regardless of age. While skiing won’t be available, convention chair Kostas Katsohirakis shared with the board the
list of activities that will be offered during the picnic to supplement the music, dancing, food and filoxenia. This includes zip-lining (three different levels!), putt-putt golf and gondola rides that will run continuously across and up
the mountains. Truly breathtaking!
Friday’s Welcome Night took place at The Infinity, an events center around the corner from the host hotel, which,
by the way, will be the venue for all “after hours” activities during convention week. Once again, the food was great
and the musicians spearheaded an evening of dancing. George Tsoutsounakis, president of Minos, welcomed the
board and out of town guests on behalf of all the Salt Lake City chapters. He also introduced Erasmia Novotny, PAA
general secretary and archives chair, who spoke of the rich Cretan culture in Salt Lake City and her committee’s plans
to showcase that as well as all of the PAA’s 85 year history at the biennial convention in 2015. She then introduced
the short documentary by Zeese Papanikolas, the author of “Buried Unsung,” which chronicled the struggle and
hardships early Cretans endured in the mines of Utah and Colorado, and the role Louis Tikas played in improving
the working conditions of these first immigrants.
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1. President John Sargetis, Vickie Sargetis with his cousins, the Sargetakis’, Calliope and sons Ted and Manoli and families.
2. Dancing at Welcome Night. 3. Roxanne Koston, Joanne Fragedis, Maria and Niko Stratoudakis at Welcome Night. (Photos
courtesy John Sargetis and Helen Ranney)
SATURDAY BOARD MEETING AND DINNER DANCE
The PAA Board Meeting on Saturday was attended by 22 of the national officers as well as several local and out-oftown guests, including former PAA President George Tzitzikas and his wife Margo. As is customary, the agenda
included reports from board members, presentations of proposed projects and discussions on current programs and
issues requiring board input and approval. The following are some highlights from the meeting:
A presentation on proposed website changes was given by newly appointed IT Chair George Vomvolakis. There
was unanimous agreement among the board that improvements to our internet accessibility must be implemented
quickly if we are to capture the interest of this and future generations of potential members. Having a robust and
user friendly website with enhanced features such as payment options will facilitate holiday ad sales, cd, DVD and
book sales from the cultural committee, and strengthen the Mentor Program.
Third Vice President Niko Verikakis reviewed membership data over the past 20 years and the challenge we have
in attracting new members and retaining existing ones. Niko shared a list of over 70 ideas that had previously been
generated from chapters across the country during the Leadership Conferences and encouraged the District Governors to review them with their chapters and implement ones that would work in their cities. To assist in recruiting
of new members, General Secretary Erasmia Novotny discussed updating on old PAA brochure that outlines our
mission and programs. Board members agreed that a brochure would be of great benefit and an updated one will be
developed.
In addition, new education opportunities for our youth were presented and a committee was formed to evaluate
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KPHTH | May 2014
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