Grußworte der Präsidenten
President’s Message
2010 International Convention Theme –
COMMUNITY DIPLOMACY:
EMPOWERING PARTNERSHIP AND PROGRAMS.
Summer goes by so quickly. I now understand my father’s words, “The older one gets – the faster time goes.” On the horizon is:
20th year anniversary will begin on Thursday, 2 September at 4PM, with a proclamation at Belleville City Hall by Mayor Mark Eckert and other dignitaries. Contact person is our President Elect Jerry Reilmann jreilmann@rsdo.net who has volunteered to take-on this momentous year-long celebration.
Oktoberfest Beer Tent Chair Ron Fritz rntfritz@sbcglobal.net and Food Booth Chair Doris Roach jodoroach@charter.net need your calls to volunteer.
I am hopeful you will attend the Taste of Germany Dinner and possibly join Gail and my- self by inviting someone who hasn’t been to this wonderful Belleville event. Chair is Rich Berkel.
Thanks to all who took time to arrange preparations and clean-up for our annual membership appreciation event and to Theresa – for securing and not charging rent for a brief case I left behind. Games which Norma came prepared with added immensely to the joyous time shared by all. A special appreciation to those who invited guests to our event! Please inform them of our appreciation for the time they shared with us.
German Clubs of Belleville East and West and those members who performed the lion’s share of assistance for the June 4th Shiners‘ Parade float are to be applauded. At the risk of leaving key people out I wish to identify Keith Brauer, Theresa Fritz, Bill Jacobus, Norma Bergkoetter, as well as Marie and Wayne Reichling.
Please inform Jerry during the August 19th meeting or as soon as possible if you might attend the Thursday afternoon celebration at City Hall of our 20th anniversary mentioned above.
We have received tentative plans for a delegation from Paderborn to arrive on 12 May 2011.
Tom Heiting
News from Paderborn
Dear Friends in Belleville and Around: At the time when this contribution to the Newsletter was written most of the events mentioned here are still to come, but by the time this newsletter will be published the youth group is back home, so are the four high school exchange students. We hope that all of them are full of great memories of their stay in the sister city and their travelling around Germany.
On July 18th DAFK-Vice-President Heiner Sprenkamp, Secretary Dr. Otmar Allendorf and Uta Hoischen, member of DAFK-Board, welcomed 14 young people from Belleville (and around) and their chaper-ones Andy Gaa and Jena Hollinshead with an open air all-you-can-eat dinner. They’ll stay thru August 6th (arrival July 16th) and will have an exciting program, arranged by the youth department of the City, chaperone Norman Hansmeyer. He is assisted by Andrea Hermes teaching at the school for vocational training in Paderborn. On July 19th, Mayor Heinz Paus gave a reception for all of them and their German peers at City Hall. Some of the host parents were also present. In a PowerPoint presentation, Mayor Paus showed the different economic and cultural aspects of Paderborn. He said that about 10% of the population had a migration background.
For their first tour, the youth group and the German students will go to Cuxhaven by the North Sea, the city of Bremen and the German Emigration Center in Bremerhaven focussing on emigration to the US
(http://www.dah-bremerhaven.de/english/english.html).
On the weekend of July 24th and 25th, the “Libori-Fest” will start and the young people will experience what it means for a whole region to pay tribute to the diocese’s patron saint, St. Liborius, as well as being in the center of one of Germany’s biggest fun fairs.
From July 26th thru 29th, they will be in Germany’s capital, Berlin, where they’ll do some sight-seeing and also attend lectures about political issues.
Before leaving for home, they’ll have a day tour to Essen, a big city in North-Rhine West- phalia, which is the European Capital of Culture in 2010 http://www.essen.de/english/Aktuell_E/PortalAktuell_E.asp?navibereich=eeutd
DAFK is happy to also be responsible for the farewell gathering for guests and hosts on Au- gust 5th.
Jackie Bassler, Crystal Zimmermann, Christopher Crawford and Kevin Schaefer from Belle- ville are here for four to six weeks. They hosted Paderborn students last year. They had a chance to look at school life here before the German school holidays started and they’ll take individual tours with their host families.
This summer three Paderborn students will come to Belleville: Pauline Kleinschloemer, staying with the Eckert family, Tim Sifrin (Peters family) and Josefine Hoischen (Zimmermann family). They are looking forward to experiencing American family hospital- ity, city life and culture. They’ll also get an impression of high school atmosphere and learn- ing. Many thanks for the hospitality of the host families and to everybody involved in this exchange.
This year, there’ll be the 20th anniversary of signing the friendship documents at the City Hall of Paderborn on September 2nd, 1990. Today we are fully aware and can be proud of what has been achieved: Mayor Brauer of Belleville and Mayor Lueke of Paderborn started a great era of friendship and respect between the sister cities, wonderful programs and ac- tivities have been initiated and were realized by Belleville Sister Cities Inc. and Deutsch- Amerikanischer Freundeskreis Paderborn-Belleville e.V. during the last 20 years. We grate- fully remember those in various functions who did a great job of building bridges across the Atlantic but we also encourage those who are still in office or are great supporters to go on with their activities furthering the friendship between our two cities and regions. DAFK is looking forward to a visit of a delegation to Belleville next May during Art on the Square to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the countersigning of these documents in Belle- ville which occurred on October 20th,1991.
Bernd Broer
President
Dr. Otmar Allendorf
Secretary