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Aus dem
Mitteilungsblatt von Belleville Sister Cities Inc.
Februar 2009
Grußworte der Präsidenten
President's
Message
It’s awfully cold lately but that didn't stop members from attending our
Christmas party at the Roemer Topf Restaurant on Dec. 18th in Mascoutah. We had
a nice crowd in spite of the weather and even had a couple of new members join
us. Renate and her staff prepared a tasty dinner. Hilda and Theresa had a nice
selection of attendance prizes and Doris arranged the entertainment. I think
everyone had a great time.
2008 was an exciting year for Belleville Sister Cities and its membership with
the many events that took place. Thanks to all that made this possible. We
accomplished quite a lot with our students and an adult delegation visiting
Paderborn, a police exchange in September, and our fundraisers - the Oktoberfest
and Taste of Germany. But 2009 is a new year and we need to get busy. This
summer in July, Belleville Sister Cities will host the Paderborn students and
chaperones. A committee is already making plans for the student's two week stay.
Always keep in mind that we need everyone's help to make our projects
successful. Volunteers are welcome. Congratulations are in order for the
Deutsch-Amerikanischer Freundeskreis which received the Ambassa-
dor’s Certificate of Appreciation by former US Ambassador William
Timken, Jr. The award was given for its commitment to promoting
relations between Germany and the US via means of the
Paderborn-Belleville Sister City partnership. Secretary Dr. Otmar
Allendorf traveled to Duesseldorf to receive the certificate on
behalf of the DAFK.
We were sorry to hear of the passing of Ludwig Schmidt. He was a
long time member of the DAFK and will be fondly remembered by many.
Our sincerest condolences go to Bruni and Ludwig’s family.
The 2009 Illinois State Convention will be held in April in
Schaumburg, IL. More information from the host committee of the
conference will be coming out soon.
A membership annual dues notice was in the last newsletter. Please
submit your dues now so that our new membership chairman, Herm
Schoener does not need to send a reminder. Please check with Herm to
confirm your current address, phone number and e-mail address so our
roster will be up-to-date.
Our next general membership meeting is on Feb.19th at Fischer’s
Restaurant with dinner at 5:30pm and meeting at 7:00pm. We look
forward to seeing you there.
Ron Fritz
President
News
from Paderborn
In January 2008 we began our part to the newsletter with: “This
year has begun with increased turbulence on the American and
International Money Market. Let's hope that the situation will calm
down….” We all know that this hasn't been the case, even worse: a
financial and economic crisis is affecting the whole world.
Nevertheless, let's hope that there will come better times…
Nearly everybody here watched TV when President Obama was
inaugurated some days ago.
At present there is cold winter weather in your area, and even here
in Paderborn we have had a January with much snow and temperatures
below zero Celsius [below freezing] throughout the month that we
haven't experienced for a long time.
Our Thanksgiving “all you can eat dinner” was a great event; about
160 people attended. The chef had to cook 18 turkeys that were
enjoyed by everybody. Again the desert buffet was wonderful. The
members are asked to bring their favourite desserts. This year Kate
Eckert, the Mayor’s daughter, who happened to attend since she was
on a University course in Regensburg, had made two pumpkin pies,
real American style. They were a hit!
At a January 14, 2009 reception at his residence in Duesseldorf,
US-Consul General Matt Boyse honoured representatives from 23
sister-city partnerships, 16 German-American organizations, and 9
individuals in- volved in the bilateral relationship from across
North Rhine-Westphalia. The event was an occasion to present
Certificates of Appreciation signed by former Ambassador Timken and
the Consul General, to in- tensify the cooperation between the
Consulate and partner organizations, as well as foster communication
and exchange between the organizations themselves and their leaders.
This event also launched a series of workshops that will involve all
institutions active in promoting German-American relations, to be
held at regular intervals in order to support their activities and
generate synergies.
Dr. Otmar Allendorf, Secretary of German-American Friendship Society
Paderborn-Belleville, travelled to Duesseldorf to receive the
document.
We think that this also is a recognition of the activities of
Belleville Sister Cities. So both organizations can be proud of this
“Certificate of Appreciation”.
On January 29th Dr. Peter Freese, a retired professor of American
studies from Paderborn University and member of DAFK, gave a lecture
on the American South. He presented a lot of historical facts and
showed pictures of the places of historical interest. On our
homepage www.dafk-paderborn.de we will publish a list of books he
used for his talk (in English).
As we have heard from Doris Roach, she has contacted Belleville West
and East High Schools to find host families interested in the three
month-exchange, starting in August. We hope that she will be
successful. In June we’ll welcome the students from Belleville who
hosted last year.
Norman Hansmeyer has started to organize this year’s youth exchange
in July. As every second year we will send about 14 young people in
their summer break to visit Belleville and around. Last July 14
Belle- ville youths and their chaperons had a good time here..
Welcome to Paderborn.!
Best wishes for 2009 to our friends in Belleville and around.
Bernd Broer
President
Dr. Otmar Allendorf
Secretary |
