The Greek Community of Melbourne (GCM) honored councilors and mayors of Hellenic heritage for their contribution to public life, in a special event held at the Greek Center in the presence of the GCM Board of Directors.
During the event, MC and former minister and mayor Mr John Pandazopoulos and the President of GCM Mr Bill Papastergiadis OAM welcomed the councilors and congratulated them for their important work. All councilors and mayors were called on the stage to receive a special plaque presented to them by members of the GCM’s Board of Directors.
“On behalf of the Greek Community of Melbourne, I would like to welcome you all here tonight. It is a pleasure to have you all here,” Mr. Pandazopoulos said while welcoming everyone.
“We are all proud of your efforts. It is very important that there are people of Greek heritage, with Greek names, in public life. This is really a good thing for multiculturalism.”
He then congratulated the President of the GCM Mr. Papastergiadis and the Board of Directors for organizing the event who in turn stated that “we are honored to have with us today all the Greek councilors and mayors from the Melbourne area and Victoria in general.”
“From my perspective and I think of the perspective of the entire Board, it is important to bring together the strong elements we have within our community, so that we can work cohesively and cooperatively in terms of what the big pictures are, that we need to encounter, work on and hopefully will bring results. You all are incredibly important parts of our community,” he added.
“I don’t think we have done enough as a community to support you and also to reward and thank you for the hard work you are doing. You carry a lot of the aspirations of our community through the work you are doing.
What we want to do as a GCM is to make sure that the general Greek community knows about you and have a face to the name of the people that they represent them. We are proud of the work you are doing, we want to cooperate in the future and to help you in any way we can,” Mr Papastergiadis continued.
The Councilors and Mayors who were honored by the GCM are:
Athanasopoulos, Tony, Councilor City of Glen Eira
Damante, Tasa, Councilor Maroondah City Council
David, Sam, Councilor Brimbank City Council
Dimarelos, Peter, Councilor City of Banyule
Dimitriadis, Emily, Councilor City of Darebin
Doukas, Jim, Councilor Moyne Shire
Haweil, Joseph, Councilor City of Hume
Klisaris, Jami, Mayor City of Stonnington
Klisaris, Paul, Councilor City of Monash
Kostos, Peter, Councilor Baw Baw Shire
Mitsinikos, Fiona, Councilor City of Banyule
O’Connor, Despi, Councilor Mornington Peninsula
Panopoulos, Angelica, Councilor Moreland City Council
Paspaliaris, Angie, Councilor Warrnambool City Council
Pavlidis, Helen, Councilor Moreland City Council
Ramsey, Sophie, Councilor Melton City Council
Sehr, Melina, Deputy Mayor City of Stonnington
Staikos, Steve, Mayor City of Kingston
Stavrou, Nick, Councilor City of Booroondara
Stojanovic, Suzanne, Councilor Maroondah City Council
Tachos, Virginia, Councilor Brimbank City Council
Tapinos, Lambros, Deputy Mayor Moreland City Council
Wilson, Lydia, Administrator City of Whittlesea
Zographos, Theo, Councilor City of Monash