It was a time of food, fun, and faith for many seeking an early chance to observe the Easter holiday season March 18 during Assumption Greek Orthodox Church of Homer Glen’s Easter Egg Hunt & Breakfast with the Bunny.
The community event, held at Homer Junior High School, was attended by church members and local children and their families.
“For the Orthodox Church, it’s extremely important, the Easter season,” said Chrisoula Georgacopoulos, one of the event organizers. “For the area, I think [Easter is important] because everyone enjoys the meaning of the season.”
Dozens of children were on hand to enjoy playing games, visiting and taking pictures with the Easter bunny, along with eating breakfast with their families.
Frankfort’s George Dimopoulos was motivated to drop in for the event as a member of Assumption Greek Orthodox Church of Homer Glen.
“The children can learn about Easter and also partake in an Easter egg hunt,” he said.
Dimopoulos said the Easter holiday is always an exciting time for his family.
“My daughter was very excited when she walked in,” he said. “The Easter bunny was waving out in the window, so she was super excited.”
When the church hosted the event last year, they did not have the breakfast component. This time around, the organizers wanted to do something different.
“Last year was our first time doing it, so we wanted to get a feel of all the children and see how things go,” said Pam Dimitriou, another event organizer. “This year, we implemented the breakfast because it goes with hunting.”
The Easter egg hunt last year brought in between 50 and 60 children.
Event organizers agreed that previous success drove them to host it again.
Georgacopoulos said they spread the word about the event they intended to host this time around by telling more area churches.
“This year, we opened it up a little bit and next year, we’re going to gradually keep growing and growing,” Georgacopoulos said.
There were a number of different chances for children and their families to win something throughout the event. Participants tried their hand at wining raffle prizes baskets.
Closing out the event, children took part in an Easter egg hunt. There were 1,500 Easter eggs for them to find and collect. Anyone who grabbed a golden egg was granted one of three special prizes.
Lockport’s Sophie Plakias said she was enjoying all of what the event aimed to offer.
“We want to make sure we teach the kids the real reason we celebrate Easter,” she said.
Plakias intends to return to the event next year, should the church decide to have it again.
“It’s definitely more fun because there’s other people here,” she said. “We do the same traditions at home. … Seeing the children and the smiles on their faces and all the fun they’re having, that brings joy.”
Georgacopoulos gave kudos to the many volunteers who turned out to support the event.
“We had a lot of fantastic help,” Georgacopoulos said. “Everyone has been so helpful. They’ve been great.”