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Get Scouted Scouting CareersVolunteering Has Become Her Passion
Origninally from Port Oraange, FL, former NSR basketball prospect, Athena Christoforakis, was a high school All-State performer. After her prep career, she play for two years at a community college then went on to have a huge impact on the Temple University squad which advanced to the NCAA tournament her senior year. In 2004, Athena joined the Greek Olympic team and followed that up by playing professionallyl in Europe. Yet, her greatest contribution would come after her basketball was completed. Today, Athena dedicates her life to assisting a leper treatment village in India for the Love Thy Neighbor India relief organization. Below is an article on Athena’s remarkable life recently posted on the Daytona News Journal online news site. The article was written by Mark J. Johnson, a staff writer for the News Journal.
DAYTONA BEACH — During her first three decades of life, Port Orange native Athena Christoforakis has made the most of her opportunities.
The 6-foot-tall hoopster earned a living from the sport she loves, playing with professional women’s basketball teams in Europe, as well as representing her ancestral homeland — Greece — in the 2004 Olympic games. She also fulfilled a desire to travel to some of the poorest parts of the world pursuing her dream of bringing smiles to the faces of people who have no reason to smile.
“I used to say when I finished playing professional basketball, I would coach,” she said. “But no longer. Basketball was once my passion, but now this is.”
The “this” of which Christoforakis, 30, speaks is a passion to bring a bit of joy to the hearts of children and people outcast from society by leprosy a biblical-era semi-contagious skin disease that can cause disfiguring sores and the loss of digits such as fingers and toes — in Latur, India.
“Or any type of nonprofit work,” she said.
Christoforakis is the volunteer U.S. operations liaison for Love Thy Neighbor India.
“I am the person in India, who (people) contact for the organization,” she
said.
After the 2004 Olympics and a couple of professional basketball seasons, Christoforakis came home to help care for her mother, who had ovarian cancer.
After her mother died in 2007, Christoforakis discovered her heart wasn’t on the hardwood any longer. She backpacked through Southeast Asia for a time before returning to Florida where she heard about an 87-year-old man feeding the homeless on the beaches of Fort Lauderdale.
Intrigued, she sought out this Good Samaritan, Arnold Abbott, founder of the Maureen A. Abbott Love Thy Neighbor Fund.
She worked with Abbott for a time before giving in to the desire to visit India. During her trip to the north of the country, where Christoforakis had the chance to meet the Dali Lama, Abbott contacted her to see if she would be willing to travel 1,000 miles out of her way. He wanted her to check out a children’s school and leprosy treatment village run by a man Abbott had been in contact with over the Internet.
Dr. Prabhudas Dupte had sought funding from Abbott, who administers a private charitable fund in memory of his wife, Maureen A. Abbott. The fund accepts donations and uses those dollars with the philosophy, “I am my brother’s keeper and love thy neighbor.”
“(Christoforakis) was only going to spend one day there, but she spent 14, until her visa ran out,” Abbott said.
“She gave the lepers something they had never had,” he said. “She gave them love, hugs and kisses. Athena’s heart is as big as her athletic ability.”
Christoforakis said she dipped into her own pocket as well, buying bedding and mosquito netting for the school as well as ice cream and toys for the youngsters.
“When I asked them what would they want if they could have anything, the girls asked for plastic bracelets,” she said in awe. If that same question had been asked in this country, items such as cars and other luxuries would likely be the response, she said.
The boys at the school asked for suitcases/bookbags in which they could put their one spare set of clothing.
The reaction of receiving items most children in America would take for granted was a greater reward than Christoforakis ever got from her athletic career.
The smiles of the people she met at the village and the school is why Christoforakis is so anxious to go back to India. She leaves in mid-July.
“I miss the kids,” she said.
However, this time she will be prepared to lend more than just a hand of friendship.
With the assistance of Daytona Beach resident and family friend Dephrin Jackson, Christoforakis will be taking both women’s and children’s clothing for the village inhabitants.
“I knew my church had been gathering things for people and knew of other people that would love to help,” Jackson said. “It is such an overwhelming delight to do that.”
But it never seems to be enough, said Christoforakis.
She said she would like to develop a connection with an international aid organization that would allow her to spend more time in India with “her kids.”
National Scouting Report is dedicated to finding scholarship opportunities for athletes who possess the talent, desire, and motivation to compete at the collegiate level. We’ve helped connect thousands of athletes with their perfect college.
Thank you angel, I think what you did is wonderful.
I’ve been in the same place as the lady you helped.
Lost my job after cancer surgery so I know how this lady
feels, no job no money and living on a limited income.
I’m currently having similar issues with car repair and no money
to take care of it.
So again a huge thank you angel, we need more people like you in
this world.