“The goal is to attract people from all walks of life who want to network, meet new friends etc. in a casual environment where there is no pressure nor any expectations,” said Alexander Mizan, Director of the American Hellenic Council, who planned the events.

“In an era where people go to random events they find on various Internet websites, we thought that this was something that could be well-received by young Greek Americans. We have an element of trust embedded in the fact that we are all partly Greek and we should use it to at least meet each other and if possible help each other,” added Ryan Botsford, a financial advisor for Morgan Stanley Smith Barney in Santa Monica who recently moved to Los Angeles from his native island of Syros.

The most recent Orange County event, which took place in the upscale restaurant Charlie Palmer, was deemed a success as many new faces showed up. Peter Polydor, a Toronto native who recently moved to Southern California and is an Associate at Sail Venture Partners, a VC firm, was instrumental in organizing it after seeing the success of the first one. “We have a lot of Greek-Americans in Orange County but we hardly ever get the chance to meet each other at the same place and have fun. This event allows us to coordinate and get a great group of people together by taking the hard logistics out of it. It also helps people who are transplants from Greece or other locations build a support network, a social base,” he said.

According to Mizan, “it’s important to engage every age group and provide our members with a sense of community. In our day and age, people are short of time and overworked. It’s hard to relate in depth. We hope that by organizing some of these gatherings, we are providing the venue where some meaningful relationships can develop, either personal or professional, or both. This in turn will benefit the members and create this sense of community that most young people now are in search of.”

The events have no entrance fee and are not for profit. They are usually held after work-hours at a restaurant or lounge conducive to talking and are open to everyone. The goal of the AHC is to have several of them every year and judging from the success of the first two, we should be expecting one rather soon!