March 2010
Volume 1, Issue 3

2010 EASTERN REGIONAL BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT IN WYCKOFF, NJ ANNOUNCEMENT

IT'S FINALLY HERE! The 5th Annual Sons of Pericles Eastern Regional Basketball Tournament to be held in Wyckoff, NJ on the weekend of April 24-25, 2010.

Player Package: $25 (Basketball Games, Saturday Night & T-Shirt)
Under-21 Player Package: $15 (Basketball Games & T-Shirt)
2010 Souvenier Tournament T-Shirt: $10

Saturday Night: Party Central in Astoria, 11pm (www.centrallounge.com)
Basketball Games: Saturday 8pm - 7pm & Sunday 12pm - 6pm
Sunday Church Service: St. Nicholas in Wyckoff, NJ at 10am

Hotel: Ramada Inn 375 West Passaic Street Rochelle Park, NJ 07662 201.845.3400

Group: Sons Basketball Tournament Deadline: April 9, 2010 Group Rate: Sons Basketball Tournament

Gym: St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church 467 Grandview Avenue Wyckoff, NJ 07481

Basketball Teams: Fees: $250 per Team (before 4/9/10) & $300 per Team (after 4/9/10) New Sons must pay $40 Sons of Pericles 2010 Dues & current Sons members must pay $20 Sons of Pericles 2010 Dues.

Make checks payable to: Sons of Pericles Patrida #317
Mail to: Dean Tselepis 211 Thompson Street, Apt PHF, New York, NY 10012
Proceeds to benefit our dual National Projects: ALS Association (in honor of Brother George Catsulis) & The Cyprus Children's Fund.

2010 SONS OF PERICLES NATIONAL PROJECT RAFFLE

It is a great pleasure to announce that the primary fundraising means for this year’s dual National Projects will be a NATIONAL 50/50 CASH RAFFLE. Our National Projects this year will be benefiting the ALS Association as well as the Cyprus Children’s Fund. We will be splitting our donations between these two causes, with a standing commitment of sponsoring at least five children in Cyprus and donating as much as possible to ALS. This cash raffle will be drawn at the Supreme Convention in Montreal this summer. Tickets are being sold for $25 each, but there are discounts if you buy more: 5 tickets for $110 or a book of 10 tickets for $200. A total of 1000 tickets have been printed, the winner does not need to be present, and there will be three cash prizes. Fifty percent of the total proceeds from all of the tickets sold will go to the National Projects and fifty percent will be split between three top prizes.

First Prize: 25% of the Proceeds up to $6250
Second Prize: 15% of the Proceeds up to $3750
Third Prize: 10% of the Proceeds up to $2500

If you have any interest in purchasing tickets please contact the Supreme Lodge (supreme.lodge@sonsofpericles.com) at anytime and we will be sure to facilitate your donation. We are calling on the entire AHEPA community to help us as much as possible in this exceedingly worthy endeavor. We are supporting two extremely worthy organizations and it is only with the dedication and support of our entire community that we can truly make a difference. Please do your part, purchase tickets and spread the word about our cause. Thank your for your continued support.

SONS OF PERICLES WESTERN REGIONAL BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT & GREEK WEEKEND RESULTS

Over President’s Day Weekend - February 12-15, 2010 - the Sons of Pericles Supreme Lodge hosted their annual Western Regional Basketball Tournament in Los Angeles, CA. The Sons wanted to build off last year’s successful tournament attempting to make this not only a basketball tournament, but a weekend of events. The purpose of "Greeks in LA Weekend 2010" was to bring Sons, Maids and other Greek youth together from around the United States. The tournament featured ten basketball teams comprised of Sons from all over the country. While many of the teams were from California; there were also teams who traveled from Portland, OR, Seattle, WA, Wyckoff, NJ and Salt Lake City, UT.

The weekend kicked off on Friday evening on the 17th floor of Hotel Angeleno at West Lounge for the Welcome Party. This was the first of the weekend’s night events, which the Sons Supreme Lodge planned with the help of DJ Gus Sverkos (gus_sverkos@yahoo.com).

The games kicked off on Saturday morning on the beautiful UCLA campus. Games were held from 10AM to 3PM with three courts running simultaneously. The final games were played on Sunday afternoon and once all the dust had settled the winners were San Francisco, CA. Second Place went to Salt Lake City, UT and in Third Place was Redondo Beach, CA. The Tournament MVP was Paul Shamieh of San Francisco, CA.

Saturday night’s event was held at Club Nokia at the newly built LA Live entertainment complex in downtown Los Angeles. Then, Sunday night’s Valentine’s Day Party was held at the trendy club MI-6 on the border of West Hollywood and Beverly Hills. All the parties were well attended, with roughly 300 guests dancing and partying to both Greek and American music.

The weekend was another huge success for the Sons of Pericles and the Sons look for next year to be even better. This, however, was not only about fun and basketball. Through the different activities, parties, basketball and t-shirt sales, the Sons of Pericles were able to raise a significant amount of money, which will benefit their dual National Projects - The ALS Association (Lou Gehrig’s Disease), in honor of Brother George Catsulis and the Cyprus Children’s Fund.

San Francisco, CA First Place	Salt Lake City, UT Second Place
More pictures can be see in the SOP Photo Gallery!

GREEK INDEPENDENCE DAY PARADE IN NYC ON APRIL 18, 2010

The Supreme Secretary of the Sons of Pericles, Manolis Sfinarolakis, attended a Tri-District meeting between the District Lodges of District 5, 6, & 7 on Thursday, January 21st to discuss the logistics behind the Greek Independence Day March to be held on Sunday, April 18th, 2010.

Last year, the Sons of Pericles had a strong showing in the parade with representatives from each district marching, including the Flushing Titans New York Chapter, the Wykoff New Jersey Chapter, the Paramus New Jersey Chapter, and the Waterbury Connecticut Chapter. This year, we hope to have additional members march in the parade to continue to show our strength and support for the AHEPA Family. It was also decided that each district pick a young lady as their District representative to ride on the AHEPA float during the parade. It was suggested and accepted that a Maid of Athena from each district be the individual to represent the Districts on the float.

For more information on the Greek Independence Day Parade on April 18th, 2010 in NYC, please contact Manolis Sfinarolakis, Supreme Secretary of the Sons of Pericles, at 203-232-2462 or by email at m.sfinarolakis@sonsofpericles.com.

THE ALBANY, NY VALENTINE'S DAY DANCE WAS A SUCCESS...

The weekend of February 6-8 were the dates of this year's Valentine's Day Dance weekend. Friday night started off with a Greek Night at Ristorante Paradiso with music provided by Pathos Entertainment. All in attendance had a great time. Saturday night was that of great music, food and drink. The Aegeans played live Greek music all night and the great food was catered by Chef Chris Euripidou. It was a great event and very well attended. Sons from the Flushing, NY Titans Chapter, Waterbury, CT Solon 61 Chapter, and the Boston, MA Chapter attended the event. We thank all that attended and hope you all had a great time and come back next year.

Fraternally,

Yanni Googas
Phocion #44 Chapter President
Sons of Pericles

ALBANY, NY SONS & MAIDS DELIVER TOYS TO LOCAL CHILDREN'S CENTER

The AHEPA Family of Albany, NY, recently donated $25,000 to fund a new treatment room at the Melodies Center for Childhood Cancer and Blood Disorders at Albany Medical Center. In addition to raising money through Christmas caroling, the Albany Sons and Maids collected new toys, games, and gifts at the St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Church, which they delivered to the hospitalized children.

EXPLORE HELLENISM: OUR REVOLUTION AGAINST THE OTTOMANS

Greece had a successful war of independence waged by the Greek revolutionaries between 1821 and 1829, with later assistance from several European powers, against the Ottoman Empire, who were assisted by their vassals, the Egyptian Khedivate and partly the Vilayet of Tunisia.

Following the fall of the Byzantine Empire to the Ottoman Empire, most of Greece came under Turkish rule. During this time, there were numerous revolts by Greeks attempting to gain independence. In 1814, a secret organization called the Filiki Eteria was founded with the aim of liberating Greece. The Filiki Eteria planned to launch revolts in the Peloponnese, the Danubian Principalities and Constantinople. The first of these revolts began on March 6, 1821 in the Danubian Principalities, but it was soon put down by the Ottomans. The events in the north urged the Greeks in the Peloponnese in action and on March 17, 1821 (contrary to popular belief; March 25th draws inspiration from one of the holiest days for Greek Orthodox Christians, the Annunciation of the Theotokos. This is the day that the Archangel Gabriel announced to Mary that she would bear a child, connecting these two events) the Maniots declared war on the Ottomans. By the end of the month, the Peloponnese was in open revolt against the Turks and by October 1821 the Greeks under Theodoros Kolokotronis had captured Tripolitsa. The Peloponnesian revolt was quickly followed by revolts in Crete, Macedonia and Central Greece, which would soon be suppressed. Meanwhile, the makeshift Greek navy was achieving success against the Ottoman navy in the Aegean Sea and prevented Turkish reinforcements from arriving by sea.

Tensions soon developed among different Greek factions, leading to a virtual civil war. Meanwhile, the Ottoman Sultan negotiated with Mehmet Ali of Egypt, who agreed to send his son Ibrahim Pasha to Greece with an army to suppress the revolt in return for territorial gain. Ibrahim landed in the Peloponnese in February 1825 and had immediate success: by the end of 1825, most of the Peloponnese was under Egyptian control, and the city of Messolonghi—put under siege by the Turks since April 1825—fell in April 1826. Although Ibrahim was defeated in Mani, he had succeeded in suppressing most of the revolt in the Peloponnese and Athens had been retaken.

However, with the help of a French expeditionary force, the Greeks drove the Turks out of the Peloponnese and proceeded to the captured part of Central Greece by 1828. As a result of years of negotiation, Greece was finally recognized as an independent nation in May 1832 and established Nafplion as its new capital.

Events
Supreme Lodge
Photos
Annual Convention
Contact Us

Solon #61 Hall of Fame Luncheon
Waterbury, CT
Chapter #61
April 11, 2010

NYC Greek Independence Day Parade
New York, NY
Districts 5, 6, & 7
April 18, 2010

2010 Eastern Regional Basketball Tournament
Wyckoff, NJ
Chapter #317
April 24-25, 2010

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Send your information to news@sonsofpericles.com!