awarded the Demosthenes Award to George Bistis, Chief, Voice of America Greek Desk and the Aristotle Award to John Catsimatides, Chairman and CEO, Red Apple Group, Inc. After the presentations, they were afforded the opportunity to tell the attendees about their lives as Greek-Americans and the Greek-American influence in everyday American culture.
Additional speakers included President Gulas; Daughters of Penelope Grand President Karen Stamatiades; Former Foreign Minister of Cyprus Erato Kozakou Marcoullis; Ambassadors Andreas Kakouris, Cyprus and Alexandros Mallias, Hellenic Republic; U.S. Representative John Sarbanes (D-MD-3); His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios and our Emcee for the evening, U.S. Representative Zachary Space (D-OH-18).
“Our evening was a success and I would like to thank Rep. Space for his excellent service as Emcee for the evening,” added Gulas. “It was a long night, full of surprises and Rep. Space helped keep the evening on track.”
Supreme President Gulas addressed the attendees of the banquet on the issues AHEPA has been educating members of the 110th Congress about, such as the Visa Waiver Program, Cyprus unification and Turkish troop withdrawal, the Greek Fires, FYROM and the Ecumenical Patriarch and Patriarchate.
The Supreme President challenged the attendees during the banquet, “we can do more,” he said, an important and inspired statement addressing the standing room only crowd on AHEPA’s achievements over the past 86 years and for the continued dedication to the associations’ goals.
AHEPA Capitol Hill Day
On Thursday, March 6, AHEPA hosted an event for Ahepans on Capitol Hill. Senators Jeff Sessions (R-AL) and Robert Menendez (D-NJ) spoke about the issues that both AHEPA, and Congress, support concerning Greek-American issues. The discussions revolved around the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Turkey, the Cyprus issue and Turkey’s need to adhere to the principles of human rights and religious freedoms.
Following the reception, President Gulas and his Supreme Lodge went to the Capitol Building to meet with Representative Gus Bilirakis (R-FL-9) in the Rayburn Room. Rep. Bilirakis, co-chair of the Hellenic Caucus and a member of AHEPA, has been a champion of all issues that concern Americans of Greek heritage and Philhellenes.
For additional information about the 38th Biennial Banquet, Capitol Hill day or AHEPA, please visit: www.ahepa.org.
AHEPA was established in 1922, by visionary Greek-Americans to protect all from prejudice originating from the KKK, and in its history, AHEPA has joined with the NAACP and B’nai B’rith International to fight discrimination. The mission of the AHEPA family is to promote the ideals of Hellenism, education, philanthropy, civic responsibility and family and individual excellence. For more information about AHEPA, or how to join, please contact AHEPA Headquarters, 202.232.6300, or visit www.ahepa.org.
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