A small clarification before I begin this week’s commentary.

Most of you know me as the publisher of The Pappas Post. That work is one part of my life, and one that I take very seriously. But it is not the only work I do.

Like many of you, my life is made up of different commitments, different responsibilities and different passions. I am involved in various professional projects, creative projects and volunteer efforts. And at the center of all of them is the work that has been closest to my heart for more than two decades: the Greek America Foundation.

It is important to make that distinction here. The Pappas Post is a news and storytelling platform. The Greek America Foundation is a nonprofit organization I founded and continue to help lead. They are separate entities, with different purposes and different missions.

But sometimes the lines naturally cross.

Sometimes the work of the Greek America Foundation becomes a story that I believe deserves to be shared with the wider community that reads The Pappas Post. Not because it is “my” organization. Not because I want to blur boundaries. But because the work itself speaks to something larger about who we are, what we value and what kind of community we want to be.

This is one of those times.

This summer, the Greek America Foundation will mark the 10th anniversary of Greek America Corps, a volunteer program that has sent young people from North America to Greece not as tourists, not as spectators, not as passive inheritors of a beautiful culture, but as volunteers. As servants. As young people willing to show up, roll up their sleeves and give something back.

For ten years, Greek America Corps has been one of the purest expressions of what I believe Greek identity can and should mean. Not slogans. Not flags alone. Not nostalgia. Not another dinner, gala or photo opportunity.

Action. Philanthropy lived.

Since the program began, dozens upon dozens of young people have traveled to Greece through Greek America Corps and offered their time, energy and hearts to people in need. They have worked alongside trusted partner organizations in Greece that serve vulnerable communities with dignity and compassion.

They have served refugees and asylum seekers, including children who have fled war, violence and displacement. They have helped prepare and distribute meals for Greek families facing food insecurity. They have spent time with senior citizens. They have supported children, social service organizations, community kitchens, shelters, environmental projects and local initiatives that rarely make the headlines but hold together the fragile fabric of daily life for people who have fallen through the cracks.

And in the process, something extraordinary happens.

The volunteers go to Greece thinking they are going to help others.

They come home changed themselves.

They come home with a different understanding of Greece. Not the Greece of postcards and sunsets and summer vacations. They come home knowing the Greece of struggle, resilience, generosity, bureaucracy, heartbreak, laughter, fatigue, warmth and human connection.

They see Greece not as an idea, but as a living, breathing place.

They see philotimo not as a word printed on a coffee mug or used in a speech, but as something that happens in real time, person to person, meal by meal, visit by visit, gesture by gesture.

They understand that heritage is not something we boast or wave flags about at parades.

It is something we must live.

This is why Greek America Corps matters so deeply to me.

It gives young people a bridge to Greece that is not built only on beaches, ruins and family stories. It is built on responsibility. It asks them to enter Greece with humility. It asks them to listen before speaking. It asks them to serve before claiming belonging.

That is powerful.

This summer, for our 10th anniversary year, Greek America Corps will focus on one program on the island of Chios. Volunteers will spend three weeks serving local communities, working with partners, learning from the island and experiencing Hellenic values not as abstract ideals, but as action.

To make this possible, we need to raise $25,000 now.

That is the goal. It is clear, simple and urgent.

We are not launching a vague campaign. We are not asking for support for an abstract future need. We are asking our community to help us fund this specific anniversary program on Chios.

Your support will help make it possible for these young volunteers to go to Greece and serve. It will help fund the program, the structure around it, the coordination, the accommodations, the local transportation, the shared meals, the excursions that give volunteers context and emotional grounding, and the overall experience that allows this work to happen responsibly and meaningfully.

More importantly, your support will help continue a decade-long commitment to sending young people to Greece not just to visit, but to contribute.

That distinction matters.

Because there are many ways to connect young people to Greece. We can send them on vacations. We can invite them to conferences. We can bring them to cultural events. All of these things have value.

But service does something different.

Service strips away the performance. It removes the distance. It puts a young person face to face with another human being and says: here, help.

Help prepare this meal.
Help teach this lesson.
Help carry these supplies.
Help make this child laugh.
Help this elderly person feel seen.
Help this community partner know they are not alone.

That kind of experience leaves a mark. It has left a mark on every volunteer who has passed through Greek America Corps. It has left a mark on the organizations we have supported. It has left a mark on me. And now, ten years later, I am asking you to help us keep going.

If The Pappas Post has ever made you feel more connected to Greece, I hope you will consider supporting this effort. If you believe Greek identity should mean more than ancestry, I hope you will consider supporting this effort.

If you believe young people should be taught that service, volunteerism and philanthropy are not optional extras but core values, I hope you will consider supporting this effort.

If you believe Greece deserves not only our admiration but our action, I hope you will consider supporting this effort.

Every gift matters.

A gift of $25 is meaningful. A gift of $100 helps move us closer. A gift of $500, $1,000 or more can make a major difference. A gift of $3,800 can sponsor a volunteer. A leadership gift can help carry the entire program forward.

And yes, one donor or family could fund the entire $25,000 anniversary program and help us name this milestone year in a meaningful way.

But whether you give $25 or $25,000, the message is the same.

You are helping send them to serve.

You are helping young people discover Greece through compassion.

You are helping vulnerable people in Greece feel the presence of a diaspora that has not forgotten them.

You are helping prove that Greek America is not just a community of memory, but a community of action.

For ten years, Greek America Corps has helped young people turn heritage into service.

This summer, on Chios, we have the chance to continue that work.

Please help us raise $25,000 and send them to serve.

Donate today and be part of this 10th anniversary Greek America Corps program.