LOS ANGELES – The Hellenic American Women’s Council (HAWC) Pacific presents an online event via Zoom, The Eftychia Project: A Nonprofit that Helps an Erased Greek Generation Search for Roots, Reunion and Identity, on Friday, April 8, 10 AM Pacific/ 12 PM Central/ 1 PM Eastern/ 8 PM Greece. Learn about Greek adoptions of the Cold War era and the work of The Eftychia Project (TEP) to raise awareness about this hidden part of Greek history.

The presentation will include the story of the founder of the Eftychia Project, Linda Carol Trotter and the founding of the nonprofit Eftychia Project. It is an organization that assists, free of charge, Greek-born adoptees searching for their roots and Greek families searching for their lost children. The nonprofit assists in overcoming the obstacles adoptees face in language, bureaucracy and secrecy; and supports the fight for the birth and identity rights of Greek-born adoptees and TEP’s advocacy on their behalf with the Greek government.

Linda Carol Trotter, born Eftychia Noula in Stranoma, Nafpaktias, was adopted in 1958 as an infant from the Municipal Foundlings Home of Athens (Vrefokomeio Athinon) by American parents. After finding her biological mother and extended family in Greece through a miraculous set of circumstances in June 2017, Linda Carol/Eftychia wanted to help other Greek-born adoptees find their biological families and experience the same joy of reconnecting with their cultural roots and a sense of peace and closure. So, in April 2019, with the help of like-minded friends, she founded The Eftychia Project (TEP), a U.S.-based 501(c)3 nonprofit organization whose board of directors consists entirely of Greek-born adoptees. TEP provides assistance and support, free of charge, to Greek-born adoptees searching for their biological families in Greece and Greek families searching for their children lost, or presumably lost, to adoption. For further information visit the website: https://www.theeftychiaproject.org/.

To date, TEP has reconnected 14 adoptees with their biological families in Greece, with dozens of cases currently active. In addition, TEP launched a DNA kit distribution program in July 2020, aimed at increasing the number of Greeks in Greece in the DNA pool by providing DNA kits, free of charge, to Greek families in Greece and Greek adoptees with financial need. TEP recently began a collaboration with MyHeritage, the most popular DNA platform in Europe, with the company generously providing free DNA kits and other assistance.

Register for the event online: https://bit.ly/3DFVOhj.

More information about HAWC is available online: www.hawcnet.org.