Dear members and friends of our community

We will not be holding our traditional New Year’s Eve Party this year, but we are holding an online raffle which we would very much welcome your support. By purchasing tickets, you will be supporting us and at the same time increasing your chances of winning up to £200! See below or click here for more details:  https://www.facebook.com/donate/140524511204211/3972699659416283/

Our New Year's Eve Raffle 2020

We are excited to announce that we are organising a raffle for a happy and more hopeful new year 2021. The raffle will take place on the 2nd of January 2021. You have the chance of winning:

First Prize:  £200
Second Prize:  £100
Third Prize:  £50 Amazon gift card
Fourth Prize:  Six bottles of wine
Fifth Prize:   Luxury hamper
Sixth Prize:  Bottle of whisky
Seventh Prize:  Bottle of gin

How to take part:

Donate through our facebook page (click on one of the buttons) or paying for your raffle tickets through bank transfer at:

The Greek Orthodox Community of Leeds
Sort code: 40-63-77
Account Number: 45061911
Reference: Raffle21

If you donate through Facebook you will be contacted by our Secretary with your raffle ticket numbers. If you pay by bank transfer please email a receipt of your payment to: secretary@greekorthodoxcommunityleeds.org.uk and we will reply with your raffle ticket numbers. Raffle tickets cost £1 per ticket. Minimum purchase: 5 tickets. We gladly welcome sponsorship for prizes. Payments can be made until the 31st of December 2020. All funds will go towards much needed maintenance and refurbishment projects. Mr Barry Paschali is the promoter of the raffle.

Good luck and Happy New Year 2021! 

Why it is so important we keep fundraising....

The year we now leave behind has been very challenging in many ways. For several months we have been deprived of worshiping in our Church, meeting one another in our hall and not being able to celebrate together our special events or even mourn the loss of our loved ones.

We, as the Executive Committee, had to manage huge risks over the financial viability of our Community. In April, over Great Week and Easter, we organised a ‘Light a Candle’ financial appeal and a similar one in the summer. Your support and response was magnificent giving us the strength and confidence to know that we will get through this pandemic if we all work together. The ‘Light a candle’ initiative also provided much needed comfort for the families who lost loved ones.

So, we would like to take this opportunity to say a big THANK YOU to God and all of you for your continued support through these difficult times. With your help, between March and now, we have managed to:

• maintain our church services - always within government’s guidelines
• support people in need especially during the lockdown
• paid all our bills and staff salaries
• completed much-needed maintenance of the Church’s rotten window frames and doors costing in excess of £5500
• completed the much-needed replacement of community hall leaking roof costing £6500 pounds
• launched a refreshed website www.greekorthodoxcommunityleeds.org.uk  for the community, church and school

Although our financial position is not strong, due to your generosity we are managing to keep our head above water and wish to thank God and you for all your support.

Our usual Annual General Meeting (AGM) which should have been held last month in November, has now been postponed to April 2021 due to the pandemic. However, we are hopeful for a more positive 2021 and amongst our priorities will be to:

• keep our church open and running services as much as possible
• reach out to our members and community to make sure they are keeping well
• carry out further essential repairs of our church and community hall
• carry out essential repairs to the school building roof
• honour the memory of our members, Presvytera Kalli Mantala-Bozos, George Demetriou and Michael Moukourou, who lost the battle against COVID-19 in 2020,
• update the community’s register and members list
• start fund raising for replacement heating boilers for the church and hall
• reprioritise the list of essential projectsNew Paragraph

Once again, good luck and Happy New Year 2021!