Possibilities Unfulfilled
From Working to Preserve Our Heritage: The Incredible Legacy of Greek-American Community Services.
"Over the years we considered to some degree or other, many programs, services, and ideas that for one reason or another never came to fruition. I have included some of them here as a way to preserve these efforts and illustrate the thinking that evolved from within. Among those that come to mind:
In 1986, GACS, in cooperation with the Assyrian Universal Alliance Foundation, developed plans to establish a joint Greek and Assyrian Golden Diners Program location. A grant application was submitted to the Chicago Department on Aging. Neither Elaine nor I recall why this project never came to fruition, but it is possible that finding a suitable location was an impediment. It would have built upon our cooperation with the AUAF in other areas (Strains on Ethnic Pride conference, Assyrian Project for the Elderly, and literacy programs for the elderly). A summary of the proposed nutrition program details the plan:
Our proposal calls for serving 50 senior citizens each day. There will be both Greek and Assyrian participants. The program will be open to all senior citizens over the age of sixty. Greek and Assyrian meals will be served two to three times a week and American meals the remainder of the week. The city will reimburse us for $2.30 per plate that is served. Participants are asked, but not required, to make a voluntary contribution towards the cost of the meals. Lectures, activities, and other programs will be offered to the participants in English, Greek, and Assyrian. This will include health lectures and screening programs, field trips, and if possible, arts and crafts.’ Anticipated expenses were $7,800 per year and included a program coordinator at $6,500 (25 hours per week at $5.00/hour), insurance, and publicity costs.
In February 1986, GACS submitted a grant request for $17,406 in response to the Illinois Department on Aging’s 'Promote Independence Initiative.' The funds would be used to write and publish a manual showcasing innovative programs serving ethnic elderly and to launch an ethnic providers’ council that would meet every other month. The following organizations had agreed to write a chapter and participate in the council meetings: Association of Refugees from Indo-China, Assyrian Universal Alliance Foundation, Casa Central, Council for Jewish Elderly, Greek-American Community Services, Japanese American Service Committee, Korean American Community Services, Lithuanian Human Services of the U.S.A., and Metropolitan Chicago Coalition on Aging. The Chicago Department on Aging and Disability and the Illinois Ethnic Consultation would provide technical assistance. Elaine would be the editor of the manual. The plan was to print 500 manuals and to use the proceeds from their sale ($10 per book) to do a second printing.
In January 1987, GACS submitted a grant proposal to the Retirement Research Foundation requesting $76,462 for CAN over two years in support of a telephone visiting program. The program built upon CAN’s successful and innovative model of training and supporting homebound elderly to do friendly visits with other shut-ins over the phone utilizing a self-help approach. By the end of year two, it was expected that there would be 60 volunteers phone visiting, and 400 clients. Volunteers would each be assigned up to 10 people to call. The proposal was not funded.
In the spring of 1988, we briefly established a GACS satellite office in Boulder. Colorado. This was in response to interest from Neni Panagouria who wanted to lead the effort. Neni, a Ph.D. candidate in cultural anthropology at the University of Indiana, had participated in a GACS program on Rembetika in December 1987. During a post-event dinner, Neni mentioned that she was impressed with what GACS had achieved and that she hoped to offer similar programs in Colorado. A conversation ensued and the idea of GACS establishing an outpost in Boulder came about. Since GACS was tax-exempt, operating, and had achieved a track record of successful programming, it would be easier and faster to do it under our auspices, than it was for her to start a new organization. The Boulder office would apply for local and state grants to launch programs.
Neni believed that there was a dearth of cultural endeavors within Colorado’s Greek American community and was impressed with the number, variety, and quality of Chicago’s cultural and social events. From its inception, GACS maintained a vision of expanding into other parts of the country. This was an opportunity to experiment with a satellite location. We announced the opening in our newsletter and Greek media and began to explore grant opportunities grounded in humanities or arts-based programming. The intent was to partner with local organizations in sponsoring these programs. Neni had begun to invite locals to join a newly established GACS Boulder Advisory Committee. Unexpectedly, Nene moved to another state several months after the outpost was established. As this project depended on her being there to coordinate everything, we ended the effort.
GACS researched and proposed the concept of a Greek United Fund as a united effort to support the community’s institutions. As conceived, GACS, Hellenic Foundation, GANHC, and the Hellenic Museum and Cultural Center would benefit through a community-wide fundraising drive and employee deductions program. Ethel, Evangeline, and I met with leaders of the Jewish United Fund, Black United Fund, and United Way in the course of formulating the plan. GACS and the GANHC were interested in exploring the possibilities, but the Hellenic Foundation wasn’t, and the idea fizzled as other matters took priority.
John Rassogianis and I had several conversations with Alex Kouvalis, owner of the Patio Theater on Irving Park Road, about showings of Greek films. The idea was that GACS would sponsor and promote a monthly Greek film night and in turn, receive a portion of the proceeds. It turned out that the renovations Alex was making to the historic movie theater took a lot longer than planned, and this never came to fruition.
A big problem in the Greek community during this time was competing events. The community was vibrant and active with a good number of organization and church activities occurring throughout the year. When GACS planned events, we did our best to consult the Greek Star Calendar of Events and be in contact with other groups to work out dates, but it wasn’t full proof. In conversations with the Hellenic Professional Society of Illinois, KRIKOS, Greek Women’s University Club, the Hellenic Cultural Organization, and Orthodox Singles, we agreed to establish a community-wide calendar of events dubbed the 'Hellenic Hotline'.
As CAP director, John kept the calendar and organizations faxed or called in information on upcoming events so they would be listed. If any schedule conflicts became apparent, there was an opportunity to change a date to minimize competing events. Since GACS had a good number of events each year, we found this to be helpful. This coordination continued for a couple of years, but as leaders within the groups changed and the Internet age dawned, it became less relevant. Expenses for this program were covered through the CDBG grant.
As Northwest Chicago Senior Care evolved, it became apparent that there was a need for Saturday adult day care services. A number of the families being served worked on Saturdays and had to make other arrangements or hire a caregiver to sit with their loved ones. Recognizing that there was a need but not a large demand for this, we considered various ways GACS could provide a scaled-down cost-effective service that met the needs of caregivers. The plan envisioned shorter hours, soup and bag lunches, using only one van to provide transportation, and incorporating volunteers to lead activities. It would be private- pay only for Saturdays since these changes would not have been allowed under CCP requirements. As I recall there were always a few families interested in this service but never enough to make it financially viable. GACS needed a certain number of clients participating to break even.
In 1993, GACS received a contract through the IDOA Community Care Program to provide Chore Housekeeping services to the Greek elderly. There were several reasons why we applied: It was the first IDOA CCP-restricted contract for ethnic providers, and it was unknown when the next opportunity to apply would occur. We viewed it as an enhancement and expansion of service to our ADC families, as well as potential nursing home residents. We did not intend to make it a major focus. Instead, we viewed it as augmenting our existing services. The Hellenic Foundation operated a larger program, and we did not want to duplicate or compete with them. Organizationally, the program was placed under CAN, which Ethel Kotsovos directed.
An announcement about this program entitled, 'GACS Offers Additional Services,' which appeared in the June 6, 1993, issue of the Greek Star, reported:
Greek-American Community Services, celebrating ten years of service, is pleased to announce that it will offer Chore-Housekeeping and Homemaker Services to elderly Northwest Side residents of Greek descent. Services will begin on July 1, 1993.
The program will offer elderly assistance in such areas as housekeeping, laundry, cooking, shopping, errands, medication management, and bathing on a regular basis through an assigned homemaker. There will be no cost to most eligible participants. Funding is assumed by the Illinois Department on Aging Community Care Program.
‘With the addition of these new services we are in fact rededicating ourselves in our commitment to care for the aged,’ stated John Psiharis, GACS Executive Director. ‘These services complement our existing services to the elderly. We are grateful to the State of Illinois for providing us with this opportunity to expand the services we offer the community.’ Greek-American Community Services now operates a highly successful adult day care center, Northwest Chicago Senior Care.
For further information on these services call the Community Aging Network, an agency of Greek-American Community Services at (312) 545-0303.
GACS had a narrow vision for this program and hoped to incorporate it into the existing structure. Ethel supervised the program, and it grew to consume a good amount of her time. As I recall, at most we served 12 clients but the amount of time it took to manage the program detracted from her roles as ADC social worker and CAN program director. The home visits and paperwork required by the program were time-consuming. Interviewing, training, and supervising chore/housekeepers took time and effort, and turnover in these positions was high. There was a constant need to recruit, interview and train new employees to replace others who left. I recall employees moving back to Greece, not being able to meet the physical demands of the position, or quitting because they didn’t want to perform essential tasks. We determined that someone was needed to run the program. Payments from the state were in arrears so we needed a cash cushion of several months to carry the receivables. Revenue would increase with proper attention, but our funds were limited due to delayed ADC payments from the state. We considered fundraising and/or applying for grants to fund the position, but the GANHC had entered the capital campaign phase, and the ADC remained our priority. Since these services were available from the Hellenic Foundation, we decided to end this program and focus our attention and resources in other directions.
In this vein, we worked towards establishing a meals-on-wheels program. The concept grew out of CAN’s friendly visiting program when volunteers expressed concern about the lack of nutritional food available to their clients. After some internal conversations, we discussed the idea with CDOA, the possibility of applying for a restricted grant under their Meals on Wheels program to pilot this idea within the community and they were receptive. Master Caterers would prepare Greek-inspired meals for our clients, and the St. Andrew Young Adult League offered to deliver the meals weekly to our clients. This project gained traction and was in the planning phase when Kosta’s accident happened, and the project was indefinitely postponed.
At some point, CDOA made an effort to establish ethnic Golden Diners sites. Through CLESE, CDOA reached out to ask if we would be interested in establishing a Greek Golden Diners site. They would pay so much per meal and at-will donations from the seniors would cover some of the cost. Father George Kaloudis at Holy Trinity Church was especially interested in having us. However, the second-floor gymnasium was not accessible by wheelchair so it wouldn’t work for us. We then reached out to St Athanasios and Ioannis Greek Orthodox Church, the closest church to GACS, located at the corner of Keeler and Berteau. At that time, the church was not part of the archdiocese. Instead, it reported directly to Constantinople. It was a small congregation and there was interest, but CDOA required that they install wheelchair ramps and make other modifications that made it cost-prohibitive to the church, and nothing materialized. Given that GACS had two vans that were not in use during certain parts of the day, we considered offering transportation to doctor’s appointments or grocery shopping. The suggested name for this service was the Ya’Sou Shuttle. We experimented with this on a small scale and found that doctors’ appointments often were behind schedule, impacting our ability to get ADC clients home on time. So, we never pursued it beyond this trial.
GACS was approached by two different cellular companies interested in installing cell phone towers on our property. Our location, adjacent to the Kennedy Expressway, made it an appealing location for cell phone companies. However, we were concerned about the potential health effects of having a cell tower anywhere near the adult day care center and did not pursue this further.
After buying the building, we briefly considered converting the front conference room at GACS into a boutique to sell handmade arts and crafts items made by Greek American artists, including Fabric Arts and ADC participants. Although it was a novel idea and would generate some income for both the artist and GACS, we decided that it was best to keep the room as a meeting room, given the meetings, classes, and ADC activities that utilized the room. We considered using one of the second-floor studio units for the gallery instead but never moved forward with this idea since there were other priorities at the time.
The idea of converting some or all of the second-floor studios into congregate senior housing was also considered. Upstairs residents could receive health care and socialization, and some meals in the ADC and other synergies were possible. Ultimately, we decided that the second floor was not optimal for this type of housing, and we were hesitant to take on the responsibilities a program of this type entailed. So, we did not pursue it.
As Elaine and I collaborated on a paper about GACS for the 2019 National Modern Greek Studies Association Conference, and again on 'Working to Preserve our Heritage: A Historical Review of Greek-American Community Services,' an article that appeared in the May 2021 edition of Ergon magazine documenting the achievements of GACS, we were reminded of an unexplained phenomenon that was often present at GACS; Johnny Q. Elaine recalled this in the Ergon article.
In 2020, Thomopoulos was interviewing staff and friends of GACS to gain more information for this article. Interestingly, four interviewees remembered something very odd: a ghost that was named Johnny. The ghost only did his mischief when the two Johns were together. They were Executive Director John Psiharis and Director of Cultural Arts John Rassogianis. When Johnny made his appearance, chairs would tip over on their own; Thomopoulos, herself, remembers sitting at the Taverna Restaurant on Lincoln Avenue with the two Johns. She witnessed a chair on the other side of the table fall over on its own. One person reported a chair levitating, hitting him. Johnny hid coats and sent little creamers sailing across the room. Having a priest read prayers did not help, according to Rassogianis. Afterward, he found his coat in the trash can. Despite the minor annoyances of Johnny, the dedicated staff, volunteers, and board of directors of GACS achieved a great deal.
Since he was only present when John and I were together, we referred to him as Johnny Q. This way there were John P, John Q, and John R. I remember chairs falling in the middle of meetings, lectures, and during dinner dances and other events. We deduced that this spirit or entity was a youngster who seemed to engage in childish pranks rather than anything harmful. To me, the strangest thing was when coffee creamers would come from nowhere, fly across the room, and burst open upon hitting walls, floors, cabinets, furniture, and sometimes even people. The mystery was intensified by the fact that we did not have these types of creamers in the building. How they got there and managed to fly across the room remains a mystery. Although initially spooked by this whole phenomenon, in time, we became used to these random occurrences.
John Q was also known to type on the computer. I remember many times when John, Maria, or I were typing reports, grants, or correspondence on the computer, only to find when the letter was printed out the words “the ghost was here” were found inserted randomly into the body of the document prompting us to carefully review everything being printed to be sure an insertion didn’t sneak past us.
Although we didn’t discuss it publicly, some in our circle were aware of Johnny Q and had witnessed this phenomenon first-hand. I recall times when a random chair fell in the middle of a meeting or lecture, and those of us in the know would lock eyes knowingly, smile, or even laugh while watching the reactions of those who were not in the know and puzzled about why a chair that no one was near tipped over."
Flyer promoting GACS Chore-Housekeeping and Homemaker Programs. Circa 1993. John Psiharis collection.
“From Your Friends at GACS,” a comical fax cover sheet, drawn by volunteer Mark Quartullo, shortly after Evangeline Mistaras donated a new computer and printer to GACS. It depicts the computer room: (L-R) the photocopy machine that was always breaking down, John Psiharis, Evangeline Mistaras, John Rassogianis, Tornie, and the new computer. Date unknown. John Psiharis collection.
A photo of a chair that had mysteriously tipped over at GACS with no one near it. Date unknown. John Psiharis collection.