[MGSA-L] APPEAL FOR READERS OF HOMER

[June Samaras]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: YANNIS SIMONIDES <yannisimonides at gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 10 Dec 2010 07:38:49 -0500

Dear Friends and READERS OF HOMER worldwide:

        As you may have heard by now, our ODYSSEY at the 92nd Street Y in
Manhattan a few days ago was an immense success! Hundreds of people of all
ages, backgrounds and languages found themselves, in their words, “wide
awake and deeply engaged the whole night through… mesmerized by the beauty
and vigor of Homer… the music, the dance, the magic theatricality of the
evening….”

*        The New York Times, New York Magazine, The New Yorker, Time Out *and
*WNYC* radio deemed us worthy of repeated mentions, urging their readers and
listeners not to miss the event, and the Greek, Greek American and Cypriot
press found us “…fascinating… inspiring… unique… seductive… liberating …
redemptive….” The Greek Ministry of Culture and the Library of Alexandria
placed the Odyssey at 92Y under their distinguished aegis.

        “Staying up all night with Homer helps us not fall victims to the
reduction of life in the nanosecond world,” was the parting gift of a
grateful participant in the emerging brilliance of New York City’s dawn.
What a singular honor for us all! How life affirming it has been for all of
us to have heard the same words this year in Montevideo, Uruguay, and in Kos
island in Greece…. What a responsibility for us all as we are now preparing
to engage hundreds of readers and audience at the Getty Villa in Malibu, at
the Library of Alexandria (again), at the University of Texas in Dallas; in
Athens, Sydney, Sacramento, Boston and New York (again) in 2011-12. What a
privilege to have been proposed for “academic residence” by the faculty of
Bard College, mounting readings and Homeric events at its campuses around
the world.

        BUT WE NEED YOUR HELP TO CONTINUE ON OUR – “OUR”,
COLLECTIVE,MISSION. Focusing on mounting our Readings with integrity
and grace, and
attending to the complexity of detail for each and every event with the
self-sacrificing help of countless colleagues, has not fully allowed us the
time and stamina needed to address the equally urgent task of securing
adequate resources for our organization. DOZENS OF EXTRAORDINARY SPONSORS
AND PATRONS honored us with their support and made the Odyssey at 92Y
possible. But we have fallen dangerously short of our 2010 fund raising
goals.

        BEFORE THE YEAR IS OVER WE MUST RAISE A MINIMUM OF AN ADDITIONAL
$40,000 to compensate our skeleton staff and to engage the services of a
development director who will lead us in securing the numerous international
grants we are eligible and qualified for. *This is a matter of immediate
necessity and urgent action*. And so, naturally, we turn to you, our fellow
Readers of Homer, at this critical and seminal moment of survival and
growth.

        Please join us in continuing to bring the empowering messages of
Homer to the young and old, privileged and underprivileged, broken and
whole, renowned and unknown, our singular fellow human beings around the
world. At this time of gift giving and receiving, PLEASE TAKE A MOMENT TO
CONSIDER A GIFT TO US ALL, small or large, humble or sublime, in support of
THE READERS OF HOMER:

        You may go to our website, www.thereadersofhomer.org, click on
UPCOMING, then on DONATE, and honor us with your support, from $25 to $2,500
and more, in whatever amount your resources allow. All contributions are
fully tax deductible, as we are a non-profit, tax exempt organization (EIN #
59 38 20 468). We shall acknowledge your donation formally, enter you on our
permanent database and keep you informed of all our upcoming events, near
and far.

        On behalf of the ever expanding ranks of THE READERS OF HOMER,
we send you our profound appreciation and wish you the Happiest of
Holidays!


===========================
June Samaras
2020 Old Station Rd
Streetsville,Ontario
Canada L5M 2V1
Tel : 905-542-1877
E-mail : june.samaras at gmail.com