NEW YORK – A fundraiser for the re-election campaign of the philhellenic U.S. Senator Robert Menendez will be held on Friday, September 30, at 7 PM, at Graycliff Manor – 122 Moonachie Avenue, Moonachie NJ – organized by leaders of the Greek-Cypriot diaspora and other Community officials.

Andreas Comodromos, the founder of the Cyprus-U.S. Chamber of Commerce who is active in several Cypriot-American organizations, took the lead in organizing the event. He issued a broad call to Greek- and Cypriot-Americans to support Menendez as a sign of appreciation for his long-time support on Cypriot and Hellenic issues.

Comodromos declared that, “every one of us knows what the Senator has done for us. He is behind the positive things that have been done for Greece, Cyprus, and for the Patriarchate. Let me mention, for example, the lifting of the embargo on the Republic of Cyprus after 48 years, the issues of the Turkish F-16s, the S-400s, the expulsion of Turkey from the F-35 program, the East Mediterranean legislation. From his first day in the Senate, he was always close to us, always by our side. He was our voice and our ears in Washington, and he always did it without wanting anything in return.”

He also expressed his confidence that given the commitments and participation so far, the event will fulfill its goal and be crowned with success.

Tasos Zambas, the vice-president of PSEKA – and a close friend of Robert Menendez – was on the same wavelength as Comodromos when he said that, Robert Menendez “proved to be the most loyal and active Philhellene we have ever had in the Senate.”

He continued, saying that, “at a time when Turkey is being irrational in the Aegean, Cyprus, and the Eastern Mediterranean, Robert Menendez is doing things that even the Greeks would not do. It is important that the Community stand by this man, in order for him to remain in the Senate. Personally, as a Greek-American, my party is Greece and Cyprus, so my wish would be for the Democrats to remain the majority in the Senate so that Menendez would also remain Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, as he has great power there and takes clear positions in favor of Greece and Cyprus.”

Zambas added that, “he is an American, but he loves our country and visits it often.”

The co-organizers of the event include Dimitris Kourgelis, Savas Tsivikos, Ioannis Kallis, Philip Christopher, George Horiatis, Maria Pappas, Despina Axiotakis, Tasos Zambas, Tony Bletsakis, Ilias Iliadis, Markos Marinakis, Nikolaos Nikolaou, Tony Papamarkos, Pavlos Kotrotsios, Panos Stavidis, and Tasos Efstratiadis.