Aus dem Mitteilungsblatt von Belleville Sister Cities Inc.

November 2010

Grußworte der Präsidenten

President's Message

I am very proud of being a member of the “Class Act” known as Belleville Sister Cities.

My thanks to each of you who successfully carried out in such a quality manner the 20th anniversary event, Oktoberfest, and Taste of Germany.

I am equally as proud of our relationship with Deutsch-Amerikanischer Freundeskreis Paderborn.

Tom

News from Paderborn

Dear Friends in Belleville and Around:

These past weeks we had two wonderful celebrations of the 20th anniversary of the signing of the friendship documents on the 2nd of September 1990, one in Belleville and one in Paderborn.

Referring to the anniversary celebration on September 2nd at City Hall Belleville, Buergermeister Heinz Paus (Paderborn) wrote to Mayor Mark Eckert (Belleville)

“Dear Mayor Eckert, dear colleague: Twenty years ago the late Mayor Rich Brauer of Belleville and Mayor Willi Lueke of Paderborn signed the documents of friendship at the City Hall of Paderborn.

We now can proudly emphasize that the goals which were declared on that day and again confirmed on October 20th, 1991, in Belleville, Illinois have been reached during the last twenty years.

On the basis of the common cultural heritage of both our cities and regions the mutual understanding of the citizens of Belleville, Illinois and Paderborn, Germany has been constantly developed. The bonds of friendship and respect between the sister cities have been strengthened through the exchange visits of adults and young people. Most of all, we can point with pride to the success of the Sister City Youth Exchange Program which has been going on since 1990.

We appreciate the time and effort that has been expended throughout the years on our sister city relationship by Belleville Sister Cities, Inc and Deutsch-Amerikanischer Freundeskreis Paderborn – Belleville Illinois e. V. This commitment of the boards and members of both organizations has also contributed to promoting the relations between the United States and Germany.

With great gratefulness we remember the late Mayor Rich Brauer and late DAFK-President Ellen Rost as well as Mayor Lueke, Dottie Brauer and Friedel Schuette who did a great job initiating the sister city relationship between our two cities and regions. We warmly thank everybody who has been involved in this wonderful project during the last twenty years.

We are very much indebted to those who are now keeping the functions in both organizations. We encourage them to carry on with their work and with their enthusiasm to the benefit of the people of both our cities and regions.”

On October 8th , Paderborn celebrated the 20th anniversary at the Rathaus of Paderborn. 180 people were present when BSC-Past President Rich Berkel, accompanied by his wife Sally, read the letter of congratulations from Mayor Eckert to Buergermeister Paus:

excerpt of the Mayor’s letter :”It is my sincere desire to continue to encourage and foster that relationship, especially through our youth exchange program that has forever changed the lives… of our entire family.
… The exchange of people, cultures and experiences that have come from our Sister Cities relationship have truly enriched all of our lives”.

BSC-President Tom Heiting had also sent a letter to DAFK which Rich read to the audience; excerpt
“… Throughout these twenty years we in Belleville are very proud of the affiliation with Paderborn residents whom we have come to know well. During the following twenty years, we people of the Belleville region look forward to making new acquaintances and friends with people from the Paderborn region….”

For pictures, please see:
http://www.dafk-paderborn.de/archiv/2010/101008_20jahre_vertrag.html

The youth exchange (starting in August) has been going on with a 10-week stay of Pauline Kleinschloemer, Willi Luke’s granddaughter, with Family Eckert and Tim Sifrin, staying with Family Peters. They will have gone home when this newsletter is published. Many thanks to their host families and to the High Schools where they were attending courses.

Josefine Hoischen stayed with Family Zimmermann for 4 weeks in summer. Many thanks to them, too.

DAFK is looking forward to this year’s Thanksgiving Dinner.

We wish our friends in Belleville and region all the best for this holiday.

Bernd Broer
President

Dr. Otmar Allendorf
Secretary