One of the most difficult things in the world to accomplish is securing a meeting withthe world’s most powerful person, the President of the United States. It is also extremely difficult to receive an invitation to the ceremonies thatsurround some meetings. Thousands of countries, companies and other organizations pay well over a million dollars a year trying to cultivate the relationships necessary to do so, yet are unsuccessful.
The24-hour-a-day job of the President leaves little room for such meetings. Presidents barely have time to meet with even large groupings of important people such as: governors, mayors; the energy industry, communications industry, high tech industry, healthcare industry, transportation industry and many other crucial industries; women’s groups, minority groups, ethnic groups, labor unions, religious leaders, disabled groups, university presidents and many more.
Even more rarely will a President consider meeting with one member of a category of important people, such as one specific ethnic group. For Irish-Americans, who make up one out of every 10 Americans, Presidents make an exception and host an annual event to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.
How then is it possible to get five Presidents to take the time from their busy schedules to meet every year for 26 years with an ethnic group that accounts for only one out of every 300 Americans and ranks 33rd among nationalities — we Greek-Americans? Only the Irish-Americans and Greek-Americans get this honor. How is our small group able to get unfiltered information about issues dear to our hearts to the ear of the world’s most important policymaker and his top advisors?
The answer is: because of the efforts of wonderful, self-sacrificing Hellenes across the country who have worked closely with us at the Coordinated Effort of Hellenes and the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. Over all the years, these Hellenes have contributed many millions of dollars, as well as millions of dollars worth of professional expertise and daily professional services to help build a base that enables this annual White House Presidential meeting. This base was also instrumental to Cyprus’ accession to the European Union and improvements in Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew’s religious freedom.
So, of the one million plus Hellenes in America, who does the White House invite to participate in this event with the President? They are some of the self-sacrificing Hellenes mentioned above joined by those Hellenes who have excelled in all parts of American society. They are invited to enjoy the gift this country has afforded us through these White House meetings. However, the greatest reward is seeing how a citizen’s involvement with the Coordinated Effort and the Archdiocese translates into America benefiting from better policy toward Hellenic and Orthodox matters. We welcome the involvement of other self-sacrificing Hellenes who share our goals.
