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“A labor of love”: All Saints Church holds Greek Food Festival

3 min read
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Maureen Kusturiss grinds onions Monday for Greek hamburgers, a crowd favorite at the Greek Food Festival.

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Micah Kusturiss, 20, spent two hours chopping tomatoes Monday for the Greek Food Festival at All Saints Greek Orthodox Church in Canonsburg.

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From left, Mary Ann Miller, George Miller and Alex Skroupa have been attending the Greek Food Festival for more than a decade.

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Angela Roberts/Observer-Reporter

Parishioner Sylvia Spencer places a serving of Greek meatballs on Ben Crosier’s plate Monday as his wife, Chelsea, looks on.

From the first week in January, Maureen Kusturiss has worked alongside other volunteers in prepping traditional Greek dishes to be served at the Greek Food Festival, which began Monday at All Saints Greek Orthodox Church in Canonsburg.

“This is the easy part,” she said as community members bustled around her with Styrofoam plates heaping with food. “Now we’re just putting the food in the oven and taking it out.”

The Greek Food Festival, which will stretch until Friday at 601 W. McMurray Road and runs from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. each day, has been going “healthy and strong” since the mid-1970s, said Father George Livanos.

This year, Kusturiss worked with parishioners and community members to prepare more than 30,000 meals, using rich ingredients and traditional recipes from the Greek island of Rhodes.

Livanos said more than 600 pounds of beef was used in rolling hundreds of grape leaves – a crowd favorite.

“Everything we serve, everything is made from our hearts,” he said.

Before the doors opened Monday, Livanos said a line of people had clustered at the entrance in anticipation of the event’s beginning. He estimated the festival will raise more than $220,000, which will be directed toward the church and its community outreach efforts. All Saints Greek Orthodox Church is involved with the City Mission, as well as other local nonprofits.

The event’s volunteers span all age groups. Two of Kusturiss’ grandchildren work in the kitchen, dicing vegetables and preparing other dishes. Her granddaughter, Marielle Krenzelak, 19, flew up from Florida to help out.

On Monday, she worked alongside Livanos’ granddaughter, Pollina Livanos, under the gyro tent. Every evening at 7 p.m., Pollina Livanos, 15, performs traditional Greek dances with the church’s dance troupe to entertain the festival’s guests.

Father George Livanos emphasized All Saints Orthodox Church is a “parish with no walls.” Indeed, community members and parishioners alike swarmed the buffet line Monday to load their plates with Greek meatballs and spanakopita, or spinach pie.

Pastor Don Coleman of Canonsburg United Presbyterian Church sat beside the church’s instrumentalist, Kenton Klink, who said the food has drawn him back to the festival for over 30 years. The Greek hamburger is his favorite, he said

That dish is one Svasti Koupiaris helps prepare for the festival, where she has volunteered for 37 years. Her day starts at 7 a.m. and stretches late into the evening.

“I love to help the church,” she said. “You want to do it.”

Livanos certainly agreed.

“As much as this is a labor, it’s a labor of love,” he said.

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