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Published by The National Herald, November 26, 2004

For some, charity begins far from home

Amy Chiconas spends her weekends teaching Sunday school and her weekdays working for an international shipping company.

Recently, Chiconas, 25, discovered that her most important exports didn't travel by crates, but in the form of charity.

This past summer, Chiconas, of Madison [New Jersey], helped lead a group of teenagers, several of them from Union County, on a weeklong mission to Tijuana, Mexico.

The youths came from two Greek Orthodox churches in New Jersey: St. George's in Clifton and Holy Trinity in Westfield.

The mission, Project Mexico, hopes to involve young people in charity by having them build homes for Mexico's poor. Since 1988, St. George's involvement with the charity has been coordinated through the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.

Chiconas credits fellow parishioner Kathy Liakis and the Rev. George Orfanokos, a priest at St. George's, for the project's success.

Working alongside her were 12 students who spent a week building a home for a poor family, as well as helping residents of St. Innocent Orphanage, which tends to abandoned and abused Mexican teenage boys. The American students stayed at St. Innocent's.

"There are a number of reasons I got involved with this," Chiconas said. "I love ministry work, and want to show the kids just how powerful it can be. But likewise, I wanted to show that charity isn't just about donating money blindly, but also about doing ministry through hard work and effort."

Along with Chiconas and two other coordinators who went to Mexico were the following youth members: Stacey O'Sullivan, 18, of Mountainside; Alexandra Psyhojoa, 16, of Westfield; Gerri Repousis, 17, of Avenel; Kristina Zias, 16, of Edison; Jessica Wacker, 17, of Summit; Timothy Souritzidis, 18, of West Caldwell; Savvas Dimitratos, 15, of Clifton; Katerina Dimitratos, 18, of Clifton; Alexa Cecchini, 17, of Ru therford; Alexandra Scordilis, 17, of Clifton; Kickolas Katsanos, 18, of Totowa and Andrew Horvath, 19, of Holmdel.

"Amy was really great, really inspiring," said O'Sullivan, a senior at Governor Livingston High School in Berkeley Heights.

"People down there are so incredibly appreciative," she said. "We don't realize how much we really have."

O'Sullivan, who is somewhat conversant in Spanish, said she and her fellow students lived in spartan conditions, without electricity or indoor bathrooms.

"It's amazing to see how you really can live with such a small amount of materials," she said.

Chiconas said the first step toward preparing the youths was in establishing priorities.

"Our group motto for the week was, 'God first, others second, self third,'" Chiconas said. "The kids also used (Green Day's) song lyrics, 'It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right. I hope you've had the time of your life.'"

The words turned out to be prophetic. With all-student labor, the group built a solid stucco home from the foundation up, with concrete floors and a sturdy roof.

The homes are far from extravagant, but they are sturdy and safe, a drastic improvement over the porous, tin-walled rooms many residents in the area call home.

The youths, none of whom had construction experience, were instructed by adult guides as to which chores to perform, all accomplished without power tools.

"I thought it was fun," O'Sullivan said. "If you go on these types of trips, you have to be willing to do things you haven't done before."

Despite the long days of construction, much of the most meaningful work occurred after sundown.

The teens from St. George's and Holy Trinity blended in with their Mexican counterparts almost immediately, said Chiconas, creating bonds that continue to this day, through letters and even e-mail.

O'Sullivan keeps in touch with two boys from the orphanage. "They get upset by the fact that people come and go so much," she said. "It's encouraging for them to keep in touch.

Chiconas has a long history of charity and social work, dating from her days at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. She was recently honored as a Leadership Institute graduate from Chi Omega, her collegiate fraternal organization.

Additionally, she has been involved in church ministry since her teenage years, making her involvement with St. George's youth group programs a natural fit for her personal and spiritual mission. St. George's story of charity is one of many over the last 15 years.

In 1996, the church expanded its outreach through the opening of St. Innocent, the only facility dedicated to teenage boys in Tijuana and one of only four in Mexico.

Due to the lack of facilities, local orphan boys are usually only cared for until they reach 12, at which point they are left to fend for themselves. Many end up living on the street, leading to abuse and criminal activity, Chiconas said.

The program works to impart independent living skills to older boys who complete high school, including job training, personal finances, ethics, a healthy lifestyle and household management.

The orphanage is in the process of securing scholarships for boys to attend university or vocational school. Organizers also aim to increase the number of homes built for families and to bring as many volunteers to do the work as are able.

Chiconas says she will undoubtedly return to Tijuana next year, with a mostly different group of students.

Despite the long hours and tough working conditions, she felt her youths not only succeeded in building a house, but also in developing a new appreciation for charity in a largely uncharitable world.

"When you first get back, you really get disgusted at how much people take for granted," O'Sullivan said.

Students who built homes for the poor in Mexico last summer reunited at St. George's in Clifton, which co-sponsored Project Mexico with another Greek Orthodox church, Holy Trinity in Westfield. The students are Amy Chiconas of Madison; Katerina Dimitratos of Clifton; Savvas Dimitratos of Clifton; Alexandra Scordilis of Clifton; Timothy Souritzidis of West Caldwell, and the Rev. George Orfanokos, a priest at St. George's. Back in New Jersey, students continued their charitable work as they gatherd at the Redeemer Church in Morristown to pack food for needy families for the holidays. They included John Xenakis, of Morristown and Stacey O'Sullivan, of Mountainside, a senior at Governor Livingston High School in Berkeley Heights, who was part of the group that went to Mexico.



Volume 6 Number 48 - Tuesday, November 30th, 2004	A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY