Greetings brothers,

Spring is upon us and the district lodge is once again making visitations to all the chapters in the state to provide updates on the programs the past AHEPAN year and working to be ready for a smooth district convention.

Here are some updates.

The district winter raffle went very well. The district was able to profit a little over $2,000 dollars. The winners of both the Ipad and Itouch were from Illinois. Congratulations to both of them for being the lucky winners.

The district continues to receive donations from the chapters to support the National Hellenic Museum in Greek Town Chicago. So far the district has collected $6,000 dollars and on our way to meet our goal of $10,000 dollars. Thank you to chapter #157 for donating $3,000 dollars and chapter #123 for donating $2,000 dollars. The district is also contributing $1,000 dollars from the general treasury. I am looking forward to generous donations from chapters #81, #100, and #232 to meet our goal.

Lt. Governor Matt Kochevar will be officially representing the district at Capitol Hill day on March 28^th. Nick Loxas and Pete Kavadas will also join Matt in meeting with our representative from Indiana. The goal is to make sure our representatives are aware of issues near and dear to the AHEPA at all levels.

The district has officially submitted the paper work to the State of Indiana Gaming Commission so that we can hold a special bingo on May 18^th. We hope to be hearing from them soon and are authorized to continue. This will be a significant milestone for the district and help us immensely from a financial perspective so we can support more charities in the community.

In addition, the district lodge has begun the paper work to get authorized by the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles to allow Indiana residents to order an AHEPA specialized license plate. This would be a significant boost to AHEPA to raise funds to support Indiana charities throughout the state. In addition, it will be a great way to advertise AHEPA and show how proud we are to be AHEPANS and allow for others to support the largest Greek American organization in the country. This process has just begun so we are still at least a year away from seeing this get completed and accepted. We do need to get 500 signatures supporting the AHEPA to be considered for specialized plates through the Indiana BMV.

Membership across the district is up once again. We have been growing for four straight years and 2011 is the highest District 12 has ever been in membership. A great achievement but we still have more work to do.

The district website where you are reading this is doing very well. Activity on the website is up for the 3^rd straight year. It continues to be updated as often as the webmaster (me) receives information to post. In addition, the AHEPA-DOP Foundation which handles all the district scholarships also has a new website. You can visit this website by going to www.ahepadopfoundation.org. The foundation website was just activated in March and information is still being posted but go to that website for applications and overall information on AHEPA-DOP District scholarships. Soon, anyone will be able to donate money via the website. I encourage everyone to donate to the scholarship fund. Our youth are our future and we must support them just like the generations before supported us.

The district #12 official charity is St. Baldricks and on March 5^th, AHEPA chapter 78 and District 12 hosted a shaving event at SS. Constantine and Helen Greek orthodox cathedral. As of March 22^nd, the district, chapters, members, and friends of AHEPA have donated over $8,000 dollars with more money still coming in. This is a great achievement for a great cause. This money will go a long way to help researchers find a cure to children’s cancer. We will defeat this horrible disease and it’s the caring and generosity of all of us that will achieve it.

Our Sons of Pericles (SOP) chapter #53 is doing very well. The SONS chapter #53 is the only active SONS chapter in Indiana and that chapter was reborn last year. The chapter went from being non-existent to having close to 50 members. They are now the second largest SONS chapter in the country. They are very active with fundraising, charitable work and overall social activities in the name of brotherhood. I commend the young men for being active in the community and making a difference.

Lt. Governor Matt Kochevar has sent letters to all of our Indiana US representatives to join the Hellenic Caucus. We currently only have two of the nine Indiana US representatives part of the Hellenic Caucus. We want to see that number rise significantly and we hope that our reaching out to them with a detailed letter asking for their support will make a difference. In addition to this, Matt has officially requested the state of Indiana to consider issuing a Proclamation to recognize and support AHEPA 90^th Anniversary for 2012.

In athletics, the district soccer team continues to approve in indoor soccer. We are consistently making the playoffs and finished as high as fourth. We are very close to having all the pieces in place to consistently compete for the championship. I appreciate all the support the chapters and AHEPA brothers have provided to the soccer team. It’s their generosity that allows the younger AHEPAN and SONS members to play soccer for “free”.

Finally, the district convention will be on June 8^th and 9^th in Carmel, Indiana at Holy Trinity Greek Church. Details are being emailed to the chapters and more details will be coming soon on this website. In addition, the National convention will be held in Las Vegas on July 22^nd to the 27^th at the Monte Carlo Casino Hotel and Resort. Please visit www.ahepa.org for more details on the national convention. It will be at this convention, which I plan to run for Supreme Governor for Region 6 (Region 6 comprised of districts #12, #13, and #14). My term as district governor is coming to an end and I would appreciate the delegates from district #12 will cast their votes for me.

I will provide one more final governor message before the district convention. Until then, I hope everyone has a great spring and please stay safe.

Fraternally,

Nick J. Kavadas
Governor AHEPA District #12