CRETE Magazines July August 2013 | Page 20

PYA President’s Message President Katerina Makridakis • [phone] [email protected] West Coast Vice President Alex Sargetis • [phone] [email protected] East Coast Vice President Christos Markakis • [phone] [email protected] Treasurer Manoli Liodakis • [phone] [email protected] Secretary Mary Papadakis • [phone] [email protected] Kri-Kri Editor Joseph Antonakakis • [phone] [email protected] IT Chair Vaggelis El-Ali • [phone] [email protected] Fundraising Chair Manolis Boutzoukas • [phone] [email protected] Philanthropic Chair Matthaios Daoutis • [phone] [email protected] Public Relations co-Chairs Matina Legakis • [phone] [email protected] Stephanie Novotny • [phone] [email protected] Cultural Chair Nikolaos Markakis • [phone] [email protected] West Coast Youth Supervisor Xanthippi Gelasakis • [phone] [email protected] East Coast Youth Supervisor Terry Stratoudakis • [phone] [email protected] Dear Fellow Youth Members, I would like to start by congratulating the outgoing PYA Board on a successful and productive term. Your hard work and dedication has not gone unnoticed, and I know I speak for all of the members of the PYA when I say we appreciate everything you have done for our youth. Anyone with the passion and conviction to volunteer to take on a leadership role in such a vast organization should be commended, and so I would also like to humbly thank the new members of the PYA Board for stepping up to this challenge. Your efforts in the next Katerina Makridakis two years will help shape the future of our PYA President organization. I am beyond ecstatic to have been given [email protected] the opportunity by my fellow members to pioneer these efforts and spearhead the implementation of everyone’s great ideas! One of my biggest goals as president is to keep everyone more informed on the happenings of the organization. What we do as a board is not a secret operation. On the contrary, it is a service to all of YOU, the youth members, who pay your dues and attend meetings. For this reason, I want to make our efforts more accessible. One way in which the board and I plan on doing this is through the use of committees. You may have noticed our efforts to find volunteers for the following committees: Communications, Philanthropy, Information Technology, and Cultural. Per the links we have made available to all of you via Google Drive, you can find a description of each committee, as well as information on goals and members. These links are available on our website, in the “Committees” tab: www.pancretan-youth.org/committees.html. I urge you to take a look at those, even if you do not plan on joining a committee, in order to stay informed on our latest and greatest goals. The board and I feel that these are a great way to divide and conquer, as well as keep our youth informed. Please email me or any member of the board to join. To say that we are excited to begin our term as your new PYA Board is a grave understatement. Anyone can talk about their love for Crete. Anyone can talk about the utmost importance of our beautiful traditions. Anyone can swear to protect our roots with unyielding conviction. And so, rather than declare that which goes without saying, I will instead give you my word that the board and I will lead the youth to the best of our ability, and strive always to make an already great organization even greater. We humbly thank you, our youth members, for giving us the opportunity to do so. Sincerely, Katerina Makridakis PYA President 20 KPHTH | July/august 2013