Jane is a St. Christine Philoptochos Chapter member at St. Demetrios Church, Weston, Massachusetts. Jane’s first memories of Philoptochos were when she was a young girl. She remembers her grandmother, Mrs. Evangelia Antoniou, selling Greek greeting cards to raise funds for Philoptochos. Her grandmother would go from table to table every Sunday during coffee hour, selling cards for every occasion. The people would buy the cards, knowing the proceeds would go to Philoptochos. From her parents, Fr. George and Presbytera Athanasia Papademetriou, Jane learned the example of giving back with her talents.   

With the blessing and spiritual guidance of His Eminence Metropolitan Methodios, Jane is honored and humbled to lead a dedicated team of women to spread the mission of Philoptochos across the Metropolis of Boston. The Metropolis of Boston chapters throughout New England are active and thriving. Through fundraising and hands-on efforts, the Philoptochos sisters across the Metropolis are working hard to fulfill the mission of Philoptochos: to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and care for the oppressed.   

Jane is an attorney and serves as Deputy General Counsel of Bright Horizons, a worldwide education, care, and work/life solutions company headquartered in Newton, Massachusetts. Jane is married to Nicholas Kourtis, Archon Protekdikos to the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Together, they have raised their family in the Greek Orthodox faith. Their children are grown and have children of their own, each offering their God-given talents to our Church.   

One facet of the Philoptochos mission close to Jane’s heart is the call to continue our Orthodox traditions, the obligation to the generations to continue “the paradosis: giving, offering, delivering, performing charity.” Jane believes in teaching the faith through Orthodox hymnology. She treasures the hymnology books given to her by her grandfather, Fr. Constantine Papademetriou. Jane has developed a curriculum for her parish junior choir, Teaching Orthodox Hymns to Church School Children. As director of her parish’s junior choir for many years, Jane has had the opportunity to teach these hymns to young people and, at the same time, to talk about the mission of Philoptochos with high school seniors and graduates, encouraging them to join Philoptochos when they turn 18.  

Jane feels truly blessed to serve as President of the Metropolis of Boston Philoptochos and on the Executive Board of the National Philoptochos.