Weekly Announcements

 

 

THIS WEEK’S ANNOUNCEMENTS

 

THIS WEEK’S ANNOUNCEMENTS

Sunday,  October 1st, 2023
1st Sunday of St. Luke
Holy Protection of the Theotokos Feastday – St. Romanos

 
Sunday, October 1st
2nd Sunday of Luke
Holy Protection of the Theotokos Feastday
St. Romanos the Melodist
8:15am Orthros          9:30am Divine Liturgy
 
Monday, October 2nd
6pm  Philoptochos Meeting
 
Tuesday October 3rd
Trip to St. Nicholas Shrine & Archdiocese
 
Wednesday, October 4th
5:30-7pm Greek School
8pm  Beginners Adult Greek School
 
Thursday, October 5th
7pm-8pm  English Bible Class
 
Friday, October 6th
11am – 12noon  English Bible Class
 
Saturday, October 7th
6pm  Vespers 

 

The 2023 AHEPA OPA Discount Card is here! We are happy to announce that the all-new 2023 AHEPA OPA Restaurant Discount card is now available to purchase. The card features many of the same great restaurants that have participated in the past few years, as well as a number of new places to try. Please purchase a card, or more, for your own use, or to give as gifts to friends, that would love to try some of these fine restaurants.

The card costs just $20, and provides a $15 discount off of a $30 food purchase for 18 ofour favorite local restaurants, (many that are owned by our local AHEPA brothers). Funds raised by the card sales will go towards AHEPAs mission to ‘promote the ancient Hellenic ideals of education, philanthropy, civic responsibility, family and individual excellence through community service and volunteerism’.

We have limited the number of cards to 300 this year. Discounts are available from Oct 2023 through September 2024. So, pick them up before they completely sell out!

AHEPA brothers will be selling cards after church on Sundays. Or, feel free to contact Anthony Ariano (anthonyariano67@gmail.com) or Dimitri Zozos (dzbail@aol.com) to reserve your cards today.

Choir/Chanters Appreciation Day today. Today is St. Romanos the Melodist the patron Saint of Choirs and Chanters.  In the Hall, please extend your appreciation to our chanters and choir members who come faithfully every Sunday and sing for us.
 
There will be a Second Tray TODAY for the flood-devasted towns in Thessalia, Greece that devastated many cities and towns like Larissa, Karditsa, Palamas, Trikala, Volos, Pilion…  Some of the towns have been completely destroyed. Some of them had their homes completely covered in water and only the rooftops were visible. The waters have subsided in some areas, though, some other areas the water is not leaving. Many have lost all of their belongings in their homes, they have no water, no electricity and some have their roads washed out and bridges collapsing. This “Mediterranean Hurricane” “Daniel” dropped more than 36 inches of water in less than two days in the central part of Greece in Thessaly. The old lake “Carla” has emerged. It was dried up since 1962. It is “coming back”, and many villages and towns are in its pathway. Please give your generous offering to help and comfort these people. We will also have the tray next Sunday and will keep this account open for a few weeks. This weather phenomenon is equivalent to an 8.9 earthquake on the Richter scale. Hundreds of thousands of livestock were drowned, and the government is taking them away. It is a slow process while the people now there, are facing health issues from infections, like malaria, typhoid... They started vaccinations to help...  Not able to recover from Hurricane Daniel that left all the destruction two weeks ago, now “Elias” is giving hailstorms and heavy rains, and the floods came back again to the same area this week. AGAIN, some people don’t have electricity like in Volos and Pilion or water to drink. People are heartbroken, distressed, speechless and devastated. Many have nowhere to turn.  Please give generously.  Thank you.


Congratulations to our Greek School PTO Officers:
Vasiliki Milonopoulos           -  President
Stavroula Fotiou                   - 1st Vice President
Konstantina Tsintzelis          - 2nd Vice President
Magda Patitsas                      - Secretary
Angie Karagiannis                 - Treasurer
Dr. Elenee Raudenbush        - Coordinator of Communication

24th Annual Holy Trinity Junior Ensemble - Luncheon/Recital: October 15, 2023: The Annual Holy Trinity Junior Ensemble is a church youth ministry consisting of talented students who demonstrate great skill in their area of the performing arts. In its 24th year, the mission of this group, started by the late Verna Kounas, is to share our youth’s talents with our community yearly through a luncheon/recital. Selected through audition, students include musicians (instrumental and voice), ballet dance, dramatic reading and even Taekwondo. This ensemble recital will be a memorial for the late Verna Kounas who started this because she loved children so much.  For more information on the Junior Ensemble recital please call Connie Kokos 717-571-9066.

Christmas Musical - Saturday, December 16th, 2023:
We are pleased to announce that the theme for this year's musical production is "Christmas Around the World." This year we will take a musical journey around the world as we showcase how the birth of Christ is celebrated in Europe, Africa, the United States and more. We have already started rehearsals. The musical is open to ages 2-Adult. We need singers, dancers, instrumentalists and narrators as well as backstage crew, set construction, costume sewing, help with cast meals, post show reception and much more. We would love to see entire families perform together. Please call/text Connie Kokos (717) 571-9066 or Ann Ariano (717) 379-6350 for information.
 
Please fill out your Stewardship Pledge for 2023 with careful and prayerful consideration and please return it to the Church Office if you haven’t already done so. Since the Stewardship Budget for 2023 Stewardship year is 4% more than 2022 Stewardship year, we are hoping for you to consider those factors and add your generosity in consideration accordingly. In fact, we are looking for the average pledge to be a little over $1,250 for the year. To go online for your stewardship please use this link: Stewardship Pledge for 2023

Stewardship Pledge: You can find stewardship cards in the Narthex and in the Church Office.  As of 9/27/23 - 350 families have made their pledges, which is 70% of our families. The actual contributions received are $327,877 at 66%. We thank all the families that have pledged & contributed so far for 2023.

Bookstore News:  
The Bookstore is open on Sundays after Church. This is a special ministry in our Cathedral. There are many inspirational books, holy icons, and other items that you may wish to buy for your home or give as gifts. Please come by and see our bookstore. There is a nice variety of NEW ITEMS in the bookstore. We have the 10-year Anniversary Memorabilia with the icon of the Holy Trinity sketched on a plexiglass in the Bookstore. They may be great gifts for graduates to have in college. They are on sale for $18.

Icons for Sponsorship. 
If you want to sponsor one of the Holy Icons or you know of someone who would like to sponsor one, please let me know ASAP.  Please call me at 717-818-1160 or email me at frmichael@holytrinityhbg.org.  Our Church is adorned with these beautiful Holy new icons. It is the House of the Lord with His Saints praying for us!  Please see the list of icons that are available in the Narthex.


We have exciting news!  After many years of disrepair, we are upgrading our Sunday School and Greek School classrooms to benefit our youth in their growth as Greek Orthodox Christians.  Additionally, the classrooms will be able to serve as conference rooms for organizational meetings and for events such as Clergy Laity.  Each classroom will be freshly painted with new flooring.  Additionally, we will add modern technology and conference/classroom furnishings.  We are looking for donors!  You may sponsor the project as follows:

Full Classroom Sponsor -                  $6,000 each (8 rooms)
Half Classroom Sponsor -                  $3,000 (8 rooms)
Full Conference Room Sponsor -        $7,500 (2 rooms)
Please contact Fr. Michael, Basil Papoutsis or George Spanos if you are interested in sponsoring.
 

October Events

GOYA Kick-Off Meeting this Sunday, October 1st at 4:30 pm in the Hall.  We will have a guest speaker with the topic:  “Decision Making Skills and Healthy Boundaries”. The Officers will also have the year’s events to discuss with all.  All GOYAns 7th – 12th grades are welcome to join us.
 


Philoptochos Clothing Drive to be held from October 1st to November 12th in the hall.  We will have boxes in the Hall for brand new or slightly used coats, jackets, scarves, gloves/mittens, winter items, etc.., These items will be given to the less fortunate and we please ask that they be clean, no holes or smelly.
 
Senior Citizen’s trip to New York this Tuesday, October 3rd  to visit the St. Nicholas Shrine and also have an audience with His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros at the Archdiocese Headquarters. Afterwards we will do a little shopping and have dinner. The cost is $125 for Members of Senior Citizens and $150 for non-members. Please register your name(s) if you plan on going. Registration table is in the Hall. A few seats are left.    
 
Adult Greek Class will begin this Wednesday, October 4th from 8pm to 9:15pm.
 

Bible Classes will begin with Thursday’s class on Thursday, October 5th at 7pm and Friday’s class will begin on Friday, October 6th at 11am. If you have never joined us on Zoom, please email Fr. Michael at frmichael@holytrinityhbg.org to give him your email address. Both classes will be on Zoom.

 
GOYA Day of Service at Holy Protection Monastery on Monday, October 9th from 10:30am – 3pm.  We will meet at the Monastery, have a quick tour, and have a day of service to help in whatever areas are needed. The monastery will also provide lunch to all. Appropriate attire is needed.
 
Senior Citizens – Sts. Joachim and Anna will have a meeting on Tuesday, October 10th at 11am.  We ask that all persons 55 and up are invited to attend.  We will also be having Elections.
 
HOPE/JOY  Get-Together at Trindle Bowl on Friday, October 13th at 7pm.
 
Olympic Flames Fall 2023 Practice Schedule.  Hope everyone had an enjoyable summer. We are excited to restart the official dance season!  Below is our October Practice Schedule.  If you have any questions, please feel free to email Ann Ariano at ariano@pa.net.

OCTOBER

Wednesday, October 11:   7pm-8pm Registration and First day of practice for all groups
Wednesday, October 25:   7 pm-8pm All groups
Sunday, October 29:         All groups (immediately following Sunday  School) Junior and Senior groups will practice for 1 ½ hours, Beg/Intermediate for 1 hour.
Registration forms, Dance Schedule and By-laws are in the October Source.
 
Eastern Regional Orthodoxy on Tap for Young Adults (18-35 yrs.) w/ Fr. Demetrius Nicoloudakis on Sunday, October 22 at 4pm @ Trivet Diner in Allentown, PAClick here to RSVP. The restaurant space for us is maxed at 50-60 people. Please sign up now to get a spot. Come to order dinner, hear a dynamic and lovable speaker, and meet old and new Orthodox friends. We would like to see our Young Adults, here from Camp Hill, attend this event.
  

2023 Christmas Musical Flyer

2023-24 Registration form for Greek School
ADULT GREEK SCHOOL CLASS 2023 2024

OOT Allentown flyer

Names for Paraklesis Form

Lord's Voice
Foni Kyriou

YAL Conference Flyer
YAL Conference Registration Flyer

Metropolis Newsletter - August