Greek group AHEPA puts focus on helping community

• AHEPA was founded in 1922 to assist Greek newcomers.
• The local chapter of AHEPA was founded in 1926.

CANTON − A 100-year-old men's philanthropic organization founded to help Greek immigrants adjust to life in the U.S. has grown to assist the community at large.

The Order of AHEPA, the world's largest and oldest grassroots association of Greek Americans and Philhellenes, has more than 400 chapters in the United States, Canada, Australia and Germany.

"AEPHA" stands for American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association, said John Karipides, District 5 supreme governor and past local chapter president, who lives in Uniontown.

"We're a worldwide organization which grew from helping Greek immigrants," Karipides said.

Locally, AHEPA 59 − which designates it as the organization's 59th chapter − has raised thousands of dollars for scholarships and other charitable endeavors including disaster relief, athletic programs, achievement awards, bone marrow registry, the Anemia Foundation, the Stark County Hunger Task Force and its "Journey to Greece" program for students. College students who participate are able to receive up to six credit hours.

"If there's a disaster like a tornado or hurricane, the national organization seeks out the chapters to get support," Karipides said. "We supported the Maui fires, and locally in our district, we made a donation to East Palestine to aid those in need."

The local chapter also donated funds to help people in Ukraine.

AHEPA 59 also has a women's auxiliary − Daughters of Penelope for women; and Maids of Athena for younger women. It also has the Sons of Pericles for young men.

AHEPA was formed in 1922 in response to threats from the Ku Klux Klan toward Greek immigrants.

"The first two or three years, it was only Greeks," said Paul J. Koskovich, a past chapter president and current chairman of the board of governors, joined AHEPA at the invitation of his late father-in-law, Harry Laggeris, who is Greek. "They opened it up to to show they wanted people from the community. They also wanted (immigrants) to get their citizenship and an education."

A retired Canton City Schools teacher, Koskovich noted that Greek immigrants faced some of the same hatred as other minority groups.

"From the 1880s through the 1920s there was nativist movement against all immigrants, the Irish, the Jewish, as well as African-Americans and Greeks," he said. "It's around the same time then, as we were founded, that the Jewish organization B'Nai B'rith and the NAACP were founded, too. At that time there were 16 U.S. senators and five southern governors who were openly members of the Ku Klux Klan, so these groups were just trying to find their way into the American dream."

A third-generation member who grew up in Akron, Karipides, a retired manufacturing sales agent, joined AHEPA 29 years ago.

"My grandfather was a member here in Canton," he said. "His name was Kyriakos Karipides. At the time I joined, the Akron (group) wasn't very active, but I attended meetings and did the golf outing and so forth. Eleven years ago, I married my current wife, Betty, who was a member at Holy Trinity, and I started to reconnect with some of the people I know and they were members of this chapter in Canton, so I transferred my membership."

AHEPA 59, which has 133 members, will celebrate its centennial in 2026.

Most regional AHEPA chapters were started in working-class communities throughout Ohio, West Virginia and northern Kentucky.

"If you look at the chapters, they're all steel towns," Karipides said. "They're all towns where there was industry, where the immigrants came and were able to get jobs. For instance, we have chapters in Mansfield, Cambridge, Steubenville, Weirton. And then you go down to Dayton, Middletown, and Cincinnati. That's where the Greek immigrants came over because they had the jobs."

The crown jewel of the local chapter is AHEPA 59 Senior Housing at 2607 Market Ave. N, built in 2003 in partnership with HUD. It's one of 95 AHEPA independent and/or assisted-living apartment communities for seniors 62 and older in 21 states. They'd like to open more.

Karipides and Koskovich credit Tasos Kalantzis, a past chapter president and co-founder of Tasos Electric, for its development.

"He was instrumental in getting things organized and getting this land, and talking to the the powers-that-be here in the community to try to get this project going," Karipides said. "He's been a great force in this chapter for all of us."

Karipides said that from the beginning, AHEPA chapters have stressed family, education and good citizenship.

"One of the things that I read in the history was that when we they started, there was no Greek spoken at the meeting," he said. "The philosophy was, you came to this country, you need to learn a language to be a part of this country."

Karipides said AHEPA honors its past and its present.

"When we open our meetings, we recognize the flag of Greece that we honor and respect," he said. "We recognize the flag of the United States of America, that we love and defend. We do the 'Pledge Allegiance.' The United States of America is our country, and that's what we try to to promote. It's not just a Greek-based organization."

On Aug. 9, AHEPA 59 will host its annual Reverend Father Anthony Spirtos Memorial Golf Outing at the Raintree Golf and Event Center in Green. The outing will benefit the group's scholarship fund. The outing raised more than $10,000 last year. Overall, the chapter has raised more than $100,000 for scholarships.

To learn more, visit www.ahepa59.org.

Reach Charita at 330-580-8313 or charita.goshay@cantonrep.com. On Twitter: @cgoshayREP.