"STUNNING!"

Architect’s Rendering: View from Valencia Street,
showing the existing on the left and the entrance to the parking level on the right

"Stunning" is how Father Anthony Scott characterized the drawings, which John Goldman, the Cathedral’s architect, presented to the Parish Assembly on May 2. As each one of the renderings was “unveiled,” the Assembly broke into applause. “Wow!” “Breathtaking!” “Absolutely beautiful!” were heard by the Cathedral’s parishioners, who gathered at the special Assembly to hear Father Scott’s findings to the feasibility study he conducted in April and to view the drawings. The drawings are shown throughout this special edition of the Herald, the elevations, sections and floor plans in black and white, and the renderings, in full color. These may also be viewed on the Cathedral’s web site, www.annunciation.org

A view from Stevenson Street: the new Cathedral on the left (shown from the ieron)

“GO FORWARD WITH A CAPITAL CAMPAIGN!”

This is the first of the recommendations made by Father Anthony Scott, of Stewardship Advocates, as he reported the findings of the recent feasibility study he recently conducted to the Parish Assembly, which was convened on May 2. Based on his findings, he also recommended that, simultaneously with the Capital Campaign, the Cathedral parish should continue to work on stewardship, improving annual giving by parishioners and conscientiously teaching the biblical principles of sacrificial and generous giving. Throughout the present edition of the Herald, one will find a number of graphs, which Father Scott utilized during his presentation. They are self-explanatory. The information was gleaned from the more than 50 interviews Father Scott conducted at the Cathedral during the month of April and the focus session, which he chaired.

A view of the interior, looking east toward the Iconostasion (daylight view)		A view of the interior, looking west toward the choir loft (evening view)
A view of the interior, looking east toward the Iconostasion (evening view)		A view from the courtyard, looking south. Blevponta~ novtia apov thn aulhv
A view of from above, looking northwest from Stevenson Street		A view of the from above, looking southeast from Valencia Street

NE IGHBORS VIEW PLANS; ENDORSE PROJECT

As required by the San Francisco Planning Department, prior to formal review and approval of any project, the immediate neighbors must be given an opportunity to review the plans, ask questions, and express their views. Notices were sent to all the neighbors of the Cathedral within a certain distance, as required, inviting them to come to the Cathedral for this purpose. The gathering took place on April 20. The neighbors were enthusiastic about the plan and one, in particular, John Sullivan (who owns the former used car lot, on which he plans to build a condominium complex) said, “I give you my blessing.” He particularly loved the special attention which was given as the new Cathedral relates to the adjacent site. (It really is in the details!) We thanked the neighbors, especially Mr. Sullivan, for his Irish blessing. Only one person expressed a concern, that construction not take place prior to 7 a.m. Of course, it is the law, in a mixed use neighborhood such as ours, that construction not take place before 7 a.m., and we will fully abide by the law. Our neighbor was pleased to hear this and said, “I can’t wait to see the new Cathedral!”

OFFICIAL: SEPTEMBER 12 SPECIAL PARISH ASSEMBLY TO CONSIDER THE CATHEDRAL’S BUILDING PROJECT

September 12 has been set for the special Parish Assembly, which will approve the Cathedral’s proposed building project. Therefore, members of the Cathedral, who are in good standing, are invited to participate in the Cathedral’s first Parish Assembly for 2010. The Assembly will be convened following the Divine Liturgy, and will take place in the Chapel.

The agenda for the meeting is as follows:

Opening Prayer

1. Election of Assembly Chair

2. Secretary’s Report: Minutes of April 18, 2010 and May 2, 2010

3. Building Committee Report, including additional parking, as Phase III

4. Consideration of the Motion: To go forward with the rebuilding of the Cathedral in accordance with the architectural plans presented to the Parish Assembly on May 2, 2010, at a cost of $12 million, to be funded by a. the bequest of $5 million from the late Angelo and Anne Mountanos, b. $4 million, to be raised from among the Cathedral parish as documented by the Feasibility Study presented to the aforementioned Assembly, and c. $3 million from the Metropolis of San Francisco, the Archdiocese of America, and the community at large.

Closing Prayer

Please note: “members” of the Cathedral are those who are contributing stewards of the parish, and who are current with respect to their financial support of the parish. “In good standing” means adherence to the tenets of the Orthodox Faith. Both are defined more fully in the Regulations of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (2005), Article 18, pages 33-34. A quorum for the purposes of enacting business is either 12 members of the Parish Council, 12 other parishioners in good standing, and the Dean of the Cathedral or, if there are fewer than 12 members of the Parish Council present, a total of 75 parishioners, plus the Dean of the Cathedral.

THE CATHEDRAL’S 2010 MOTHERS OF THE YE AR: LOUL A VRIHEAS AND POPE ZAKIS

Mothers of the Year Loula Vriheas and Pope Zakis being congratulated by Metropolitan Gerasimos.

“A wonderful Cathedral tradition,” is how Father Stephen described it as he rose to proclaim the 2010 Mothers of the Year. (The mother(s) are elected by the Cathedral Ladies Philoptochos, which for 51 consecutive years has put on the Mother’s Day Luncheon and Fashion Show. “They (this year’s Mothers of the Year) are the kind of people that always make people feel like family,” Father Stephen noted in his remarks. “With their warm embrace, their optimism, their faith, their smile…we are all beneficiaries of their love.” Below are specific biographical vignettes about each of our 2010 Mothers of the Year.

Loula: Born on her name day, August, 6, she joined an older brother, to complete their family. She was raised in a farming community, just easte of the Cascade Mountains, in Ellensburg, WA, where it was wonderfully warm in the summer and bitter cold in the winter. Like so many children of immigrant parents, she started school without knowing a word of English. However, she had a great desire to learn. She was on the honor roll throughout her entire academic career, including the “Dean’s List” at college.

Her love of music started at an early age. After having learned how to play the piano, she taught herself to play the violin in orchestra, the oboe in the concert band, and the tuba in the Marching band. In a Tri-State music competition, she was selected by a panel of judges as the “outstanding soloist” to perform at the COMMAND PERFORMANCE CONCERT in front of 500 people.

She married Michael Vriheas in 1960, moved to San Francisco, and started her family. She is a devoted and loving mother to her four children…and now has four grandchildren, to whom she is just as loving and devoted. She’s been singing in the church choirs since 1955, and first stepped into Annunciation’s kitchen in 1973, and has participated in every food festival since then.

Pope: She was born in Kandia Greece where she lived with her parents and five siblings. Coming from a large family with not a lot of money, when she was about seven year she moved out of her house and moved in with her sister in the city of Nafplion, where she grew up. When she was twentyfive she got the opportunity to move to America and start a new life. In a strange new world, and not knowing how to speak the language, she worked three jobs while going to night classes to learn how to speak English.

One evening, she met a man who she spoke with shortly. The next day she received a phone call from that man, who asked her out for lunch. Being from a time when women didn’t go out on random dates, she asked her brother for permission. After having a date that ended with food poisoning, she went home for the night and, to her surprise, she was asked out on a second date, which ended much better… This time, her second date ended in a marriage proposal.

While living in America, adjusting to her new life with her new husband, she was blessed with her four children. One of her jobs was working at Levi Strauss making blue jeans in the factory across the street from Annunciation Cathedral. She worked there until she was injured and had to stop. That’s when she became a stay-athome mom. She not only raised her four children, but also raised her nephew, who moved in when he was about ten. Taking care of her home, husband, and the now five children, she also had her mother-inlaw move in; she cared for her, as well. She cut corners and made sacrifices to always insure that her family had whatever they needed.

Her four Children have blessed her with eight grandchildren so far, all of whom she has helped raise. When her oldest opened a restaurant, she stopped being a stay-athome mom and began working in the restaurant business, where she is known as “mom” to all the customers. She donates all of her spare time to our Cathedral and is one of the hardest working women in our kitchen come festival time, working long hours preparing food before the festival and even longer hours during the festival. She is the kind of person who always makes people feel like family, so, she is not only a mother of four and grandmother of eight, but she seems to be a mother to everyone she meets in one way or another,
embracing everyone with love, hugs and a smile.

NE XT TWO COMMUN ITY LINK JUNE 19, JULY 17

Please join us for our June and July Community Link, which will take place on Saturday, June 19, as well as for our July Community Link, which will take place on Saturday, July 17. We will meet at the Cathedral at 9 a.m. for prayer and visit assignments, followed by visits (usually in pairs), concluding by Noon.

Our visitations to home-bound parishioners are very special to us and to those we visit. They bring joy to our seniors who are experiencing isolation from their community due to illness, loss or hardship. Community Link is an excellent way for all of us – children, adults and families – to engage with one another and to share the message of God’s love. If you know someone who would like a visit, or to RSVP, please email Caroline Pappajohn at cpappajohn@yahoo.com.

Community Link dates for the remainder of 2010, in addition to June 19 and July 17, are: August 21, September 18, October 16, November 20, December 18. All dates are Saturdays.

PROJECTOR IS NOW OURS

Everyone at the May 2 special Parish Assembly saw how wonderful it was to view drawings and graphs, projected onto the wall. All one needs is a laptop and a projector. Well, unless one owns a projector, it costs about $250 to rent, unless one wants additional lumens, in which case it is more. Such a projector was needed for the Mother’s Day Luncheon and Fashion show in order to show My Fair Lady, while people were eating. Some people thought, “Why not give the Cathedral a projector? This way, the Cathedral can have it on hand for future use, especially during the campaign to build the church.” The Cathedral, therefore, thanks the following families, who made all this possible: Dr. and Mrs. George Ambus, Mr. and Mrs. Vlasis Fousekis, Mr. and Mrs. Chris Kyriacou, Mr. and Mrs. Nick Rally, Mr. and Mrs. Paul Sogotis, Dr. and Mrs. Nikos Stathopoulos.

MOTHER’S DAY LUNCHEON & FASHION SHOW:SIMPLY SMASHING!

Everything was My Fair Lady – the props, the greenery, the horses, the whole ambianace, the mood, set at the outset by Master of Ceremonies Nick Balian and, later, by Maria Allen, who portrayed Eliza Doolittle, in song and in recitative. As the proceedings got underway, this year’s Mothers of the Year—Loula Vriheas and Pope Zakis—were proclaimed, and immediately joined by members of their respective families. Little Vlasis Fousekis (a 2 year old!) led the singing of Christos Anesti, followed by the invocation, given by His Eminence Metropolitan Gerasimos. A delicious luncheon was served, replete with orchid-wrapped favors and other goodies, followed by fashions, and more fashions, mostly sported by children and their mothers (beautiful fashions)— such a delightful afternoon that (mutatis mutandis) one thought one were spending the afternoon at Ascot. All this was coordinated by Irene Kyriacou, together with co-chairs Kathy Dermitzakis and Pat Aleck, and all the hard-working members of the committee, who put on what has to be one of our most memorable Mother’s Day Luncheons and Fashion Shows. “Wait to see what we’ve got in store for next year,” said the committee, building upon this extraordinary display of talent. What follow are a variety of photos from that wonderful afternoon, an outstanding display of community spirit.

BAY AREA HISTORICAL SOCIETY FORMED

A newly formed organization—the San Francisco Bay Area Greek Historical Society, was recently formed. Specifically, the organization came into being during a gathering of people from throughout the area, who are interested in the preservation and promotion of Greek History and culture. The gathering took place at the Cathedral on Saturday, May 1. Father Stephen Kyriacou welcomed the members of the society. The society defined its mission – to explore, document, preserve and promote the history and heritage of the Greek people in the San Francisco Bay Area and limited its scope to the geographically defined nine Bay Area counties. The Society defined four objectives to support their mission statement: 1) to actively seek members of our community for oral history interviews and to develop a video library of interviews, 2) to develop a web site for our organization 3) to work towards the creation of a Hellenic Museum, and 4) to work towards the creation of a library for research purposes. The society agreed to work with other historical societies and organizations and develop good working relationships through the sharing of information and mutual promotion and support of events and meetings.

All this bodes well for the historical enterprise, as enumerated above. Following the meeting, Jim Lukas, who facilitated the meeting, wrote to everyone present to thank them for their participation and commitment to the undertaking and to re-cap the proceedings. We reprint Jim’s message, in its entirety:

Dear friends– I would like to thank everyone who took time from their busy schedule to come to Annunciation Cathedral Saturday morning to talk about the formation of a historical society. For those of you that were unable to come, we missed you. I would also like to thank Fr. Stephen for his guidance and Mary Zamboukos for taking notes as we lay down the foundation of this organization.

We made a lot of progress.

We have a name: San Francisco Bay Area Greek Historical Society

We have a scope: Defined geographically. The San Francisco Bay Area as defined by the bay area counties.

We have a mission statement: To explore, document, preserve and promote the history and heritage of the Greek people in the San Francisco Bay Area.

We defined four objectives supporting our mission statement:

1) To work towards the creation of a Hellenic Museum

2) To actively seek members of our community for oral history interviews and to develop a video library of interviews.

3) To develop a web site for our organization.

4) To work towards the creation of a library for research purposes.

We further agree that we will work with other historical societies and organizations and develop good working relationships. An example would be Ascension’s historical society. We attend and promote each other’s events and meetings. We share information. We help each other. That will continue just as it always has. There is more to discuss and finalize.We decided that our next meeting will be Saturday, July 10th, 10AM, at Annunciation Cathedral. I hope that all of you can make it.

Thank you again for being a part of this wonderful endeavor.

GREEK FOOD FESTIVAL: SEPTEMBER 24, 25, 26

As noted, the Cathedral’s Food Festival will take place at the Cathedral, 245 Valencia Street, September 24, 25 and 26 (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday). Andrew Dimitriou will serve as this year’s Food Festival Chairman. Plans are underway to expand the scope of the festival by providing more activities for young and old, alike. In addition to traditional Greek dancing, we are planning to expand our offerings of Greek Folk Music and Choral Music. We also hope to have additional events for children. As a result, there are more openings for volunteers. Anyone interested in being a part of this undertaking is invited to contact Andrew Dimitriou. The Food Festival Committee is also looking for people to assist in the preparation for the Festival. For example, we are considering expanding the program book to include more pages in color. We hope to expand the program book to include information on the dances, traditions, and unique cultural aspect of Greece and the Greek Orthodox Faith. We would welcome individuals who wish to provide written cultural explanations of the various dances performed by the dance groups, as well as the other information noted above.

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Jun/Jul 2010 Herald
Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral.