Daughters of Penelope
The Daughters of Penelope is the sister organization of AHEPA. The Daughters of Penelope was the realization of a dream for Alexandra Apostolides. Her desire was to create a women's organization. Because of her perseverance and the encouragement of her husband, Dr. Emanuel Apostolides, a devoted Ahepan, she formed EOS Chapter #1 with 25 charter members on November 16, 1929 in San Francisco, California. She was elected the first Grand President of the organization in 1931. The Daughters of Penelope became the first Greek-American women’s organization in the United States. Today, the Daughters of Penelope has 245 chapters in the US, Canada, and Greece1. Both AHEPA and the Daughters strive to advance and cultivate a focus on Hellenic culture and promote a deeper understanding of the accurate history of Greece and its people.
In 1983, the Daughters embarked on a Greek Immigrant Oral History study which placed an oral history tape collection of first generation Greek-American women in the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, at the University of Minnesota, and at the Library of the Greek Parliament in Athens, Greece. This project was groundbreaking in that the Daughters of Penelope is the first ethnic organization to submit oral history tapes to the Library of Congress.
One of the crowning achievements of the Daughters of Penelope is Penelope House, a shelter for battered women in Mobile, Alabama, sponsored by the local Daughters Chapter and supported by the entire AHEPA Family. It is the first shelter for battered women and their children in the state.
Both AHEPA and the Daughters worked in support of the restoration of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island and also raised funds to build dormitories and other structures on the campus of St. Basil’s Academy, a children’s home in Garrison, New York. Work continues in raising funds to aid research for Cooley’s anemia, the Miami Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, and countless other charitable projects undertaken every year by local chapters and districts.
The AHEPA Family's commitment to education has been well documented throughout its history and is one of its primary concerns. Over $4 million is endowed at the local, district, and national levels for scholarships and a half-million dollars is awarded annually in scholarships for both financial need and academic achievement. Thousands of young men and women have benefited as recipients of AHEPA and Daughters of Penelope scholarships at these various levels. The scholarship programs at the national level are administered by the AHEPA National Educational Foundation and the Daughters of Penelope Foundation. Both offer scholarships to a wide variety of students. The AHEPA Family District No. 1 Educational Fund, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) organization with over $400,000 in endowments. Recipients are traditional and non-traditional students, including seminarians and those entering Holy Cross Greek School of Theology, as well as high school seniors, college and postgraduate students who are looking to become tomorrow’s leaders. In addition to their successful scholarship program, the Daughters Foundation provides funding for seminars and other educational activities, including the ongoing Children’s Literacy Project initiated in 2002.
The Daughters Salute to Women honors a woman who has made contributions to society through her chosen field. At Chapter, District, and National levels, the AHEPA Family recognizes and applauds the efforts of its members, selecting Ahepan and Penelope of the Year.
The Daughters of Penelope took a giant step this past year with their Civic Responsibility Campaign, as Daughters visited with members of Congress to discuss Daughters of Penelope programs in the areas of senior housing, education and literacy, medical research, and domestic violence. The AHEPA Family sponsored “Capitol Hill Day” in March of this year, which enabled members of all four organizations of the AHEPA Family to meet with their congressmen.