The Greek American Heritage Society of Philadelphia

GAHSP
Home » News » The Mission of the Greek American Heritage Society

The Mission of the Greek American Heritage Society

November 12, 2013 in General

Recently at a Board of Director’s meeting, a few of the Board Members of the Greek American Heritage Society (GAHSP) were discussing the Heritage Society’s mission. Nick Yiantsos lead the way by suggesting that this tagline could serve as a summary of the mission – “Our Heritage makes us unique – share yours”.

Dr. Elias Iliades offered that the GAHSP needs to connect people to their heritage because – “If it is lost, it will be lost forever”. While Nick Voutsakis said “Our heritage is connected to the collective memories and stories that we share, the Heritage Society is developing programs that collect and share those stories with our community.”

The official mission statement of the Greek American Heritage Society of Philadelphia is “to inspire social change and trigger personal growth by reconnecting both youth and adults to their Greek heritage.” Our goal is to sponsor programs designed for people of all backgrounds to illustrate Greek values, build community, and inspire excitement about our individual and collective heritages.

Over the past months, the GAHSP has partnered with Cosmos Philly – Philadelphia’s Greek American Media Network to produce a number of programs focused on the heritage of the regional Greek American Community. The two organizations are partnering to conduct the “Love your YIAYIA & PAPPOU Photo Contest”, and to conduct individual and group oral histories.

Cosmos Philly is recognized as the preeminent Greek media network covering the metropolitan Philadelphia area. They develop documentaries, news and features via video, photography and reporting. Every week, they bring insight to the Greek experience from around the metropolitan area.

“This partnership is supporting the Heritage Society as it works to help people connect to, understand and appreciate their individual heritage while being part of a specific community”, stated Nick Yiantsos, 1st Vice President, Greek American Heritage Society of Philadelphia, “after all, that is our goal – to share our stories with the community”.


More recent news