Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ;
As we head into the end of the year, we have some exciting news at OCCIF. We have been blessed with many positive changes this year, including new churches to support, new investments in OCCIF and our new board members. I am now delighted to announce the hiring of our first Executive Director for OCCIF, Father Athanasius Kone.
Father Kone will help shape the future of OCCIF, as well as taking on more of the operational tasks that are vital to the increase in loan requests that we have received. Father Kone has already provided some great ideas on ways we can grow OCCIF into a much more effective and widespread resource for the Church.
Finally, I’d like to welcome the many new supporters who have invested in OCCIF. As the year comes to a close, please consider joining the OCCIF community with an investment or donation. Your contributions make it possible for us to serve more Orthodox Churches, and continue our efforts to grow the Orthodox Church in the United States.
Father John Dresko
President/CEO
Orthodox Church Capital Improvement Fund
Meet our new Executive Director: Father Athanasius Kone
Father Athanasius Kone’s name probably sounds familiar to many, as Father Athanasius was the rector for the Holy Theotokos of Iveron Orthodox Church.
Holy Theotokos is the home of Hawaii’s Myrrh-Streaming Icon of Iveron, a holy destination that every year hosts thousands of Orthodox Christians from all over the country.
It was here in 2021 that Father Athanasius and OCCIF first worked together to purchase a building that would become the new church for Holy Theotokos of Iveron.
“Hawaii is a difficult place to buy a piece of property that was appropriate for a church,” said Father Athanasius. “When a rare opportunity came up to purchase a new church, we tried going traditional lenders.We explained to the bank about the property, how much we have in the bank, our capacity to pay our loans and would get no response. That’s when a friend suggested that I talk to OCCIF.”
This conversation lead to a great partnership with OCCIF that provided the funds to purchase a new home for Holy Theotokos of Iveron. Thanks to the parish and Father Athanasius’s coordination, the loan to OCCIF was paid off early.
Today Holy Theotokos of Iveron’s church can host twice the capacity of visitors. So Father Athanasius is no stranger to the positive benefit of OCCIF’s ministry.
Yet Father Athanasius also brings vital experience to his new role as Executive Director: an expertise in economics. Prior to being ordained as a priest, Father Athanasius was a Regional Economist for Washington State.
These skills are invaluable to helping both OCCIF and those we serve understand financial fundamentals, and what factors can influence the ability to get loans.
“The benefit of economics is that it gives you the ability to explain why something is happening,” said Father Athanasius. “With this knowledge you can better understand the forces behind the scene that are causing big financial events.”
One of Father Athanasius’s goals for OCCIF is to help the Orthodox Church come to a better understanding of finances, and achieve a more positive way of working with money.“Money is a complicated thing,’ noted Father Athanasius.
”There are so many clear things that are talked about in the gospels by Jesus Christ Himself about money. Yet it doesn’t mean that we don’t use money to do things and accomplish things for God. We have to pay bills, we have to build things, we have to take care of families.”
“So I think the real challenge is that seeing money for what it is,” said Father Athanasius. “Money is just a tool that we can use to benefit our church and our community.”
Building Up: A Few OCCIF success stories
Over the years OCCIF has helped over a dozen Orthodox Churches, Missions and Monasteries. Here are a few examples of our work, and the impact it has made with these institutions.
Saint Herman of Alaska Antiochian Orthodox Christian Church
Saint Herman of Alaska Antiochian Orthodox Christian Church is located on one of the most beautiful sites in all of Wasilla, Alaska. Father Matthew Howell worked with his parish to complete a master planning exercise, creating a plan to develop a multi-phase campus.
Taking the second step in their plan, OCCIF helped Father Matthew complete the refinance of their existing mortgage. This allowed the parish to pay off their existing debt years ahead of schedule.
“In the future, if our Church has a need for a capital funding project our first and last call will be to OCCIF,” said Father Matthew. “There will be no other institution that we turn to.
Saints Cyril and Methodius Orthodox Mission
Located in northern California, Saints Cyril and Methodius Orthodox Mission in Chico, California, is a testament to the devotion of Orthodoxy in the United States.
The mission originally started by several Orthodox families who wanted a church closer to home. Over the years it continued to develop.
OCCIF worked with Father Ian Shipley and his mission’s financial group to refinance the loan on the mission and open the way towards future growth.
St. Anthony the Great Orthodox Church
Father David Morrison and the financial committee of St. Anthony the Great Orthodox Church in Bozeman, Montana, came to OCCIF to refinance their mortgage. OCCIF helped them secure a new mortgage with a low interest rate, allowing for economic stability and future growth.
“OCCIF gave us the ability to have a stable, low-interest mortgage rate that kept us afloat, allowing us to continue to dream, which blessed our community and church.”