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The 8th Annual Hungarian Charity Ball: April 20, 2012, Washington, D.C. |
5/10/2012 - The 7th Annual Hungarian Charity Ball raises funds for worthy causes... The American Hungarian Federation and the Hungarian Scouts of Washington sponsored the Jótékonysági Est (Benefit Event) to support its programs and, this year, a very unique educational program promoting scholarly exchange between middle-school students in Sarasota, Florida, and Zalaber in Hungary. This year's event was held in the Ballroom of the Sheraton Premier in Tyson's Corner. The Master of Ceremonies, AHF Co-President Zoltan Bagdy, opened the Ball, thanked guests and the organizers. He took a moment to recognize the Ball Chairperson, Erika Fedor, whose hard work and vision made this 7th annual event not only possible, but highly successful. He also recalled AHF's Century of Service and its support for education and issues affecting the community. The American Hungarian Federation (AHF) was founded in 1906 in Cleveland, Ohio. The largest Hungarian-American umbrella organization in the United States, AHF is also among the oldest ethnic organizations in the country. Some of AHF's 2011-2012 accomplishments include:
Erika Fedor, the Ball Committee Chairperson and AHF's Social Committee Chair, delivered opening remarks and thanked distinguished guests which included Dr. Tomica Tilleman, Congressman Tom Lantos' grandson and Senior Advisor for Civil Society and Emerging Democracies at the US State Department; Countess Sabine Lovatelli; The Hon. Aniko Gaal Schott; Former Hungarian central banker and Woodrow Wilson International Center Senior Scholar, George Kopits; Sándor István from the Hungarian Embass; and AHF and Scout leaders. Frank Koszorus, AHF President, welcomed guests and took the opportunity to thank all those who made this Ball possible, including and especially the Ball’s chairperson, Erika Fedor, Judith Kolus, Bryan Dawson, Elizabeth Toth, Irene Hogye, Marianne Koszorus, Zoltan Bagdy. He also thanked all for supporting AHF and its causes. "What causes?" he asked...
Sári Bárczay and Bert Kölűs, Leadersof the Hungarian Scouts of Washington, followed Mr. Koszorus and presented what scouting means to them:
Presentation of Gifts: "The Budapest-Sarasota Educational Connection" Mr. Bagdy then introduced David P. Jones, Principal of Sarasota Florida's McIntosh Middle School. In his introductory remarks, Mr. Bagdy said, "The challenge of growing up in the "knowledge economy" requires that students learn to interact with a wide variety of media and to create and produce." Quoting John Syvertsen, one of the designers of the project, about the innovative, revolutionary nature of it, he added: "'What I am imagining is not a place, but a relationship, a relationship between cultures...A collaborative approach to schooling is where learning occurs and where communities --local and global -- are built.' Clearly, this is a project that's exciting for both the American and Hungarian students, exciting, I imagine, with a tinge of nervousness, for the teachers at both places. I will ask Dr. Jones to explain how all this started, and what he and his teachers and students hope to accomplish." Principal Jones commented on the importance of harnessing the endless youthful enthusiasm for learning and using technology to enhance education. His vision was to create “Classrooms of Tomorrow.” A chance meeting with Stefan and Erika Fedor let to discussion about building Educational Bridges between the US and Hungary and Promoting Science Education.A program was born! Erika Fedor got to work and secured the support of Dr. Janos Horvath, Hungarian Member of Parliament, and helped coordinate between the principals at each school. Working with McIntosh Junior High School in Sarasota, Florida, the objective is to have students in Zalaber Elementary School in Hungary work directly on scientific programs with their US counterparts via laptop teleconferencing. Proceeds from the Ball funded AHF’s Hungarian American Education and Cultural Preservation Fund (AMOKA) to donate Laptops to help realize the vision. [read the article on the Sarasota Herald Tribune] The next part of the program belonged to the scouts who presented “Transdanubian Bottle Dances” (Dunántúli Üveges Tánc) which was choreographed by Zsuzsanna Seres. Performed to music by Muzsikás, the performers were Bárczay Sári, Boone Isabelle, Gál Kata, Hargitai Panni, Jámbor Klaudia, Kárpáthy Krisztina, Kölűs Andrea, and McGinn Katie. The Rev. Judit Mayer delivered the invocation to commence the dinner and the ball with music provided by the phenomenal New York Continental Band. [SEE MORE PHOTOS of the Ball - special thanks to Saul Coelho of SLC Photography. Contact Bryan Dawson for the password to download pictures]
Hungarian Charity Balls
| Previous Hungarian Balls Supported:
2. The Hungarian American Education and Cultural Preservation Fund (Amerikai Magyar Oktatási és Kultúrális Alap (AMOKA) to support a wide variety of programs from scholarships and internships that develop our future leaders to assisting local communities at home and abroad to preserve Hungarian schools and cultural institutions, language, history and traditions. In 2012, the Hungarian Scholarship Fund (HSF) / Magyar Ösztöndíjalap surpassed $400,000.00. Founded by AHF Board Member, Prof. Bela Bognar, the HSF supports students who are economically disadvantaged and live in Hungary and in the lands lost at the Treaty of Trianon which cost Hungary 2/3 of her territory, 1/3 of her ethnic-Hungarian population and vast natural resources. [read more and HELP!] 3. The Claude Alexander Volunteer Program supporting Walter Reed Hospital was founded by Mike Healy in 2005 to help wounded U.S. Army soldiers being treated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC. The program provides outpatients and their families with access to free off-post recreational events. 4. The Budapest-based Juvenile Cancer Foundation. There are approximately 300 children who are diagnosed with cancer in Hungary every year. The key objective of the Foundation is to build a reference 300-bed hospital and treatment center for children with cancer which would offer medical services ranging from diagnosis to sustainable treatment on the level of developed nations by highly qualified medical doctors, nurses and social workers to ensure the recovery of children. 5. The Hungarian Elementary School in Vaján, Slovakia. The school is located in a little ethnic Hungarian village of under 800 people, Vaján (or Vojany in Slovak after annexation following the Treaty of Trianon) in the Kassa District (Kosice) of Slovakia. 6. "Classrooms of the Future" - This program builds Educational Bridges between the US and Hungary and Promotes Science Education. Securing the support of Dr. Janos Horvath, Hungarian Member of Parliament, AHF worked with McIntosh Junior High School in Sarasota, Florida. The objective is to have students in Zalaber Elementary School in Hungary work directly on scientific programs with their US counterparts via laptop teleconferencing. 2012 BÁLBIZOTTSÁG / BALL COMMITTEE
Tiszteletbeli Védnökök /
BALL PATRONS (>$1000.00)
BALL SPONSORS ($500 – $1000.00)
BALL DONORS (<$500.00)
Special Thanks to Exhibitors and Raffle and Silent Auction Sponsors: Exhibits
Raffle Corporate Sponsors
Silent Auction
About the Hungarian Scouts [more] The Magyar Cserkészszövetség, the primary national Scouting organization of Hungary, was founded in 1912, and became a member of the World Organization of the Scout Movement in 1990. The coeducational Magyar Cserkészszövetség has 7,198 members as of 2004. Scouting in Hungary is maintained through Magyar Cserkészet Tanácsa, the Council of Hungarian Scouting. There are two associations in this national federation, Magyar Cserkészszövetség, the Hungarian Scout Association, and Magyar Cserkészcsapatok Szövetsége. Also serving Hungarian Scouts is Magyar Cserkészlány Szövetség, the Association of Hungarian Girl Guides. Hungarian Scouting was founded in 1909 under Austria-Hungary, and the first Scout group in the dual monarchy, MCA-1912 HAS, was founded in Budapest in 1910. Scouting started in the separate nation of Hungary in 1919, at the end of World War I, when Austria and Hungary were divided. In 1920, the magazine Magyar Cserkész ("Hungarian Scout") was first published. Hungary was a founding member of the World Scout Bureau in 1922 and later was a founding member of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, WAGGGS, which was in fact established in Parád, Hungary, in 1928. In 1924, at the World Scout Jamboree in Copenhagen, Hungarian Scouts attending their first jamboree came third in the competition of the nations, behind British and American Scouts. They were especially good at water sports. The first Hungarian National Jamboree in 1926 had 10,000 participants. Hungary hosted the fourth World Jamboree in 1933 at the royal forest of Gödöllo, outside Budapest, in which 26,000 Scouts from 54 nations camped together. The camp chief was Teleki Pál, the member of the International Committee who later became Prime Minister of Hungary. This was the first time there was a Jamboree subcamp for Scouts taking part in aviation. To celebrate the 60th anniversary of the fourth World Jamboree, the Hungarian Scout Association hosted a fourth World Jamboree Memorial Camp at Bélapátfalva, Hungary in 1993. After World War II, the Külföldi Magyar Cserkészszövetség
started operating in the displaced persons camps in Germany and Austria
in 1948 as the Teleki Pál Scout Association, renamed in 1948 as
the Hungarian Scout Association. Scouting was well organized and popular
in Hungary until it was officially abolished by the Communist regime in
1948, but remained nascent underground... 100 ÉVES A NEMZETKÖZI CSERKÉSZMOZGALOM Sík Sándor fogalmazta meg legtömörebben, hogy a magyar cserkészet célja “emberebb emberek, magyarabb magyarok” nevelése. Hála a magyar vezetoség kiváló muködésének, a két világháború között a magyar cserkészet – a trianoni csonkítás ellenére – világviszonylatban kimagasló és elismert szervezetté vált. Teleki Pált beválasztották a világcserkészet legfelsobb vezetoségébe, a cserkész világtalálkozókon, versenyeken a magyar kontingens az elsok között végzett, és mindennek koronájaként Magyarországnak jutott az 1933-as nagysikeru gödöllöi jemboree megrendezése. Szinte látnoki ihlet által vezérelve, az akkori magyar vezetoség olyan foglalkozási és nevelési anyagot, u.n. “próbarendszert,” dolgozott ki, amely erkölcsi és gyakorlati tartalmán kívül kihangsúlyozta a magyar hagyományokat és kulturális értékeket. Ez, és a magyar cserkészet elsorangú vezetoképzo rendszere, tették lehetové, hogy amikor a kommunista rendszer betiltotta muködését, a magyar cserkészet zökkenomentesen folytatódhasson külföldön. Az ötvenes évek közepére már magyar cserkészcsapatok muködtek nemcsak Nyugat-Európában, hanem Észak- és Dél-Amerikában, valamint Ausztráliában is. A Baden-Powell-i cserkészet és annak jellegzetesen magyar változata olyan szerencsés induló alapot nyújtott, amelynek segítségével a Külföldi Magyar Cserkészszövetség immár 62 éve tesz eleget jellemnevelo és magyarságorzo küldetésének. De nyújtott olyan alapot is, amelynek segítségével a kommunista rendszer bukását követoen azonnal megalakultak a magyar cserkészszövetségek mind az anyaországban, mind a környezo országok magyarlakta területein. Ma már a Külföldi Magyar Cserkészszövetségen kívül a Kárpát-medence minden országában muködnek magyar cserkészszövetségek, összesen hét szövetség, amelyek közös rendezvényekkel, programokkal és egymást támogatva munkálkodnak az összmagyar fiatalság nevelésén és nemzeti öntudatának megorzésén. És így, egy angol katonatiszt által száz éve elindított gondolat adta meg azt a keretet, amelyen belül a négy évtizedes kommunista uralom alatt külföldön ápolhattuk külföldi fiataljaink magyar nyelvtudását és nemzeti érzését, hogy aztán a szovjet birodalom bukása után, országhatárokat áthidalva, összekösse a Kárpát-medencében és a világ minden táján élo magyar ifjúságot. - Dömötör Gábor Join online! |