FLUSHING, NY – St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Shrine Church in Flushing hosted the International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC) Homefront: Parish Emergency and Disaster Preparedness and Response Workshop on October 22 in the church’s Sarantakos Hall. The informative and timely workshop began with welcoming remarks from Marina Belessis Casoria who gave an introduction to the IOCC’s work and its basis on the Bible passage Matthew 25:35-36, 40, “For I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you welcomed me; I was naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you visited me; I was in prison and you came to me… as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.”
She then introduced Dan Christopulos, IOCC US Country Representative, who led the workshop and noted that we live our faith with praxis, actions, and spoke first about the IOCC and its efforts across the country and around the world, including in Greece, Ethiopia, Lebanon, and Syria. He observed that there is a need for the Greek Orthodox community to change its mindset and partner more with the wider community to be prepared for emergencies and disasters, natural and man-made. Christopulos noted that the IOCC offers “more efficient, more effective, more transparent ways of helping people.”
Videos highlighted the work of the IOCC from its beginnings in 1992 to the present overseas as well as the US Program which has been helping most recently in the areas affected by hurricanes and floods, in Houston, TX and Florida. Today, there are 100 frontliners, clergy and laity trained and with counselling degrees to help people recover from traumatic events like hurricanes and floods.
As Christopulos pointed out, they are not first responders, those are the police, firefighters, and EMTs, but the frontliners are the first IOCC personnel on the ground to help by collaborating with Orthodox and other partners, local parishes, the Red Cross, VOAD (Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster), FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency), and local emergency management.
Preparedness, Response, Recovery, and Mitigation are the four main parts of the disaster cycle, Christopulos noted. There are ways every parish can make improvements to be prepared to deal with disasters, emergencies, and other critical situations, and save time and lives. A Parish Preparedness Plan including taking inventory of assets, conducting disaster risk assessment and assessing vulnerabilities, identifying partners and external resources, and submitting a summary of the plan to IOCC are some of the ways parishes can more readily offer help.
Refreshments and food during the workshop were provided by the Ladies Philoptochos Society of St. Nicholas. Among those in attendance at the event were presiding priest of St. Nicholas Fr. Paul Palesty who began the event with a prayer, Parish Council President Soteris (Steve) Georgiou who offered welcoming remarks, Philoptochos President Vasiliki Dinas, members of the Philoptochos Kiki Preponis, Thomai Takantzas, Karen Kalkanis, Aleka Tsinas, Gloria Sfiroudis, Irene Hatzoglou, Maria Zolotas, Alexandra Tsiatis, Maria Papougenis, and parishioners from St. Nicholas, Three Hierarchs in Brooklyn, St. Paul’s Cathedral in Hempstead, Holy Cross Whitestone, St. John the Baptist and Holy Trinity Cathedral, both in Manhattan.
More information on the IOCC is available online at: www.iocc.org.
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