Fraternity-Testvériség, 1969 (47. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1969-05-01 / 5. szám
English Section: THE PRESIDENT S REPORT to the Board of Directors of the Hungarian Reformed Federation of America for the year of 1968 Distinguished Members of the Board: Dear Brethren: This meeting of the Board of Directors terminates a four year period in the life of the Federation and at the same time it means the beginning of a new four year period for me, as well as for my fellow Officers and for the members of the Board. GRATITUDE AND THANKS Personally, I am filled with heartfelt gratitude towards Almighty God that He gave me strength during the first term of my service as a President to fulfil all my responsibilities and to do my work under so many difficulties and concerns. I am grateful to the members of our Convention and Directors that my service was approved and for a new term of four years I was reelected with such moving unanimity. But I am grateful to Almighty God in a very special way that He gave such excellent fellow-workers, that He led the members of the Convention to elect such outstanding fellow- officers and directors. No matter what difficulties we may face, if we maintain the spirit of brotherly fellowship and trust in God, who never left us not even in the most trying times, He will sustain us in the future, for He alone is our strength and comfort. DIFFICULTIES The year about which I am going to report to the members of the Board, was a really difficult year filled with many problems, trials and unexpected surprises. It is easy to steer a ship while the waters are smooth. But as soon as the tempest comes, the skill of the shippers is put to a very severe test. They have to use all their ability and skill, they have to utilize all instruments and -technical know-how if they wish to arrive safely into their port of destination. The ship of our Federation was passing through very difficult situations. Right at the beginning of the past year we were affected by the sudden and unexpected resignation of our Secretary. After his resignation we were faced with a field filled with problems and dissatisfactions. Three very important areas of our field were vacant, without a manager (Chicago, Connecticut and New York). Two outstanding field workers, Alexander Csik and Dr. Ottó Hámos left us. I dare to say that our entire field work came to a stand-still and the gain in new members during the months of January and February has been the lowest one for decades. It was not easy for the three Officers, who took over the duties of the resigned secretary to restore the confidence of our field force and to start the field-work anew. Our first step was upon the departure of the secretary, that we called a conference for our field-force, in February at our head office. This conference lasted for two days. It was a very useful working conference. We began a new field-program, with new quotas also making uniform standards for all, with unified and increased pay and premium systems. Our field-force accepted the plans and the program and we had a well founded expectation that some of the losses will be regained. Unfortunately, our expectations did not materialize. Two months were lost from the year already, and it became apparent right at the beginning of the year that there were lapses into the hundreds of thousands resulting from those policies which were written at the end of the previous year by some of our field-force just to complete their quota requirements. We were forced to dismiss two members of our field force due to this irresponsible manipulation. The preparations for our Convention took much of the time and energy of the officers. “Organizing” and overambitious “interference” witli preparations for the Convention on the part of some of our field force had a detrimental effect on our real work. We also have to take into careful consideration, that the field in which we are engaged is a Hungarian and Reformed field as — also specified by our Convention — narrows down continuously. We need new effort, a new vision, plans and means, if we wish to secure the required 10c/c increase in the future, ACHIEVEMENTS — GAINS Taking into the consideration the difficulties mentioned above, we must be very grateful to God for all the achievements, accomplished during the past year, because in many areas the increase and the result have been considerable, which indicate the progress, the security and the increase in values of our Federation. Of these 1 wish to mention only a few items: I. Assets of our Federation: December 31, 1967 -S 14.913.124.78 December 31, 1968 $15,310,931.00 Increase $ 397,806.22 II. Insurance in force: December 31, 1967 $46,939,515.00 December 31, 1968 $46,966,506.00 Increase $ 29,991.00 8
