Contact: Nikki Stephanopoulos

APRIL 30  
Ecumenical Patriarchate
Holy and Sacred Synod

MAY 4  
4:00 p.m. 
ARCHDIOCESE
His Eminence will welcome the Minister of Public Order of Greece, George Voulgarakis

May 5
ARCHDIOCESE
Leadership 100 Executive Committee Meeting

May 7
8:00 p.m.
Temple of Dendur, Metropolitan Museum of Art
"Musical Mysticism of Byzantium"
Performed by The Little Orchestra Society & Orpheon Chorale

May 8
8:00 p.m.
Marriott Marquis Hotel, New York City
Hellenic Times Scholarship Dinner

May 11
8:00 a.m.
Governor's Mansion - Albany, NY
Governor George Pataki Prayer Breakfast

May 13-15
Hellenic College/Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology
Brookline, MA
Graduation Exercises

May 15
6:30 p.m.
Ellis Island
Archbishop Demetrios will be a recipient of the
2004 Ellis Island Medal of  Honor

A new era began for a slate of officers who were elected during this meeting for a three-year term. The new officers are Mr. Clifford Argue, President,  Fr. Chad Hatfield, Vice-President,  Fr. Raymond Velencia, Treasurer and Fr. George Liacopulos, Secretary. A chapter ended for Ms. Teresa Polychronis when, after 30 years of service on the OCMC Board, she retired. After being made an honorary member for life, she was visibly moved by the tribute when she was presented with a plaque and a “Go to All Nations” icon by Fr. Alexander Veronis, President Emeritus. Mrs. Catherine Lingas also retired after 18 years of dedicated service and many years on the Executive Committee as Treasurer and Chair of the Finance Committee.

A liturgical service to commission three people as OCMC Missionaries followed the Divine Liturgy celebrated on the last day of the meeting. John Burnett will begin full-time mission service in Uganda later this year and Driko and Christine Pappas will depart for service in Albania by summer 2004. They are three of 11 people who are currently preparing to serve as OCMC Missionaries in Uganda, Hong Kong, Albania, India and Guatemala.
 
Long-time OCMC Missionaries in Romania, Craig and Victoria Goodwin gave a presentation about the mission work they have been doing in Romania over the last seven years, including opening the St. Pantelimon Medical Clinic and a home for abandoned infants called the Protection of the Theotokos Family Center. Another significant presentation was given by Dr. Elizabeth Prodomou on the Status of the Orthodox Church as it relates to American Society. 
 
A highlight of the event was the "Bringing the Light of Christ to All Nations" banquet in which over 200 people attended from many local Orthodox churches. It was a time for those attending to deepen their understanding of the need and impact of Orthodox missions. Fr. Peter Gillquist, OCMC Board Member, renowned author and speaker, as well as the Director of the Department of Missions & Evangelism of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese, was the keynote speaker.  
 
The OCMC Board of Trustees includes clergy and lay men and women representing all SCOBA jurisdictions. Twice a year they meet in different parts of the country to review the progress of the Mission Center’s programs as they seek to respond to Christ’s command in Matthew 28:19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” 

"The help should be not only in terms of food but also in terms of education - teaching Ethiopians to be more self-sufficient," he said. "Then they can pass that legacy on to the next generation."
    
Mesfin remembers when he first came to America as a 13-year-old Ethiopian boy. It was 1988, and the Ethiopian famine of 1984-1985 was still fresh in people's minds.
    
"People would come up to me and ask, 'How come you don't look as skinny as they do on TV?' " Mesfin recalled. "They thought all of Ethiopia was a drought nation."
    
Fifteen years later, Mesfin, 29, of Long Beach, Calif., doesn't worry about public perceptions of his native land anymore. He's more concerned with helping Ethiopians. That's why he supports the efforts of IOCC to prevent the recurrence of famine in Ethiopia through programs of agricultural and vocational training.
    
In the face of another food crisis in Ethiopia, IOCC currently is expanding its work with the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and other partners. An IOCC project supported by the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs calls for the development of small-scale farms in northern Ethiopia and the training of young people in vocational and agricultural skills.
    
IOCC also is addressing the scourge of HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia with a three-year, $6 million project of prevention, education and hospice care for orphans.
    
Mesfin, a native of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, came to the United States after being adopted by His Grace Bishop Dimitrios (Couchell), ecumenical officer of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and a longtime supporter of IOCC.
    
Bishop Dimitrios, accompanied by the noted nutritionist Dr. George Christakis, traveled to Ethiopia in 1985 to deliver $160,000 in monetary assistance for the Orthodox Church's famine relief efforts. While there, Bishop Dimitrios learned about Ethiopian children who were attending a Greek-run school in Addis Ababa.
    
"At that time, they asked me to please try to find some parents for these orphans, who were mostly of mixed background," Bishop Dimitrios said.
    
One of those children was Mesfin, whose maternal grandfather was Greek. "The bishop asked me if I was interested [in being adopted], and I said, 'Oh, yeah.' It was an opportunity for me to go to school and to turn around and help my community," Mesfin said.
    
Bishop Dimitrios stayed in Ethiopia for 10 days, visiting refugee centers and orphanages. He laments the fact that IOCC did not exist in 1985, and he still feels a special connection with his adoptive son's homeland today.
    
"It makes me follow events in Ethiopia more closely," he said. "Often I talk with David about the situation, and whenever anything comes across my desk about Ethiopia, I send it to him."
    
Mesfin remembers little about the 1984-1985 famine that took the lives of nearly 1 million Ethiopians. "I was pretty young. Where the famine took place was primarily in the north. It didn't affect us as severely in the city," he said. "It was only after coming to the United States that I found out the true scope of the famine."
    
Dr. Christakis, a specialist in nutrition-related illnesses, said the beauty and fertility of Ethiopia belied the intense suffering he witnessed during the 1985 trip with Bishop Dimitrios. "I came away with the conclusion that Ethiopia, with the right resources, could probably feed all of Africa," he said.
    
Mesfin spent his teen-age years with Bishop Dimitrios in St. Augustine, Fla. "We became like father and son. We're best friends now," said Mesfin, who eventually moved to Southern California to study graphic design.
    
Today, he is president of Visualmorph, a graphic design firm in Torrance, Calif. His mother, brothers, uncles and cousins still live in Ethiopia, and his sister moved to the United States three years ago.
   
Mesfin is active with the Ethiopian community in Los Angeles, raising money for IOCC and other organizations with humanitarian programs in Ethiopia. "I think IOCC is doing the right thing in working with the Orthodox Church in Ethiopia," he said. "You can be more effective, and you'll have a lot more support, by working through the Church."
    
IOCC, the humanitarian aid agency of Orthodox Christians, recently joined seven other international relief agencies in a public call for long-term solutions to break the grip of poverty and recurring famine in Ethiopia.
    
To learn more about IOCC's relief and development programs in Ethiopia and 14 other countries, please visit www.iocc.org.

For media inquiries, please contact IOCC Communications Associate Stephen Huba at 1-877-803-4622 or shuba@iocc.org