NEW YORK – The Daughters of Penelope (DOP) Evryklea Chapter #36 Manhattan celebrated their 91st anniversary on May 31 at Skinos Restaurant in New York City.
The DOP sisters, family, and friends enjoyed delicious food and drinks in a festive atmosphere with music by a DJ and a special guest performance by Elaina Poulos.
Chapter President Maria Ntini gave the welcoming remarks at the event, thanking everyone for their support for the chapter and its charitable efforts.
“Over the past two years, our chapter has worked with dedication to support charitable causes, assist families and organizations in need, promote education, and strengthen our Greek-American community. None of this would have been possible without the generosity, commitment, and hard work of our members, friends and supporters. For that we are deeply grateful.”
Ntini then thanked DOP Grand Governor Zone I Lainie Damaskos-Christou and Consul General of Cyprus in New York Kyriakos Pogiatzis “for honoring us, with their presence, and continuing support of our community, your friendship, encouragement and leadership mean a great deal to us. Thank you again, to everyone, for joining us today, your presence makes these gatherings even more meaningful.”
DOP Grand Governor Zone I Lainie Damaskos-Christou then shared her remarks on behalf of the Grand Lodge and Grand President Antoinette Marousis-Zachariades, congratulating the chapter and noting that “I remember being on the district lodge, and the chapter being reinstated probably about 12 years ago… and since then, you have grown stronger. When I was governor, I was so proud to visit the chapter, and I worked closely with President Elsa [Jonsson] at the time… and I see beautiful young members growing, continuing the AHEPA family mission of philanthropy, sisterhood, and all of our charitable organizations. So please continue the good work.”
She continued: “Sisters, we encourage you to get active, stay active, come to all the conventions, whether they’re the district or national conventions, to see the beauty of our work, to get to meet so many sisters and brothers, and our junior warriors… Thank you. Congratulations to all of you. And we look forward to having the Manhattan chapter grow, which is the heart of the Diaspora here in Manhattan. It should be the largest along with the brother chapter Delphi.”
Consul General of Cyprus Pogiatzis in his remarks also congratulated the chapter, noting that “I see that all of you are really devoted to improving our community, we’re really grateful, the Cyprus Consulate, the Greek Consulate, we’re all grateful for the work you are doing and have done over the years… we are all part of the same community and this is what gives meaning to our lives, being part of this great community. Thank you.”
The event continued with music and dancing and a raffle drawing with a variety of prizes including jewelry, gift cards, and the cookbook ‘Cook Like a Karpathian’ by Chrissy Lagonikos.
Follow DOP Evryklea Chapter #36 Manhattan on Facebook and Instagram @daughtersofpenelope.evryklea.