Diane Chakalis is joining us as our representative from the USA. About nine years ago, Diane and two other individuals started a ministry within our church called Celebrating God’s Creation. This ministry was created to fill a void in the church’s many other ministries in which creation care was not part of their mission. Our focus was to bring awareness to parishioners about the Orthodox understanding of caring for all of Creation. This ministry grew with the development of a website, articles submitted to our church’s quarterly publication called The Charioteer, special articles of interest in our weekly Sunday Bulletin, and most recently, a quarterly newsletter. Several speakers have been invited to our church to further bring the topic to the forefront.
For 20 years, Diane taught Catechetical School at the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Columbus Ohio that included pre-school through high school and was Director of the school for 2 years. Later, she taught an adult catechumen class with a single focus on the theology of caring for Creation. In 2016, she received the St. Photios award given by the Metropolis of Pittsburgh for outstanding volunteerism. She has also served on the Philoptochos Society Executive Board for more than 15 years where she led food and clothing distribution programs for multiple homeless shelters, including a shelter for victims of domestic violence.
She has also volunteered with the ASPCA and Humane World for Animals (formerly known as The Humane Society of the United States-Ohio Chapter) to collect signatures for two ballot initiatives and to prepare materials for mass mailings. She has also personally visited Ohio House and Senate representatives to voice opinions on these respective initiatives.
She attended The Ohio State University and worked for 35 years at a large R&D company where she worked in a quality assurance role.