President Andrew A. Athens Appeals for National Fund, Medical Care Support at Regional SAE Conventions

CHICAGO, September 27 -- With a strong appeal to the worldwide Omogeneia for the targeted support of the new National Fund (ETO) and the Medical Care Initiative, President Andrew A. Athens today launched in Melbourne, Australia, the first of four regional World Council of Hellenes (SAE) conventions.

"For the past six years, we have been putting in place a successful global SAE organization that bridges the continents and provides a formal link among Hellenic communities and between them and Greece, " Mr. Athens said.

"We have demonstrated that the Hellenic Diaspora will assist large segments of Hellenes living in a different corner of the world. Our seven Medical centers that provide life-saving basic care to historic communities in the Newly Independent States of the former Soviet Union is a glowing example.

"Now the time has come to ask Hellenes everywhere to support other important projects through a National Fund (Ethniko Tameio Omogenon -- ETO). We are asking that everybody become a 'member' of the fund," Mr. Athens said.

Oceania district's regional convention is organized September 27 - 29 by SAE Vice President/Regional Coordinator Kostas Vertzayias. The other three are November 1 - 3 in Johanesburg, South Africa, for the Asia/Africa region by Vice President/Regional Coordinator Vassilis Magdalinos; November 8 - 10 in Frankfurt, Germany, for Europe, by Vice President/Regional Coordinator Angelos Aslanides; and November 22 - 24 in New York, for North and South America, by Vice President/Regional Coordinator Chris Tomaras. Cultural events organized with the support of the General Secretariat of Greeks Abroad are taking place in conjunction with the conventions.