William Penn Life, 1999 (34. évfolyam, 2-12. szám)

1999-10-01 / 10. szám

We Got Mail

PsTPMt

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Members touched by Operation Christmas Child campaign

Just to let you all know what a beautiful idea . . . having a Christmas shoe box for needy children. That is the most touching idea that has come up in many, many years.

God love you all.

James & Helen Marko Sun City, AZ

Apparently, many people were touched as you were, James and Helen. As you can see in our report on the campaign (Page 2), we received an overwhelming response, more than tripling our goal. And, thank you for the $25 check for Operation Christmas Child you enclosed with your letter.

Branch stories revive childhood memories for California member

I am enjoying your new expanded format as it now contains more articles of interest to those of us who grew up as members of William Penn Association.

In your August issue, I enjoyed reading about the feast of St. Stephen and was pleased to see the "Magyar Nyelv" translated into English. As a first-generation Hungarian-American, my first language was Magyar, but through the years my reading, writing and speaking skills have become quite rusty.

With my parents and my Hungarian in-laws now gone, I am even more eager to preserve my Hungarian heritage. It is with this eagerness and pleasure that I read about branch activities as I experienced them during my formative years in Detroit, Mich.--picnics, parties, church bazaars, etc.

We Hungarians here in southern California are so spread out. I miss the close-knit ethnic community feeling we shared those many years ago in Michigan. So each time I read about an event such as a szalonna sütés or a szüreti bál taking place in states with active branches, happy memories of my childhood and young adulthood come flooding back.

To quote Bob Hope: "Thanks for the memories."

Yolanda Nagy Fintor Northridge, CA

You're not alone, Yolanda, in missing that feeling of community. Many of our members who grew up like you did, in an ethnic neighborhood, express the same sentiment. The WPA and a number of our branches try to recapture that sense of community by holding special events. We do hope you can make it back east sometime to join us for one of these activities. Maybe then you could create some new "Magyar memories."

In the meantime, we at the William Penn Life will do our best to help you keep your cherished memories alive.

WE DON’T MEAN TO BRAG, BUT ... “We Got Mail” was singled out for praise in the August issue of the National Fraternal Congress of America’s “Joining Hands” monthly newsletter. The newsletter is sent to officers of the 90-plus fraternal benefit societies which belong to the NFCA. They used words like “awesome” and “refreshing” to describe our letters to the editor section.

We wish we could take the credit, but you know as well as we do that what makes “We Got Mail” work is you-the readers who write us such “awesome” and “refreshing” letters.

This is your publication, and this page is your forum. If you have thoughts to share, questions to ask, kudos to award or frustrations to vent, write to us at:

Here’s Your Mail c/o William Penn Life

William Penn Association 709 Brighton Road Pittsburgh, PA 15233

We reserve the right to edit all letters for spelling, grammar and length. All letters must include the writer’s full name, address and telephone number. Unsigned letters will not be published.

Hungarian Days in Pennsylvania draw interest from Michigan

In your August issue there was an article about Hungarian Days in Johnstown, Pa. ("Johnstown, Pa., to Celebrate Magyar Heritage") Unfortunately, I received the magazine too late to go there.

Do you know if Johnstown celebrates that occasion every year?

Any information will be appreciated.

Margaret Danielak Garden City, MI

This year's "Celebration of Hungarian Heritage" was the first such event to be held in Johnstown. However, the group that organized the event "was so energized and so passionate about it that I think it is very likely there will be another one next year, probably in August,” said Rosemary Pawlowski of the Bottle Works Ethnic Arts Center.

She said the public response to the celebration was "huge." "I was amazed how many people came in speaking Hungarian," she said.

If and when plans for another celebration are solidified, we'll let you, Margaret, and all our readers know as soon as possible. To learn more about the Bottle Works, call (814) 536-5399.

William IVnn Life, October 1999

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