Berichte

Grußworte der Präsidenten

President’s Message

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

We can look back on a successful, active 2012. The youth exchanges and fundraising events all did great. The Stammtisches were well attended.

On a more somber note, we lost three of our older active members. Karl Mandl, Rich Berkel and Clint „Slick“ Stoeber all passed away last year. They will truly be missed.

While we have a little break in the activity, 2013 is setting up to be a very busy year also. Planning has already begun. The budget was passed at the January Board meeting. And the calendar of activities has been set. The calendar is located toward the end of the newsletter. Please mark YOUR calendar to participate in as many events as you can.

One of my disappointments for 2012 was the attendance at the quarterly Membership meet- ings. So we are going to try something different this year. Instead of the regular business meeting, we will have a very abbreviated one followed by a program.

The February 21st meeting will have a presentation by Diane Walsh from the St. Clair County Genealogical Society. Her topic will be „Pitfalls in Genealogical Research“. I know many of you have done some digging into our family’s history. You have I’m sure that you have run into some roadblocks. How do you proceed? Come to the meeting and get some an- swers to your quandaries.

In addition to the program, Diane asks that if you have some nagging questions to please send them to me to be forwarded to her. She could do some research before the presentation and be more prepared to help you.

Don’t forget to let Hilda Koluch know if you will be attending. We need to give Fischer’s enough time to set up properly for the meeting. In addition, that will put your name in the kitty for one of Hilda’s fantastic attendance prizes.

See you there.

Have a wonderful and prosperous new year.

Jerry

 

News from Paderborn

Dear Friends in Belleville and Around:
At the time this contribution to the BSC newsletter is written winter has got its grip on Paderborn in the same way as it has in Belleville – it has been cold here for a few weeks and we are having snow.

We remember our Thanksgiving dinner when about 160 members and friends gathered to celebrate this US holiday which is so impor- tant to our friends in Belleville. Jerry Reilmann had sent an address that was well received by the guests.

Now we have been busy preparing two youth exchanges for 2013:

A group of 12 students will come to Belleville in summer for a three- week stay, accompanied by two new chaperones, Sebastian Schulz and Benedikt Otto.

In mid-August three or four students from Paderborn will come for a three months “Sister City Cultural Exchange”.

We are grateful to the hosts who will accept these young people to their homes and to those who will organize the exchanges.

On June 23 rd DAFK will celebrate its 25 th anniversary at the Rathaus of Paderborn.

Our sister city organization establishing a relationship with Belleville was founded on Sep- tember 23 rd , 1988. The late Ellen Rost was the initiator and first president.

During the festive event on June 23 rd we’ll expect the distinguished member of the European Parliament, Elmar Brok, Chairman of its Foreign Committee, to deliver an address. The US Consul General in Düsseldorf, Stephen A. Hubler, has been invited.

We hope to welcome friends and representatives from Belleville on this occasion.

We also hope that more visitors from Belleville will come to Paderborn in 2013.

Best wishes

Bernd Broer
President

Dr. Otmar Allendorf
Secretary

Der DAFK bietet in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Jugendamt der Stadt Paderborn in den Sommerferien 2013 einen dreiwöchigen Jugendaustausch mit der Partnerstadt Belleville/Illinois (USA) an.

Internationler Jugendaustausch Paderborn – Belleville/ USA

Datum und Zeit

Dienstag, 23.07.2013
Mittwoch, 14.08.2013

Ort

Belleville/ USA

Teilnehmer

Jugendliche im Alter ab 15 Jahren

Max. Teilnehmerzahl: 12

Programm

Im Rahmen des internationalen Jugendaustausches zwischen Paderborn und Belleville/ USA ist für das nächste Jahr ein dreiwöchtiger Austausch in den USA geplant. Neben der Gelegenheit hautnah amerikanisches Familienleben kennenzulernen, stehen u.a. ein Tagesausflug nach St. Louis, der Besuch eines Baseballspiels, eine 2-tägige Kanutour in Missouri und der Besuch des Vergnügungsparks „Six Flags“ auf dem Programm.

Der Jugendaustausch wird in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Jugendamt der Stadt Paderborn durchgeführt.

Die Teilnehmer, die in 2013 nach Belleville fliegen, nehmen ihren amerikanischen Gastgeber in 2014 bei der Begegnung in Paderborn auf.

Veranstalter:

Deutsch-Amerikanischer Freundeskreis Paderborn- Belleville e.V.

Kosten

ca. 1.250,- €

Auskunft und Anmeldung:

Jugendamt, FamilienServiceCenter
Frau Brinkmann, Tel.: 05251 88 1642
s.brinkmann@paderborn
Bewerbungen bis 01.03.2013 Stadt Paderborn
www.paderborn.de/ferienspiele

Kursnummer
13-510700

31.1.1931 – 29.9.2012

Unser Ehrenmitglied Rich Berkel (Belleville) ist am 29.9 2012  im 81. Lebensjahr gestorben.

Unser Ehrenmitglied Rich Berkel ist gestorben
	31.1.1931 – 29.9.2012Unser Ehrenmitglied Rich Berkel (Belleville) ist am 29.9 2012  im 81. Lebensjahr gestorben.
In einem Kondolenzschreiben an den Präsidenten von Belleville Sister Cities, Jerry Reilmann, haben wir die herzliche Anteilnahme des Vorstands und der Mitglieder des DAFK am Tod von Rich ausgedrückt. Er habe sich sehr um die Freundschaft zwischen den Städten Paderborn und Belleville verdient gemacht. 1996 empfing Rich als Präsident von Belleville Sister Cities (BSC) eine 46 köpfige Delegation des DAFK und kam mit seiner Frau Sally und weiteren 25 Mitgliedern von BSC im Jahr 1997 nach Paderborn. Im Jahr 2000 konnte die von ihm betreute Übersetzung des 1. Bandes von „Auf nach Amerika“ (Paderborn, 1994) in Belleville veröffentlicht werden.Zum ersten Mal waren Rich und seine Frau Sally im Jahr 1994 im Rahmen der Landesgartenschau in Paderborn. In den folgenden Jahren hat er viele Male Paderborn besucht sowohl als Mitglied einer offiziellen Delegation als auch in eigener Regie. Am 28. Juli 2008 nahm Rich im Rathaus zu Paderborn an der Feier zum 20jährigen Bestehen des DAFK teil. Bei dieser Gelegenheit wurde ihm zusammen mit Mayor Mark Eckert sowie Bürgermeister Heinz Paus die Ehrenmitgliedschaft des DAFK verliehen. Als am 8.Oktober 2010 das 20jährige Bestehen des Freundschaftsbündnisses zwischen Paderborn und Belleville gefeiert wurde, überbrachte Rich eine Botschaft von Mayor Eckert. In seinem eigenen Redebeitrag zu diesem Jubiläum betonte er, welche große Bedeutung für ihn die Freundschaft zwischen Belleville und Paderborn habe und dass der Jugendaustausch zwischen den Städten ihm besonders am Herzen liege. 1986 wurde auf seine Initiative zum ersten Mal der „Hermann Award“ von Belleville Sister Cities verliehen, eine Auszeichnung, die auch Otmar Allendorf (1997) und Bernd Broer (2011) erhielten. Für BSC betreute Rich seit 1993 bis wenige Wochen vor seinem Tod das alljährlich stattfindende „Taste of Germany Dinner“. Rich Berkel war von Beginn seiner Mitgliedschaft in BSC einer derjenigen, die immer zur Stelle waren, wenn Aufgaben zu erledigen waren. Er half in all den Jahren an vorderster Stelle dabei, die freundschaftlichen Beziehungen zwischen den Menschen in unseren Städten mit Leben zu erfüllen. Für diese Verdienste gebührt Rich Berkel unser Dank auch über den Tod hinaus. Wir haben einen guten Freund verloren. Seine Frau Sally hat ihren geliebten Ehemann verloren, ihr gilt unser aller Mitgefühl. Bernd Broer  –  Präsident Dr. Otmar Allendorf  –  Geschäftsführer
Neue Westfälische Paderborn
Westfälisches Volksblatt Paderborn

Grußworte der Präsidenten

President’s Message

Much has happened since our last newsletter.

Ten of us made the trip to Paderborn and were shown a wonderful time by our hosts. After recovering from the flight we had excursions to an outdoor mu- seum that showed how our ancestors lived. After that we visited the Hermanns- denkmal, commemorating the victory over the Roman legions. On Monday morning we had a very nice reception at the Rathaus with Mayor Paus. This was followed by a tour of the City Center led by Doctor Allendorf. The Fare- well Dinner was well attended with the usual exchange of thanks and gifts.

I would like to extend, on behalf of all the Belleville Sister Cities members who made the trip, my personal thanks to our hosts, all the DAFK members and Bernd Broer and his wife, Barbara. And especially, THANK YOU to Doctor Otmar Allendorf and Helga for a well planned and interesting visit.

We all made it safely home and are looking forward to their next visit in 2014 to help us celebrate Belle- ville’s Bicentennial.

Now onto current events.
It has been a very warm and dry summer in Belleville but that has not seemed to affect this summer’s ac- tivities. We have a group of students in Germany having a cool and wet visit. Our Membership Apprecia- tion Dinner was a lot of fun. Thanks to Doris Roach, Norma Bergkoetter and her crew, Helen Fiedler, Theresa Fritz and Hilda Koluch. And the Stammtisches have continued.

Hopefully the weather will cool down by the Oktoberfest and the Taste of Germany dinner. Yes, it is that time again. Planning for these two events has started. All we are in need of now are lots of volunteers to man the events.

We begin the Oktoberfest on September 20th with setting up the stand at 5:00 PM. The event starts at noon on Friday the 21st and continues through Saturday the 22nd. Please contact Wayne Reichling, Jr. if you can help in the beer stand and any of the following three ladies if you can help in the food stand: Marie Reichling, Norma Bergkoetter or Theresa Fritz.

Rich Berkel has indicated that he needs help setting up at Fischers starting at noon on October the 7th. All of their e-mail addresses are listed at the end of the newsletter. We could use everyone’s help to make these two events successful. The profits are needed to continue funding our Youth Exchanges. Costs have risen considerably in the past few years. Please contact the above individuals as soon as possible and be generous with your time.

Our next membership meeting will be at Fischer’s on Thursday, August 16th. Please let Hilda Koluch know if you will be attending. See you then.

Jerry Reilmann

 

 

News from Paderborn

Dear Friends in Belleville and Around,

While you were hit by the heat wave, Paderborn was waiting for a real summer. Now with the Libori Fest ahead the weather has changed and we are having a warm period.

So when the youth group arrived on Friday, July 13th, we had a lot of rain, a weather situation which went on for some days. Unfortunately we could- n’t send some of the rain to you. The stay of the youth group of 12, to- gether with their chaperons Andy Gaa and Aaron Keeney, is coming to its end. They’ll leave on August 2nd. Then they can look back on several ex- cursions such as to the North Sea and to Berlin, the German capital. Mayor Paus received them at the Rathaus on July 19th. During their stay they got familiar with German family life and with the life in Paderborn, a city of 148.000 inhabitants, also learning about the history and culture of another people.

At present there also are two students here from Belleville on a return visit to last year’s sister city cultural exchange: Chris Crawford and David Swartz who happened to celebrate his 18th birthday here.

Judith Friede who was in Belleville on the cultural exchange last year will go back for some weeks at the end of July. There were also some ex changes on a more private basis: Kilian Sprenkamp spent some time in Belleville in July and Alexsis from Belleville has now come here for a few weeks.

As mentioned in May’s Newsletter, 5 students from Paderborn will come to Belleville on August 17th for a three month stay.

These activities show how lively the sister city youth program is and how important it has become for our mutual understanding.

Of course the visit of the official delegation from BSC in April is well remembered. In June, Marilyn and Judith Schulte from Saint Louis, who are members of BSC, stayed here for more than two weeks and toured the places where their ancestors had come from. DAFK was happy to have them here. They also took part in this year’s Dogwood Fest.

About 70 DAFK members went to the spa town 20 km east of Paderborn, Bad Driburg: http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bad_Driburg. Here we had a tour of the company “Leonardo” producing glass- ware and decorative items: http://www.leonardo.de (change to English by clicking on “eng” in the up- per right corner). Most impressive were the showrooms in a building designed as a “glass cube”. To learn more about this go to http://www.architonic.com/aisht/leonardo-glass-cube-3deluxe/5100446. A buffet dinner at one of Bad Driburg’s restaurants topped this wonderful day excursion.

Last but not least, we congratulate BSC on now having a web page of their own.

https://sites.google.com/site/bellevillesistercities/

Best wishes,

Bernd Broer
President

Dr. Otmar Allendorf
Secretary

Grußworte der Präsidenten

President’s Message

Greetings from Paderborn!

Our group arrived on schedule and have since been totally involved in the Sister Cities Experience. Making friends on an International level. Learning the history and culture of another people. Knowing that the world is a large place, but is becoming closer every day.

Susan and I are having a wonderful time with our host family, John and Gertrud Greaves. I am assured that the others in our contingent are having the same experience.

But back to the tasks at hand.

We have a very busy time ahead of us this summer. Besides our regular meetings and Stammtisches, we will have our Membership Appreciation Dinner in June. Norma Bergkoetter is working on the event. Please consult the calendar included in the newsletter and make plans to attend. Bring along some friends. The evening has always been one of good food, good fun and much Gemmultlikeit. The meat and drinks are supplied by the Club and each family is asked to bring a covered dish or desert to complete the meal. These personal favorites really add to the enjoyment of the evening.

If you are able to help with the event, please contact Norma. There is some work left to be done in the planning stage and also in setting the tables late that afternoon and cleanup in the evening. No heavy lifting is required. The more who are able to help will make the setup and cleanup easier and quicker.

Looking forward to this fall, we have the Oktoberfest and the Taste of Germany.

Marie Reichling did a great job managing the food booth at last year’s Oktoberfest, but is unable to assume that duty this year for health reasons. Please, Please let me know if you are interested in leading the effort for this year’s event. I know that you will be able to count on the help of the chairladies from prior years.

Rich Berkel is looking for some help with the Taste of Germany ad program. Much of the time required for this task can be performed on your own schedule. Please contact him if you are able to help in any way.

And finally I must end my message on a sad note. As many of you know, Karl Mandl passed away this Spring. Karl was a past president of Belleville Sister Cities and along with his wife, Anna, one of its earli- est and best supporters. He was a regular attendee at all the meetings and events as well as a contributor to the cause. His gracious demeanor and wonderful wit will be missed. Thank you, Lord, for letting us know him.

President Jerry Reilmann

 

 

News from Paderborn

Dear Friends in Belleville and Around,

As these lines are written down the official delegation of BSC is on their way to Paderborn, Germany. The board and the members of DAFK are looking forward to hosting the group of 10. The last official visit was in 2008 when we celebrated the 20th anniversary of the founding of DAFK. DAFK and the host families warmly welcome President Jerry Reilmann and Susan, President Elect Larry Pearson, Past President Ron Fritz and Theresa, Nancy Macklin, Wayne Reichling and Julie Nowak, Herm Schoener and Adrienne Vilotti for their stay from April 27th thru May 1st.

Our program comprises a reception with Mayor Paus at the Rathaus, a tour of the city with a short visit to the new theatre in Paderborn. Have a look at the new building from the webcam:http://www.paderborn.de/stadt/web/webcams.php

Also included in the program is a day excursion: a tour of the open air museum in Detmold, a visit to the Hermannsdenkmal  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermannsdenkmal and a “Kaffeetafel” at the Silbermühle, a place with a roman- tic ambience near Paderborn. (http://waldhotel.silbermuehle.de/detmold/english.html).

There will be enough time to pay a visit to the really attractive exhibition about Francis of Assisi, see the photo gallery of the Diözesanmuseum’s exhibit at:
http://www.dioezesanmuseum-paderborn.de/franziskus-ausstellung/bildergalerie-in-der-ausstellung .

This year’s youth exchanges have been organized: 12 young people from Belleville will be in Paderborn from July 13th thru August 2nd. Among other items, a visit to Berlin and a 3 day stay at the North Sea with Cux- haven and Bremen have been planned.

Five high school students from Paderborn will come to Belleville in August for three months on a “Sister City Cultural Exchange”: Maximilian Schlenger from Paderborn will be hosted by Nicholas Arteaga, Robin Drabon – Aidan Cole, Patricia Dickgreber – Joanna Stauder; Greta Koch – Elizabeth Hughes, Melina Schuette – Alexan- dra Mallette.

There will be two students from Belleville coming to Paderborn in summer in return to last year’s exchange: David Swartz (Belleville) will be hosted by Philipp Waeltermann; Chris Crawford will stay with Benedikt Huegemann. We thank everybody involved in these youth projects.

On April 23rd Mayor Eckert and BSC received a group of 4 boys and 4 girls from Paderborn participating in the competition of the FIRST Lego League (http://www.stlouisfirst.org/) in St. Louis starting April 24th. The League introduces younger students to real-world engineering challenges by building LEGO-based robots to complete tasks on a thematic playing surface. We have heard they had great fun at City Hall and the Police station. With this wonderful experience in Belleville they will certainly be well motivated to do their best in St. Louis.

Best wishes to our friends in Belleville and around.

Bernd Broer
President

Dr. Otmar Allendorf
Secretary