President’s Message Holy Trinity Faithful, A short time ago, a parishioner shared that she was approached by a recent patient at MercyOne Siouxland Medical Center, across the street from our church. The recently-discharged patient shared that she was very ill and was experiencing some very uncomfortable nights while in the hospital. Her room happened to face our church. Once she realized that, she stated that at night she laid on her side, so that she could face Holy Trinity. Had it not been for the cross illumined on top of our church, she doesn’t know if she could have made it. Our cross brought her hope, comfort and strength. The weekend of April 10th, our parish was visited by Metropolitan Nathanael of Chicago. During his visit, he bestowed upon Alex Karras one of the Bronze Cross Metropolis Servant Leadership Awards. Each parish in our metropolis was asked to nominate a parishioner who demonstrates exceptional service and inspires others to get involved in the life of the church. Even though several of our parishioners would qualify for this award, it was unanimous that Alex should receive the first nomination from our parish. Also during the Metropolitan’s visit, he met with the parish council to discuss how our parishes overall survived the year of Covid-19. Thanks again to Kosta Antonopoulos and those who served on the parish Covid-19 team, they led us in following the State and Metropolis health guidelines, with the utmost safety precautions. His Eminence expressed that he’s extremely pleased with our active, positive and dynamic parish and encouraged us to continue the ministries that we have and to even add more! Father Luke and the parish council discussed and are implementing a new Random Acts of Kindness ministry. Small cards will be given to parishioners, who in turn can perform random acts of kindness for people. It could be purchasing coffee for the person ahead of you in line, paying for the meal of a person at a restaurant, the possibilities are endless. The card would then be given to that person stating that the random act of kindness was provided by a parishioner of Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church. I truly believe that one of the greatest random acts of kindness we’ve been providing, without even realizing it, has been the illumined cross on top of our church. We will never know how many people it has touched over the years! Random acts of kindness were provided by those who helped make our Lenten, Holy Week and Pascha services so beautiful and meaningful! You are truly appreciated! Several of you have provided random acts of kindness by supporting our recent fundraisers for our Accessibility Ramp Project. Some of you donated generous monetary contributions, some of you donated treasures to our community rummage sale and others of you attended, supported and cheered on the project. Many thanks to Julie Konidas and Presbytera Marusia for spearheading these super-successful events. They definitely help put the FUN in FUNdraising! Lastly, we encourage everyone to provide random acts of kindness by signing up to help prepare for, staff and support our upcoming Greek Fest Drive-Up on June 26 and 27, and our three-day Greek Fest on August 20, 21 and 22. Reach out to our event chairs, Leah Baryo and Andrea Konidas, and let them know you’re kindly ready, willing and able to help! Many blessings for a wonderful summer! Maria Schultz, Parish Council President Summer 2021
Page 5
