Well, maybe I don’t look forward to mowing the grass just having green grass.
At the April 15th Board Meeting, Melissa Shreve and Lacey Levin, represen- tatives of Lindenwood University, spoke of the university’s interest in starting an international student exchange program. Information has been forwarded to Paderborn.
By the time you receive your newsletter, Steve and Hilda Koluch will have returned from the 2009 Illinois State Sister City Convention held on April 17 & 18th in Schaumburg, IL. Steve and Hilda were our representatives this year and we are looking forward to their report.
The eighth Annual Art on the Square event will be held May 15th to 17th. We wish much success to Patty Gregory and the planning committee for another award winning year.
The next general meeting will be held Thursday, May 21st, at Fischer’s Restaurant. Please plan to attend and bring a guest if you wish.
Our annual Membership Appreciation Dinner will be held Thursday, June 18th, at St. Michael’s Parish Center in Paderborn, IL. Call Hilda Koluch for reservations. Come join us for a fun and exciting evening.
We are looking forward to the Youth Exchange this year as we welcome 14 students traveling from Pad- erborn to Belleville to share and experience life in United States and our city of Belleville. We hope all members will make the students feel welcome during their stay from July 3rd thru July 17th. The support of the summer exchange program and the 90 day program are important to the organization in strengthening our ties between Germany and the USA.
Norma Bergkoetter is making plans for the youth exchange alumni to attend a reunion with our visiting Paderborn students and hosts.
This year’s Sister Cities International Convention will be held in Belfast, Northern Ireland from July 29 thru August 1st. At this time, we have no plans to send a representative.
Ron Fritz President
News from Paderborn
Dear Friends in Belleville and Around:
Just now we are remembering our first visit to Belleville 20 years ago – from May 4th thru May 9th, 1989. A large group from Paderborn experienced the wonderful hospitality in our future sister city – as the picture at the Shrine shows.
At this time last year we all were very busy with preparations for our 20th anniversary, so in 2009 there will be less stressful weeks without such an event ahead. Nevertheless we have been working on various exchanges. Amanda Reichling and Jonathan Crawford will fly to Paderborn airport on July 1st and will stay here thru July 31st. Their hosts will be two students who were in Belleville for three months in 2008 — Maren Ruerup and Simon Potthast.
Norman Hansmeyer will take a youth group to Belleville from July 3rd thru July 17th. They are looking forward to their stay. We are grateful to those working on the program at your side and to the host families.
Three high school students from Paderborn will come to Belleville in August for a three-month stay, they’ll attend the high schools West and East. Here in Paderborn, the final interviews as to who will go will be finished soon.
In February, Doris and John Roach stayed in Paderborn. We had talks with Doris about the upcoming exchanges. Stammtisch president Willi Boekamp arranged a special “Stammtisch” for our Belleville friends. Also some of the policemen attended who were in Belleville last September.
On May 19th, we’ll have our traditional “Dogwood Fest.” Members and friends will be invited to explore a nature reserve in the county of Paderborn. Afterwards we’ll have an all-you-can-eat buffet dinner with delicatessen of asparagus that is grown in the region. We hope that many members will come.
We are sorry to report that our member Johannes Buschmeyer passed away on January 31st. He was 85. Many in the St. Libory area will remember him for his interest in the relations between the “low German prairie” and Paderborn county. In 1995, he arranged a meeting for Wally Braucks (St. Louis) and the delegation from Belleville to visit the place near Paderborn where Wally’s plane had been shot down in 1944.
Last not least we want to congratulate Mayor Eckert on his being re-elected as Mayor of Belleville. We know that he is a great supporter of the sister city relationship between Belleville and Paderborn.
Best wishes to everybody.
Bernd Broer
President
Dr. Otmar Allendorf
Secretary