By Menios Papadimitriou
During the last five years, Steven Christoforou and Christian Gonzalez have visited over 50 parishes throughout North America leading Archdiocesan BeeTreats.
The retreats, inspired by the wildly successful video series “Be the Bee” (where Archbishop Elpidophoros of America made a guest appearance in 2019!) and hosted by the National Youth Office of the Archdiocese (Y2AM), have been made possible by a generous grant from Leadership 100. Countless Youth and Adults participated in one-day retreats that contained four separate modules and were bookended by community morning prayers and vespers. The final module of each BeeTreat centered around loving one’s neighbor and challenged the host parish to put faith into action by crafting a service project for their community to engage.
During one such BeeTreat in March 2022, Fathers Hector Firoglanis and Theodosios Palis’ parish, Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Lancaster, PA, gathered school supplies, icons, liturgical items and vestments, shoes, and clothing. The number of items they gathered filled five shipping containers which they sent to Kenya to assist the ministry of Bishop Neofitos of Nyeri and Mount Kenya. At long last, the shipping containers arrived in Kenya on Monday, August 29, 2022. An overjoyed Bishop Neofitos expressed his heartfelt thanks and gratitude to the Lancaster community, explaining that the community “has no idea how many souls it has touched,” and shared a number of photos of the gifts being distributed to his flock.
Fr. Hector, the proistamenos of Annunciation, was pleased to hear the news of the container’s arrival, saying, “it warms my heart to see the joyful faces of the students. It makes you want to live more simply and give more generously.” “Blessed is the hand that gives!” Bishop Neofitos added.
And that’s how a small Archdiocesan retreat made a global impact.
But the Summer of 2022 marks the end for BeeTreats. In expressing both his heartfelt thanks to Leadership 100 for the grant that sustained the retreat ministry for five years, Y2AM Director Steve Christoforou noted that the funds had been exhausted.
But it isn’t just BeeTreats that will go by the end of the summer. In June, Christoforou announced that Gonzalez was leaving Y2AM later that month. He later announced his own departure from Y2AM on July 23, 2022. In a final hurrah, Christian and Steve teamed up to present 3 final episodes of “Be the Bee” co-hosted by the outgoing Y2AM team that aired this August.
“As Y2AM wraps up, I thank God for everything He’s accomplished these past 9 years,” Steve said, “And I admit, I’m sad that this chapter is closing,” adding, “Yet I look ahead with much hope and expectation.”
Steve’s final day with the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America as Director of the National Youth office is August 31, 2022.
Source: Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America
Photos: Diocese of Nyeri and Mount Kenya