St. Nectarios shows thanks for GreekFest support with large food pantry donation

St. Nectarios Greek Orthodox Church in Palatine showed its gratitude for strong community support of its annual festival by making a large cash donation to the local food pantry.

The Rev. Chris Mihalopoulos and other St. Nectarios leaders presented a $10,000 check this week to the Palatine Township food pantry. The donation represented 10% of net proceeds from GreekFest, which every June draws scores of patrons for pork shish-kebabs, pastitsio, saganaki, cheese puffs, loukoumades and more.

Celebrating its 45th anniversary in Palatine, St. Nectarios has received support for GreekFest from residents across the Northwest suburbs, Mihalopoulos said. He said the food pantry donation was a way to show gratitude to those outside the church for the support.

"Our goal was really to extend, especially in the outreach ministry," Mihalopoulos said. "We've done so much with the Palatine food pantry and with the township, but our goal was to really give back."

Township Assistant Administrator Anna Chychula said the cash gift presented by St. Nectarios representatives was one of the largest for the food pantry.

"This is a huge check and it allows the township to be able to buy other things that we need that aren't donated," Chychula said. "We buy eggs. We buy milk. We buy cheese. We are able to buy produce from Greater Chicago Food Depository at a really reduced rate."

Mihalopoulos credited GreekFest committee co-chairs Ted Pappas, Mike Sakelaris and Alexandra Polites, along with the parish council and others, for deciding to boost the church's community outreach.

"We've got our own little community in our corner and think of ourselves as a community from that standpoint," Pappas said, "but as Father Chris kind of enlightened us, we're part of the bigger community and we should look at giving to the bigger community around us. And that's why we made the effort this year to give part of our proceeds to the Palatine food pantry."