Bethlen Almanac 1999 (Ligonier)
Közép Egyházmegye - Central Classis
McKeesport, Pennsylvania Free Hungarian Reformed Church of McKeesport McKeesport, Pennsylvania Pastor: Rev. Dr. Daniel J. Borsay Chief Elder: John Kontz Our church is best characterized by stability. Many of our members have passed away including former chief elders, treasurers, members of Council, active participants in all our events, as well as less active but steady churchgoers and yet despite our losses, we still are able to make ends meet and maintain our facilities. We are even capable of producing that which is new. This year, for example, we held a Youth Sunday when basically the youth of our church did everything including the preaching, a task taken on successfully by Ryan Jordanhazy and for this occasion we organized a youth choir under the talented leadership of our organizer Alice MacLeod. The choir has taken off and has grown to eleven children. They have performed at several of our services and we contemplate taking them on the road. We have also increased our mission spending after having decided to support local efforts so that we can actually see the results of our dollars and cents in our own community. This was done to ensure accountability. In particular, we support a Catholic charity that provides clothing, food, and meals to the indigent. Since the nuns who run the charity don’t get much pay and they rely on volunteers including one of our church member (Peggy Brindza), our donations are extremely cost effective, each and every dollar going toward the actual helping of others. What is more, this charity operates out of our old church building, so that we can see that it is being put to good use. Our chief elder is John Kuntz who has held this position for many different periods throughout the life of the church. Our devoted treasurer Richard Heyz declined to run again due to his health problems. We will miss Dick in the treasurer’s office; he did an excellent job in a difficult area. But we are pleased that a representative of a new generation Steven Balogh has taken over the reins. Steven’s grandfather was a founding member of our church; and his father who will provide Steven with assistance was once our treasurer himself. Our Women’s Guild continues to be very active, meeting every Tuesday to make csiga and soup noodles. They also spearhead our participation in Interna159
