Aus dem Mitteilungsblatt von Belleville Sister Cities Inc.

Februar 2007

Grußworte der Präsidenten

President's Message

The year 2007 promises to again be a busy one for our Sister City organization. Besides the usual programs we are involved in, we are joining together with area Sister Cities to host the State Convention that will take place at Our Lady of Snows Convention Center on April 20 and 21. Our co-hosts are Columbia, Waterloo, Millstadt and Carbondale Skis, We think we will have an outstanding program of speakers, entertainment, tour and facilities. It will be the first Illinois Convention held in the southern part of the state, and we hope to win the favor of the Northerners with our program and hospitality. With all the resources and good minds available in our wide area, it something to anticipate.

We hope that many of you will put the convention on your calendar and plan to attend. as we all have much to gain by interesting workshops, speakers and guests. One day reservations are available to hosting memberships, so if it is not possible to attend both days, for a $60 fee, there will be a $35 fee for one day, which will include program and meal. Meeting just one more charming person is worth the price. More information will be sent to you when the program is prepared, but mark your calendar now.

This year for the first time we are cooperating with the SCI Young Artist Showcase. We are inviting youths 13 to l8 years of age to submit a piece of artwork that expresses their interpretation of the Sister City mission throughout the world. They will be displayed along with other entries from young artists throughout the state at the April convention. For information and entry form, please contact me. I will be meeting with art teachers at local high schools to explain the program.
We are also looking forward to a delegation of visitors from our Paderborn, Germany Sister City October 11 to 15 Hosting one of our foreign guests is a unique experience, and I hope that if you have never done so, you take advantage of the opportunity if it presents itself.

Plans for a visit to our Paderborn Sister City along with an Eastern European trip are in the works for 2008. Make a note.

In July we will again be taking part in the annual Youth Exchange, with Belleville as this year’s host. Our youth committee is busy selecting hosts and preparing their two week schedule of activities.

The Belleville SCI float in the Santa Claus Parade won First Place and $100. Thanks to all who helped in any way. I am sure there is some creative person in our group who has wonderful ideas for parade entries and would like to come forth. We also take part in the Shriner’s parade in the summer, and need some minor, pleasing entry, rather than just a convertible. Think hard and contact me with suggestions.
The beginning of a new year means our membership dues are payable. There is a flyer in this newsletter for renewing your membership. I hope you do so promptly to make it easy on our Membership Chairman Larry Schaltenbrand, so reminders do not need to be sent.

Your dues mean more than just your name as one of the nearly 300 on our roster. They are a ticket to new experiences, new friends, locally and globally. Members who regularly attend are always happy to see new faces in the group.

Every 3rd Thursday is an opportunity to share an evening with members.

Our meetings are held quarterly, the other months we meet for Stammtisch, sharing a meal and evening of congeniality at a different local restaurant, sometimes in area towns. Our Christmas dinner scheduled location had to be changed because the restaurant closed and was held at Paesano’s (also now closed) and the January Stammtisch was held at Mariachi’s. The April 3rd Thursday Stammtisch will not be held, to encourage more members to take part in the State Convention held the following day at Our Lady of Snows.

We look forward to greeting you all at our General Membership meeting at Fischer's Restaurant on Thursday, February 15.

Remember to read all the Newsletters available on the internet. Addresses are provided on the back side page.

Norma Bergkoetter

News from Paderborn

Dear Friends in Belleville and Around:

This year has started with some heavy storms on both sides of the Atlantic. We saw on TV the consequences of the ice-storms in the US, here we had heavy winds (with such an extent as not been experienced for ages) that did a lot of damage, especially to the woods or trees falling on property and people. Even the railway traffic had been affected for a few days. Are these weather conditions predicting weather changes around the globe that may even become worse?

Nevertheless, we hope that you started with optimism into the new Year.

Here in Paderborn, people were happy in November with the big exhibition “Canossa” closing with an attendance of about 200.000 visitors. Our Thanksgiving Dinner was well attended, see pictures: http://www.dafkpaderborn.de/archiv/fotos2006.html

Presently there is a medical exhibition in Paderborn at – what is called – the world’s largest Computer Museum: “Heinz Nixdorf MuseumForum” (www.hnf.de): high tech for healthy living and lifestyle. Our society will visit the exhibition soon, here is the exhibition’s homepage presented in English: www.computer-medicine.com

We are now beginning to plan a group-visit to Belleville, starting Oct. 12th. We are looking forward to meeting with you. Paderborn County Board Chairman Manfred Mueller has told us that he will join the group - visiting Belleville for the first time.

So we hope that BSC can realize a group visit in 2008. We are looking forward to it.

We know that your youth committee is working on this year’s youth exchange. We hope that they are successful. It would be wonderful if the 90 days-exchange of high school students could also be continued.

We have heard that BSC’s Stammtisch will soon be in a restaurant called “Roemertopf”. Roemertopf is a German cooking pot made of clay reminding us of Roman cooking techniques. The results are very tasty. The company that produces these pots has an interesting homepage in English with product information and recipes: http://www.roemertopf.de/english

Best wishes to all of you.

Bernd Broer
President

Dr. Otmar Allendorf
Secretary