Fraternity-Testvériség, 1947 (25. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1947-11-01 / 11. szám

TESTVÉRISÉG

15

GUILD COMPLETES PROJECT FOR WIDOWS OF HUNGARIAN CLERGYMEN

The bundles are now on their way! They will reach Debrecen, Hungary, by Christmas and will be received as Christmas-gifts by the widows of the 45 clergymen who were killed in War. In some of these bundles will be clothing for the 17 orphaned children of these clergymen.

How did this come to pass? Well, the idea was born in the mind of one of the women of Trinity when she heard the pitiful story from Reverend and Mrs. Joseph Kecskemethy of Li- gonier. The Kecskemethys are in charge of our Hungarian Orphans’ and Old Folks’ Home in that neighboring town. The suggestion to help these widows was passed on to Dr. Pontius who threw out a challenge to the women of our congregation when he preached his sermon the morning of September 21; but he had another challenge. It was for the men of Trinity to pay for the freight! Why shouldn’t they do that? If the women would gather the clothing, why should not the men pay for the transportation? But men are a little slow on taking the hint. The Service Circle beat them to it in quick response by paying $25 for transportation and other costs.

It was interesting to hear Mrs. Kecskemethy tell about how the packing was done. Several of the old people from the Old Folks’ Division of the Ligonier Home assembled on Nov. 4, one of whom had lived in Debrecen, knew the town, the location of streets as well as several of the widows to whom packages were to be sent. She knew home conditions. So she with the help of Mrs. Kecskemethy and others made piles of clothing. Each pile was started with a winter coat. It was found that from the clothing Trinity’s women had sent, they were shy 4 winter coats. Undaunted, Mrs. Kecskemethy went out into the town of Ligonier and got 4 heavy coats. Then the completing of the piles was started. It was found that 2 pairs of shoes were also needed; so another trip was made into Ligonier and two pair of shoes were secured. When it was found that one winter coat was not so heavy, a sweater was added to make up for the middle-weight coat. Each widow received 1 coat, 1 pair of shoes and at least 2 heavy dresses; some received suits. In addition to that each widow received 2 or 3 pairs of stockings. There were 4 bundles made up of children’s clothing entirely. There were 19 packages in all. Each one weight 35 pounds, with clothing for 41 widows.

When our Guild met in its annual meeting on Oct. 15 at 114 Oakland Ave. Rev. Kecskemethy told the story of conditions in Hungary. His appeal was powerful. He, together with his

charming wife, answered questions and gave us factual knowledge which they read from letters of their Debrecen friends. A picture was taken of the members of our Guild which will appear in the Hungarian Almanac and Yearbook. The picture turned out right well, although the faces of several of the ladies were partially hidden by the ladies in rows in front of them. The picture is posted on one of the bulletin-boards in the narthex of our church.

On Sat., Nov. 1, Mr. John B. Millen sent his truck and driver here to the Church where Mr. G. M. Brinker and Dr. Pontius helped put the clothing in the truck. Within a half hour the automobile was on its way to Ligonier.

The cost of everything for which checks were paid to Rev. Kecskemethy amounted to $74.79. In addition to the $25 from the Service Circle Dr. Pontius has received $10 from a friend of our congregation to help pay the bill. Dr. Pontius advanced for the men of our congregation the balance, $39.79. He gave it to Rev. Kecskemethy on Sunday evening, No. 9, when the Kecskemethys were the guests of Dr. and Mrs. Pontius for supper as well as the Piano-Organ Recital in the First Church rendered by the Organists of First and Trinity Congregation assisted by Trinity’s Quartet.

That is the story. A word should be said about a few friends of Trinity who, hearing of our project, wanted to help and sent dresses and coats. Whe thank them very much. And we thank those people in Ligonier who, when it was found at the last minute that our donation was 4 winter coats and 2 pairs of shoes shy, willingly filled in the gap.

The Women’s Missionary Society now has the names of the older widows in Debrecen as well as their addresses. The Service Circle has the names and addresses of all of the other well as their addresses. The Service Circle has the names and addresses of all of the other widows. The Primary Department of our Church School has the names and addresses of the orphaned children. All of these organizations of Trinity will send Christmas greetings to our Debrecen friends; such greetings should be given two weeks for a timely arrival. And it should be remembered that if the names of these Hungarian friends seem strange, the last name is given first according to Hungarian custom. By that we mean if you were sending a greeting or bundle to a Hungarian in Debrecen by the name of Paul Reid Pontius, it would be written,—Pontius Paul Reid.

May God bless them all and fill them with Christmas cheer! We know that God is even now blessing us for what we have tried in Christ’s name to do.