Fraternity-Testvériség, 1973 (51. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1973-07-01 / 7-9. szám

* REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT to the

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

The Hungarian Reformed Federation of America for the year of 1972

THANKSGIVING

It is with deepfelt gratitude to God that I present this report to our Board of Directors. I am deeply grateful that He maintained us in these trying times, that He gave us strength to carry out our work and that we were again enabled to strengthen and to increase our heritage to His glory and to the benefit of our people. We are especially grateful that our labors passing all human strength during the past years — and specially in the year of the Convention — were blessed by our God and approved by our Convention. We are also grateful that the Convention expressed such a vote of confidence in us, such an expression of unanimity almost never experienced before by which the national officers and members of the Board were reelected, to lead our precious and powerful fraternal organization, the Hungarian Reformed Federation of America. We would not say the truth if it were not said that this unanimity and confidence filled all of us with great joy and it gives us more strength and enthusiasm to all of us to do our work with more dedication, with even greater loyalty and with the total commitment of our talents and lives and to govern the ship of our Federation in the uncertain waters towards a better and happier future.

THE CONVENTION

We believe that the succes of our Convention came from the blessing of God and also from the trust and confidence placed in us by the members of this Board. We are very thankful to you all for the harmony and solidarity of the past four years as we believe that the many trials, labors and cares unified us all. This solidarity and unity of the Board made it possible that we could stand us as one body for our great cause and we were able to achieve those epoch- making innovations, the updating and modernizing of our by-laws, the guide-lines and policies for the coming four years which had been adopted by our Convention.

A NEW ERA

These four years, commencing by our present meeting, will have to be really of historical importance in the life of our Federation. Not only because

* For the request of our English speaking members, we herewith publish the President’s Report in English.

of the changes and decisions of great significance adopted by the Convention, but also because we have to prepare for the great change which will have to be faced four years from now due to our changed By- Laws. We have to face the fact that more than one- third of our Executive and Board Members with experience of many decades of service will not be eligible for reelection. We have to prepare for this change, that it should be carried out without endangering the security and stability of our Federation. We have to make sure that the new leadership will be of the same quality and loyalty, that they should love our Federation with at least the same loyalty and dedication as their predecessors. The future and progress of our Federation can be secured only in such a way and for this aim our present Board will have great responsibility in the coming four years.

THE RESOLUTIONS OF THE CONVENTION

The greatest event of the past year — in addition to the regular activities of our Federation — has been our Convention, which was held between 26 and 30 of June in Ligonier, Pa. The planning of the Convention, the territorial divisions, the announcements and advertising for positions, preparations of resolutions meant a tremendous amount of additional work to all of us. It was a rewarding experience as this Convention happened to be one of the best planned, prepared and most impressive Convention in the history of our Federation.

I have to mention those important resolutions of this Convention which had already been implemented and those which fall under the jurisdiction of our present Board meeting.

NEW BY-LAWS

1. Our By-Laws were modified in accordance with the needs of the changing times and in accordance with the requirements of Federal and State laws. Our Officers and our Attorney prepared the final and legal version in accordance with the minutes of our Convention. The By-Laws have been printed and mailed to the members of our Board and Field Force and it is being published in the consecutive issues of our official magazine.

STUDENT “LOAN FUND”

2. Our Convention resolved the establishment of a Student Loan Fund, which aims to help our young members in their highest studies with loans.

The By-Laws of our Student Loan Fund had been prepared by our Controller and was accepted by our Board at its September meeting, and front the beginning of the year the granting of such student loans are in process. In addition to these loans, we also give smaller amounts as “Student Aid” at the request

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