Cherry Hill, NJ – One of the Delaware Valley GOYA community service projects took place this past weekend. St. Thomas Greek Orthodox Church hosted the Fisher House Foundation Wounded Warriors gift wrapping project.
At 11:00 am some 100 GOYAs flooded in to St. Irenes hall in the lower level of the St. Thomas, with volunteer parents. They lined the tables and filled baskets with food supplies and gifts for America’s soldiers. The packages were being shipped to the Walter Reed National Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland where they will be distributed to those in need. 25 of the baskets will be shipped to Fort Gordon in Georgia on Monday and are expected to arrive by Thanksgiving Day.
Eight Greek Orthodox Church GOYA groups participated in the annual event. The GOYAs range from grades 7 to 12 and participate in several projects a year said Andrea Tsipralis GOYA event coordinator.
A last minute 250.00 dollar donation from Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Elkins Park PA, was presented to Tsipralis. The afternoon concluded with a group photo of the GOYAs.
You may recall during the recent government shutdown that The Fisher House Foundation provided death benefits to the families of fallen soldiers. The foundation operates a network of comfort homes at medical facilities around the country to enable family members to have a place to stay while soldiers recover from catastrophic injury (in many cases). For more information go to www.fisherhouse.org.