When is the last time you’ve attended church services, a Greek fundraising event, or a Greek dance? There is a good chance the answer might be, “not in a while”. I believe this is the case for many of us.

Over the last 10 years we have begun to see a shift in the commitments and involvements of Greeks in their respective communities. As the current generations have become more assimilated to the challenges of everyday life, we are becoming more distant to our Greek heritage and culture. Attendance levels are declining rapidly at church services, annual dances, fundraising galas, festivals, Greek schools, etc. There is a constant struggle to recruit volunteers. Fundraising initiatives are struggling to meet their goals. Events are on the decline. We are becoming less engaging with all types of initiatives that relate to our Greek culture.

This drastic decline has created enough concern that if this continues, our heritage will disappear within the next two generations. On that thought alone, we decided to create The AF Foundation.

The AF Foundation will promote and preserve Hellenism in the diaspora. This will be done through various events including educational wine dinners, seminars, workshops, fundraising galas, networking opportunities, film, and more. Over the decades in North America, Greek cultural events are what assisted our communities to grow and thrive. As modern times have set in, we have seen a significant decline in the attendance and support of events. One of our ongoing goals is to continuously host events and bring us back together in person. We strongly believe that in person events are crucial to keep us active in support. In theory this initiative can be very impactful and effective, but in reality, it requires all of us to do our part and participate in supporting to save the future of Hellenism in America.

Let’s all “raise” to this important occasion to save Hellenism in America!