Community Outreach

A Holiday recap from Community Outreach

Our HOPE and JOY youngsters did their part during the 2025 holiday season by collecting and delivering 30 personal care kits to the City of Richmond for use in its Homeless Services division. The kits included socks, Chapstick, antibacterial wipes, Band-Aids, toothbrushes, toothpaste, and bacitracin. The donations were made in honor of Unmercenary Saints Cosmas and Damianos, who provided free care for those in need during the 4^th Century.

Two other events of note: One, COM collected 338 pounds of food and $80 in cash during a Cathedral-wide food drive for FeedMore in November. And, two, the ministry conduced an Emergency Supply Bucket Drive for International Orthodox Christian Charities IOCC in November. The buckets, which are used to help those affected by natural disasters such as floods and hurricanes, were delivered to the IOCC free of charge by parishioner George Jacob.

“These bags would be distributed at our Emergency shelter for our homeless residents this fall,” said Dianne Wilmore, Richmond’s Homeless Services Liaison. “Thank you and your organization for this donation.”

Also during the holidays, the Cathedral family collected 43 dozen cookies to give to the incarcerated at the Greensville Correctional Center. Each inmate at the facility received a cookie bag as part of the Cathedral’s Kairos Prison Ministry program. The donation was coordinated by Community Outreach Ministry member Gina Pappas. Along with the gifts were prayers for the incarcerated and for the Kairo program: Gina suggests we pray for the men be receptive to Jesus, for the volunteer team to have strength and guidance, and for the overall mission to be impactful.

The Outreach team’s activities also included a fun outing when members volunteered to work at the concession stand at the Virginia Commonwealth University basketball game on January 7. This is an annual event for this group in support of the Richmond Metro Habitat for Humanity, which runs a concession stand for VCU men's basketball games.

Our Community Outreach Ministry welcomes new participants. All Cathedral members can attend the meetings and suggest other missions to support. For information, please call our chairman Jim Katsaros at 804-241-1632.

Our next meeting will be at 7 p.m. on Feb. 4 at the Cathedral. It will be a "Ministry Vision & Planning" session with Father Philemon to prepare for the new year.

Community Outreach Ministry Vision

To grow closer to the broader Richmond community through acts of service as a Cathedral family and, by this, unite us to Christ.

To achieve this Vision, we will:

Help build awareness of existing outreach activities at the Cathedral
Be a resource to facilitate involvement and participation of Cathedral parishioners in outreach activities
Serve as a sounding board for expanding the scope of volunteer outreach
Sponsor community-wide activities (outside existing organizations) targeted for the local community
Coordinate Cathedral response to national & international crisis/emergencies

Community Outreach Ministry Members:

Jim Katsaros, Chair / Parish Council Liaison

Tom Kazas, Co-Chair / Communications Director

Father Nicholas Bacalis, Sponsor / Inspiration

Key Ministry Champions:

Calypso Bletsos, College Student Ministry

John Bletsos, Companionship Ministry

Ruth Catherines, Philoptochos Liaison

Mark Chronis, IOCC Liaison: Emergency Supply Drives & Tennis Tournament / Fisher Guest House Meals

Gina Guinn, FeedMore / Food Drives

Elaine Hall, Clothing Supply Drives

Nikki Katsaros, ICU Comfort Kits