The Hellenic Cultural Society of San Diego, California

"Except for the blind forces of Nature, nothing moves on this earth that is not Greek in its origin." Spoken by British scholar and Philhellene, Sir Henry Sumner Maine, it was scholarly revelations such as his that inspired us to create the Hellenic Cultural Society.

On that fateful Sunday afternoon in 1965, a small group of Greek Americans gathered and began discussing preserving their families' cultural heritage and that of their yet-to-be-born progeny. These pioneers, Steve and Alice Aposperis, Irene and Earl Cantos, George Koulaxes, Mary and George Marinos, Katherine Nicholas and Sophie and George Stephens, dreamt of creating a dynamic organization to preserve and promote their Hellenic culture for the benefit of their progeny.

They planned on raising funds through an annual charity Hellenic Ball to support their new organization, the first of which was chaired by Steve Aposperis in 1966. They wanted to leave future generations a centrally housed collection of valuable books and art objects, to assure there would always be a place to preserve and study their ancestor's accomplishments. They wanted their children to understand the richness of thousands of years of Greek culture and history - to know and see the wonders of the great Greek minds. To read through the awesome songs of Homer - experience the greatness of Pericles' "Golden Age" and all the Greek contributors down through the centuries to the profound modern works of George Seferis and Nikos Kazantzakis.

Thus was born the Hellenic Cultural Society of San Diego, California, which today has many loyal friends and supporters - who never lose their zest - for Hellenism. The first among them was our initial President George S. Marinos - under whose leadership we incorporated as a not-for-profit California corporation and built a library of scholarly works on Hellenic subjects, in both Greek and English. We also presented lectures on the full spectrum of Greek topics; a practice that was so successful, we continue to provide scholarly lectures and programs to this day - free and open to the public - so anyone can learn about the historic importance of Hellenic culture in the development of Western Civilization. As our endowment continues to grow with your help and generosity, we hope to acquire the revenue needed to establish a permanent center to house our excellent library and to provide larger and better facilities for new lectures and new programs to accomplish our mission. Today our society's reputation is excellent and we are recognized around the country as a dynamic force in the ongoing battle to promote, preserve and protect Hellenic arts, sciences, language and institutions.