Fraternity-Testvériség, 1977 (55. évfolyam, 1-4. szám)

1977-07-01 / 3. szám

SECRETARY’S REPORT

for the year 1976

Mr. President,

Members of the Board of Directors:

The recession, inflation and unemployment continued in 1976. They were detrimental factors to the successful promotional work of the Field Force. The largest cities were hit hardest and suffered the highest rate from unemployment. The unemployment benefit funds reached a very low level in many states. The financial soundness of the Social Security System was questioned. All these matters received much publicity by the news media during the presidential election. The cold winter worsened our energy shortage. On the extremely cold days and snow storms many schools were closed. Great areas of our land faced fuel heating shortage. The extremely cold winter months made travel conditions hazardous on icy and snow-drifted roads. Thank God none of our Field Force members had any serious accident. Traveling on bad roads slowed down the promotional activities of our Field Force. The OPEC countries raised the price of oil which affected the price of gasoline. In spite of all these detrimental factors our insurance in force increased during 1976. Progress was made! With God’s help we managed to go forward.

1976 was a year of anniversaries. It was the bicentennial year of our nation. The 80th anniversary of the HRFA. The Bethlen Home celebrated its 55th year anniversary. 300 years ago the Hungarian galley slaves were freed from slavery by the Holland fleet led by Admiral Ruyter. Ferenc Rakoczy II, recognized as a great national hero was born 300 years ago. Under his courageous leadership the Hungarians fought for the independence of their country, religious freedom and human rights. It was also the 20th anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. The Hungarians by an unprecedented courageous uprising endeavored to gain freedom from Russian occupation, oppression and tyranny.

The 80th anniversary of the HRFA was celebrated with banquets and cultural ethnic programs sponsored by our branches in California, District of Columbia, Illinois, New Jersey, Ohio and Pennsylvania. We are particularly thankful to our Board of Directors, Field Force, Branch officers for including the local catholic and Protestant pastors into the local committees. I am happy to report that at all our anniversary celebrations the halls were packed by our participating members and friends. The money left after the audits were donated to the Bethlen Home and our Student Aid Fund. At the end of the first year when the HRFA was organized it had 326 members and $272.00. Today the HRFA has a membership of almost 30,000, an insurance in force over 51 million dollars and assets exceeding 18 million dollars. We are grateful to the founding fathers, the dedicated work of our predecessors, the present leaders and workers of the Federation for the progress made during the past 80 years. Giving recognition to all who had their respective share in the progress achieved in the past, we thank God for the many blessings he graciously bestowed upon the HRFA and we pray that God be with us in the future also.

1976 was a Convention year. The XXXth quadrennial Convention was held on June 28-July 2, 1976 in Ligonier, Pa. At the Convention all the reports documented the fact

that the Federation made progress during the past four years in almost every area. We thanked God for the progress made during the past four years plagued with recession, inflation and unemployment. We also praised the present National Officers, Board of Directors, Field Force, Branch Managers and all the workers for their dedicated services. The Convention passed many resolutions concerning the future life and operation of the Federation and the Bethlen Home. The Board acted on many of the resolutions at its 1976 September meeting and many will require Board action in 1977. The resolutions requiring Board action will be presented by the National Officers through their respective departments. The Field Force members and the Branch Managers thank the Board for the raise they received.

I express my appreciation and thanks to all the fellow workers of my department for their cooperation and services: Mr. Gyula László, Dr. George Topor, Mr. Joseph Pota and Mrs. Maria Alexa Szabolcsy. Whenever extra help was needed in my department because of illness or the urgency to do the extra load of work, I was always able to rely on the help of Mrs. Palma George who as a dedicated member of the Federation and in a genuine spirit of a true fraternalist was always ready and willing to volunteer her expert services free of charge.

I. ADMINISTRATION

1. State and Provincial Licenses

The 1975 and 1976 Annual Statements and all other documents requested by the thirteen states and the Ontario Canadian Province in which the Federation operates were prepared by the Koppelman and Eglow, Certified Public Accountants in South Orange, New Jersey and the C.P.S. Actuaries — Miles M. Dawson and Son in Stamford, Connecticut. The applications with the requested enclosures were mailed in time for the 1976 and the 1977 licenses to the thirteen states and the Ontario Canadian Province. The Federation received licenses to operate in the thirteen states and the Ontario Canadian Province in 1976.

2. Examination of the Insurance Department of the District

of Columbia.

The examinations of the D.C. Insurance Department were made in 1968, 1974 and 1976. In 1974 the inspectors requested that a code of procedure or conflict of interest form must be signed annually by every Board of Director. The examiners were pleased to ascertain that the National Officers and the Board of Directors complied with the D.C. law. No complaints were made to the D.C. Insurance Department by our members or other insurance companies against the Federation concerning the ethical and legal aspects of our operation and our payment of claims. The Federation also enjoys a high standard of solvency. I was requested to produce the state insurance licenses in 1974, 1975 and 1976. The Province of Ontario, Canada licenses were also inspected and all were found in order. All the money received, expenditures and investments made by the Hungarian Reformed Federation of America during 1974 and 1975 were thoroughly inspected. The mortgages were reviewed and the bonds were individually counted in the vault of the bank. The examiners were pleased with the result of their examination.

3. Board of Directors

During the year two regular and two special meetings were held by the Board of Directors. The first regular meeting was held from April 26 through May 1st in Washington, D.C. The second regular meeting was held on September 9

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