A Retrospective and Discovery

by Gina Billy

Author’s Note: Most members knew Steve Medeiros, long-time DAGR volunteer and board member, vice chair 2015-18 and country chair 2019. I did not. I never met – or even had heard of – Steve during his physical lifetime. So, in order to weave together this portrait of Steve in a way that I hope conveys some of the great richness and beauty of his life, I depended on written records of Steve’s life journey and, most importantly, first-hand accounts from people who had had the joy of experiencing Steve “Live.” ~ Gina Billy

Steve as Vice Chair, 2015-2018 - The view from here

by Karen Lee, DAGR Secretary, Chair 2015-16, 2017-18

A VERY Happy Thanksgiving, 2008, Steve, left, with John Bacalis, Kostas and Katerina Zafirakis, Yvette Jarvis and Alec Mally. Christine Counelis, at table

DAGR had had some upheavals after 2008. It takes time to regain momentum. Yvette Jarvis held one term; Alec Mally stepped up for another. When Alec decided not to run for a 2^nd term in 2015, Steve and I were ‘next in line,’ but he was still working fulltime at ACS. I was semi-retired. So, I went for chair and he took vice chair. 

Giannis Boutaris, 2018, courtesy PappasPost

by Kevin Berkowitz

Spend some time talking to people in Thessaloniki, especially cab drivers and the like, and you will hear any number of insults against Giannis Boutaris, the mayor of Thessaloniki from 2011 to 2019. He made a name for himself as a progressive leader in a conservative city. 

By Jeffrey Siger 
As published May 21, 2022 12:00 am on the murderiseverywhere blogspot

Saturday-Jeff

Last Wednesday, I had the great honor of participating on a ZOOM panel sponsored by Democrats Abroad Greece (DAGR) addressing the current surge in book banning. Moderated by former US diplomat and author John Brady Kiesling, the panelists included a MacArthur Award-winning poet (Alicia Stallings), the Poet Laureate of Missouri (Aliki Barnstone), a former DJ with a doctorate from Oxford and a reputation for gifted presentations (Abby Hafer), and a kid from Pittsburgh.

From May 16th and for the foreseeable future, we’ll cease posting to the Thessaloniki Chapter  page and direct readers to check the DAGR main Facebook page and/or join one of our two closed groups, set for DAGR member exchanges of thoughts and comments.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on this, so we can plan “human-cost-effective” outreach into the future. 

Why are we doing this? Well ...

Democrats Abroad Greece 
Annual General Meeting (AGM)
Wednesday, March 30 
Online – 7 pm Greek time

The sixth in the “Kafeneion” series of online events, organized by Democrats Abroad Greece Thessaloniki Chapter on February 16, 2022, with speaker Steven Tagle was very well attended!

DAGR Pita Cutting and Voter Registration Kafeneion
Wednesday, January 26
7 pm EET (not to be confused with Greek time!)
On Zoom – RSVP for the link

In the much-anticipated Greek New Year’s tradition, DAGR will cut the pita next week!

The short story is, DAGR raises money to stay legal as a non-profit organization in Greece, so that we can Get Out The (Democratic) Vote for US elections.

The annual ‘budget’ for DAGR is about €3000 now. It covers ongoing and optional expenses, all of which are geared at our goal of getting Americans in Greece informed, engaged, registered and sending back those ballots. Of course, our hope is that they’ll also become members of DAGR and help spread the word further.

How we do that is the longer story. Read on if you have time.

Key reasons we raise money: 

• DAGR Budget Overview
• 2017 Field Plan, carried forward
• How DAGR fits into the ‘big picture’
• US Federal Election Commission law
• The Democrats Abroad (global) Charter
• DAGR and Greek Law

Voting will begin Friday to elect two members to the Executive Committee. They will fulfil the terms vacated by officers elected at the 2021 Annual General Meeting.