Greek War Relief Association

The National Greek War Relief Association chaired by Archbishop Athenagoras and Spyros Skouras was formed in October 1940 within two weeks of the invasion of Greece. The goal of this association was to collect ìTen million dollars to procure foodstuffs, medical supplies and clothing." Mr. Skouras visited numerous Greek communities to urge the formation of local War Relief committees and by November 20, 1940 over 300 local committees had been established. During the next five months $3,336,700 was cabled to Greece for the purchase of ambulances, the building of bombproof shelters, the setting up of soup kitchen; workshops for refugees, and to furnish financial assistance to the destitute families of slain soldiers. The program functioned two and one half years and resulted in the shipment of more than 700,000 tons of food, clothing, medical supplies and other vital commodities, which were valued in excess of one hundred million dollars.

In 1954 the War Relief Association again formed to assist Greece during the liberation period. Health services, a mass radiology program to determine active TB cases, mobile clinic, hot lunches, hospital assistance, provisions for orphans, artificial limb production and the sending of food and clothing were all phases of the War Relief recovery program. The "give an animal" project was another War Relief activity intended to assist in the rehabilitation of the poverty-stricken country. Yale Professor C. W. Mendell was designated chairman of the New Haven committee and John Jenetopulos (Basel) was the "President of the Greek War Relief Association."

Parish Council vice president Jenetopulos was appointed by the Parish Council president M. Psathas to coordinate the total community effort. Under the direction of Mr. Jenetopulos the local committee scheduled numerous events intended to inform New Haveners about the plight of Greece and to enlist their support for this war-torn nation. Money raised through mail solicitations, door to door collections, sales in the War Relief Store, collections in theatres and profits from other fund-raising events eventually totaled in excess of twenty thousand dollars. Clothing collections, with items mended and packed by the women of our community, and all the cleaning done free of charge by John Pappas of Washington Cleaners, resulted in the sending to Greece of twenty-five thousand garments. The Greek War Relief project was one in which Greek and non-Greek, men, women and children were united in the common cause of providing relief to a heroic nation.

In 1957, John Jenetopulos received a telegram from the American Red Cross requesting the local War Relief Group to raise funds to assist them in an aid program for which they had pledged three million dollars to assist the children of Greece. Catherine Faraclas, Theone Neris, Mary Marnel and other parish women assisted Mr. Jenetopulos in raising the requested money, and in one year collected $7,700 from local Greek families.