Philia Dinner to benefit the Flatlander Fund: May 21, 2011

Dan Schreiber’s premature departure from this world touched me greatly. Even though I did not know him personally, I developed a connection from the stories that I read about his life; in particular it was his passion for local food and community-centered activities that inspired me. When I discovered that his friends and family created the Flatlander Fund to raise money to turn the dream of a community kitchen into reality I started thinking of ways to contribute to the noble cause beyond a monetary donation.

I approached my parents, shared with them Dan’s story and dream and asked them if they would be willing to join me and volunteers to cook for a dinner that would feature greek cuisine whose purpose would be to raise funds for the Flatlander Fund. My family and I contemplated for many years the possibility of becoming sellers at the farmer’s market in Urbana but the challenges of using a home kitchen to cook always dissuaded us from moving forward. After my parents and I agreed that such a dinner is a great idea, I approached Laura Huth in late November 2010 and she brought the idea to life by putting to work her planning skills and by mobilizing a set of enthusiastic volunteers. The planning process started in January and culminated in last Saturday’s successful event.

In consultation with the volunteers that participated in the planning of the dinner, my mother and I carefully selected the entrées to offer a mouth-pleasing culinary odyssey to the guests. Τhey were based on time tested family recipes of some of the best known greek foods. From the Yfantis family, Maria Yfantis deserves the title of head Chef as she was the one who lead the creation of the majority of the items on the menu. Dimitrios Yfantis was the grill master while Kostas focused on creating desserts and dips. Tireless volunteers Mel Farrell, Kim Nystrom, Shameem Rakhash and Brigitte Pieke helped with the preparation of the food while the great kitchen of the hosts - Mary Kalantzis and Bill Cope - played a conducive role in the smooth cooking with its amenities and comforts. The only source of tension in the kitchen was when we were uncertain about the quantity of garlic to be used; the heated arguments always reached the same resolution: maximize the ‘dose’ because it’s good for them!

I want to emphasize that the overall success of the dinner is truly a a collective achievement and represents the synthesis of an idea, planning expertise, volunteer enthusiasm and the generosity of the hosts as well as the guests who participated with an ample appetite for greek food, entertainment and a desire to support a noble cause; a successful synthesis powered by Dan’s dream.

You can review the list of entrées and I encourage you to contact me if you want a recipe as I will be happy to share. You can enjoy photographs from the occasion as captured by the Cope-Kalantzis family and finally you can read a comprehensive article on the event written by Seth Fein & published on Smile Politely.

Family Values, Public Service & Government Policy

This is an election year in the United States and politicians will start talking of how 'family values' oriented they are and will try and convince voters that they have more of these values than their opponents. How do voters determine which candidate for public service is friendlier to families? What criteria do we need to use to assess this? Religious devoutness? A streak-free criminal record? Family-friendly rhetoric?

While these are elements that one should not ignore when assessing a candidate's desire to help families, to get an accurate and wholistic picture of a politicians' family friendliness voters need to do their homework: carefully and critically examine a candidate's policy proposals. The truly 'family-friendly' public servant advocates government policy at the office's corresponding level of government that aids family cohesion and family economics in concrete and measurable ways.

Building global awareness on what constitutes 'family-friendly government policy' can be helpful to prospective voters. Growing up in Greece, I remember that mothers there get a complete year off at full pay from state jobs after they give birth. This is an example of a policy that has a substantive and measurable impact on family life. It allows mothers to spend an entire year raising their newborn instead of obliging them to 'outsource' motherhood to a daycare or nanny. Furthermore, it does not financially penalize mothers since they retain their entire salary for a full calendar year. The benefits to family unity and family economics are very clear and tangible.

When politicians share their family friendliness credentials think critically. Do they speak generally and offer proposals that are obscure and grandiose or do they propose specific measures that make both qualitative and quantitative contributions to family life?

I recommend a very easy and quick read on a relevant debate that is unfolding in Europe currently: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7372673.stm This story inspired this posting.