2001 News

About the Helios Chapter in Clearwater, Florida
by Fran Glaros

2001 chapter officers:

This year's officers are:

President:	Fran Glaros
Vice President:	Stacie Feola and Desi Plutis
Secretary:	Anna Tripodis
Treasurer:	Ann Andreson
Corresponding Secretary:	George Glaros
Governors:	Gus Tsambis (Chairman), Nick Plutis, Gus Stefanadis, Tony Mavronicolas, Marko Feola, and Kathryn Athanasiadis.
Entertainment Committee:	Charlotte (Pardos) Crockett, Desi Plutis, and Sophia Tsantes.

We now have 170 paid members as of December 2000.

Included in our membership is our own National President, Dr. Nicholas H. Batuyios, PNP, John Sakoutis, PNP Gus Stefanadis, now National Foundation Chairman, Dr. Stanton Tripodis, National Vice President, Stella Thomas, Editor of our Pan-Icarian Magazine.

We continue to have our monthly dinners sponsored by different and dedicated members. They don't always care to do the cooking, but since our chapter has several good cooks, that's never a problem. Our January dinner was sponsored by Peter Tsantes and his daughter Sophia, who is one of our wonderful members. February's dinner is being sponsored by Mary Tsambis, in memory of our beloved Pete Petchakos, who died suddenly in Greece this past September.

We had a very enjoyable bus trip to St. Augustine, FL in November, which was planned by our entertainment committee. They rented a motor coach and about 35 members and friends enjoyed a lovely relaxing and fun filled ride to and from St. Augustine as well as a wonderful time when we got there. We had lunch with friends of some of our members who own a place in St. Augustine. Their food was great. We returned home about 10 p.m. the same day. We are planning a couple more outings for 2001.

At our annual dinner dance on January 27th a great time was had by all. This is usually the case, but this year we were faced with extra concerns due to the fact that the Super Bowl was in our area the day after our dance, which meant there was a scarcity of hotel rooms in the area and thus several of our regular visitors didn't attend due to no available lodgings. However, due to lots of hard work by our members, the tickets were sold and we had a great and profitable evening. We are already planning for our 2002 Dinner Dance.

We are planning another multifamily garage sale the first weekend in March, with part of the proceeds going toward a sponsorship in the new Clearwater library, which is being built in our area. After our last garage sale, we donated part ofd the profits to a needy family in the area. As I stated this year (as the new President) I think as a Philanthropic organization, we should make our presence known in the community where we reside. My idea was also endorsed by NP Dr. Nicholas Batuyios who attended our January meeting. He even backed up his words with a donation and after that several others donated funds and before the meeting was over we had $170 toward our sponsorship money for the library. So we are looking forward to a successful garage sale to raise the rest of the money we need.

We are planning to march in the Greek Independence Day Parade in Tarpon Springs on March 18th, 2001.

We still do our monthly newsletter for our members, which is done by my husband George and myself. He generally does the Greek History bit, which our members seem to enjoy very much. I also think the youth enjoy their part of the newsletter. They are learning as well as being entertained. We send Birthday greetings to each one having a birthday in that month, plus we include two past Presidents and their history as well as puzzles and other items of interest to children.

We must remember that our children are the future of this organization and without them, this organization will not continue. So we need to include them and do things to keep their interest.

We lost our beloved member Peter S. Tripodis on January 30th. Peter was a PSP and a wonderful husband and father as well as a friend to many who knew him. Pete loved to dance and in his younger days, he was known as Tango Pete. He is survived by his lovely wife Clara, who is an angel herself and helps anyone who needs help. They have three children. Dr Stanton Tripodis (NVP) and Dr. Linda Murray as well as Chris Tripodis a pharmacist in Atlanta, GA. They have 8 grandchildren. He will be sadly missed by all who knew him.

Fran Glaros - Chapter President