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 5/14/2011 - The 6th 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 the Hungarian Reformed ChurchNursery School in Bácskossuthfalva(Bácskossuthfalvi Református  Óvoda in the formerly Hungarian region of Vajdasag, now known as the province of Vojvodina, Serbia) under threat of shutdown; the AHF Hungarian American Education and Cultural Preservation Fund / Amerikai Magyar Oktatási és Kultúrális Alap (AMOKA); and the Claude Alexander Volunteer Program supporting wounded Veterans at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
 The Master of Ceremonies, AHF Executive Chairman, Bryan Dawson, opened the Ball citing the "Kohanyi Szozat," (The Kohanyi Appeal) issued by AHF's first President Tihamer Kohanyi in 1907. The Szozat reflects the commitment of the Hungarian-American community and of the Federation to supporting freedom on both sides of the Atlantic:
"Amerika egy millió magyarja, nemcsak hogy követeljük, de keresztül is visszük azt, hogy Magyarország népének ugyanabban a szabadságban, ugyanabban az igazságban, ugyanabban a jólétben legyen része, mint amely szabadság, igazság, es jólét abban az Amerikában van amelynek lakósai, polgárai vagyunk." ("We, America’s 1 million Hungarians, do not just demand, but will work to ensure that the people of Hungary may partake in the same freedom, the same justice, the same prosperity as we, citizens of America, partake.")
 He continued by calling attention to the tradition of service to the larger community and the historic role Hungarian-Americans have played, and continue to play, in American history:
"Hungarians and Americans have been tied together inextricably from the start. Our motto, “Fidelissimus ad Mortem” (Faithful unto Death) comes from a letter written to Benjamin Franklin and US Congress by the Father of the US Light Cavalry, Huszar Col. Michael Kovats de Fabricy, who offered his sword in service to the United States, organized, trained and led his brave American hussars against the British and gave his life for our independence at the Battle of Charleston in 1779.
 Successive generations of Hungarian Americans, from Col. Kovats and the military heroes and Congressional Medal of Honor recipients you see highlighted on each of the tables here tonight, to countless individuals and local communities have contributed to the fabric of this great nation. They founded corporations such as Paramount Pictures, Fox and Intel; developed the atomic bomb, Microsoft Office, binary code and computer programming, supersonic flight and the U.S. aerospace industry, and the California wine industry; they invented the holograph, color television, full-length motion pictures, and jet propulsion; they designed the moon and mars rovers and the Model T Ford; erected the Statue of Liberty and brought us the "Pulitzer Prize" and even ExLax... to name a few. All of us here tonight, in our own humble way, are called to carry on the Hungarian-American tradition of contribution, charity and service." [See Bryan Dawson's "Nobel Prize Winners and Famous Hungarians" at www.famoushungarians.com]
 Mr. Dawson thanked the Ball Patrons, Sponsors, and Donors as well as the Ball Committee for making the event possible. He also acknowledged AHF officers in attendance: former President Stefan Fedor; Co-President and Cultural Chair Zoltan Bagdy; Vice President and Treasurer Teglassy Tamas; and Corporate Counsel Tom Hilberth. He also welcomed Gyorgy Kopits, from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences; Hungarian Member of Parliament and AHF Kovats Medal of Freedom recipient, Dr. Janos Horvath; and Bela Gedeon, Cultural Attache of the Embassy of Hungary.
In his introduction of the Ball Chair, Erika Fedor, Mr. Dawson called attention to the plight of the historic Hungarian communities in Slovakia. In 2009, Slovakia, home to a sizeable historic Hungarian community, passed their repressive “Language Law,” which among other things, makes the use of Hungarian in official communication punishable in towns and villages where the ethnic Hungarian community has dropped to less than 20 percent of the total population. Thankfully, an amendment to forbid Hungarian in churches was later withdrawn. Anti-Hungarian practices in Slovak state school registration and the Slovak Language Law make it difficult for these historic communities to preserve their over 1000-year-old heritage. The smallest communities are the hardest hit and Church programs are the only option. The 2010 Ball supported such a parochial school in Vajan, a tiny village of 800.
 Erika Fedor, the Hungarian Charity Ball and AHF Social Committee Chair, has been a tireless advocate for supporting schools and helping our children who, along with their families, face enormous challenges under repressive governments. Born in Slovakia, Erika has first-hand experience with these challenges. She welcomed guests and thanked all for their support. AHF Chairman, Akos Nagy, also thanked guests. But Slovakia is not the only place Hungarians struggle to survive. Part of the 2011 Ball proceeds went to support a Hungarian nursery school facing confronting a similar fate as the one in Vajan… this time in the formerly autonomous Vojvodina region annexed by Serbia.
 Mr. Dawson then introduced Frank Koszorús, Jr. National President American Hungarian Federation who focused on the need for unity within the Hungarian American community. He discussed the history of the Federation and its tradition of service for over 105 years and recalled recent accomplishments. He described the Federation's history with "three" words: "Service, Service, Service." He called on the community to suppport the Federation as it continues to serve the community in its second century.
 Sári Bárczay and Bert Kölűs,
leaders in the Hungarian Scouts of Washington, were next to welcome guests. Mr Dawson then introduced Hungarian EmbassyCultural Attache Bela Gedeon and Dr. János Horváth Member of Hungarian Parliament and recipient of the Col. Commandant Michael Kovats Medal of Freedom, AHF highest honor.
 Following the speeches, Erika Fedor and Frank Koszorus presented the Ball's donations to the Hungarian Reformed Church Nursery School in Bácskossuthfalva (Bácskossuthfalvi Református Óvoda in the formerly Hungarian region of Vajdasag, now known as the province of Vojvodina, Serbia) and the USMA 1969 Claude Alexander Volunteer Program supporting  wounded Veterans at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Skip Vibert, who accepted the donation on behalf of the Claude Alexander Volunteer program, presented the Federation with a Certificate of Appreciation.
 The highlight of the evening came with incredible Violin performances by Prof. Vasile (Laszlo) Beluska, Sally Williams and
Mark Minnich. Transylvanian-born violinist Vasile Béluska
is a professor of Violin at Bowling Green State
University and has performed throughout the United States, Europe and Mexico with several chamber ensembles at several prestigious venues including the Kennedy Center, the  U.S. Capitol, and Carnegie Recital Hall. He received the "Award for National Service" from the American Hungarian Federation and the Ellis Island Medal of Honor (the third AHF member to be so honored. Former Secretary of International Affairs Zoltan Szaz and former  President Stefan Fedor were the others) for his help of other musicians from Eastern Europe. The performance included “Hungarian Medley” and “The Lark,”
arranged by Vasile Beluska as well as “Csárdás by Monti, Revamped,” arranged by Sally Williams and Mark Minnich who amazed the audience with their dazzling virtuosity.
 The Hungarian Scouts of Washington presented, "A Journey of Dance and Music through Hungary," choreographed by Sylvia Fábián-Kovács with folk songs sung by Zsuzsa and Kata Seres .
Embassy Chef Viktor Merényi presented two of his famed Hungarian "Dobos Torta" (Dobos Cake) draped in the flags of the United States and Hungary. Chef Merényi won the  Challenge Sweden competition at the 2010 Embassy Chef Challenge held at the House of Sweden on March 18, 2010.
 The event also included a silent auction featuring the works of artist Osváth Csaba and a display of our cultural heritage in Transylvania by AHF Ladies' Committee Chair, Kati Volker. The raffle included gifts from the following sponsors:Embassy Suites  Hotel; the Homestead Hotel; the Eclipse Salon in Ashburn; artwork and designer pieces from Csaba Osvath; Steven Fischer's "Freedom Dance: The Movie," "Tokaji Wine" book by Miles Lambert-Gocs; and other donated items from Ball guests. AHF thanks them for their generosity.
 The
phenomenal Continental
Dance Orchestra (Continental Tánc Zenekar) provided music for the Ball. - by Bryan Dawson. Photos by Saul Coelho.
[SEE MORE PHOTOS of the Ball]
  
  
  
  
[SEE MORE PHOTOS of the Ball]
Previous Hungarian Charity Balls
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| The 2011 Charity Ball Supported:
1. The Hungarian Reformed Church Nursery School in Bácskossuthfalva was founded in 2005, this is the ONLY such school recognized by Serbian authorities. Despite the recognition, Serbia has refused to extend any financial support. The school is under serious financial distress and your support is greatly needed and appreciated. See the VIDEO INTERVIEW ( magyarul). Vojvodina, an integral part of Hungary for over 1000 years, was awarded to the newly formed Yugoslavia
by the French at the "Treaty" of Trianon in 1920 when Hungary lost 2/3 of her territory and 1/3 of
her Hungarian population. Intimidation, large scale evictions and ethnic cleansing, emigration, and fear of self-reporting have official estimates of only 300-350,000 ethnic Hungarians
remaining in the province. Some, however, estimate this number to be double that
since many fear self-reporting as Hungarian exposes them to risk. [read more] about Vojvodina.
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.
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. Mike is a graduate of West Point and former Army Officer. He noticed a pressing need for a program that would provide Walter Reed outpatients and their families with access to free off-post recreational events. The program is named in memory of his deceased classmate Claude Alexander, a U.S. Army officer veteran who was an inspirational mentor to many young men and women at Walter Reed, and who was very instrumental in the volunteer program's effectiveness and success.
Previous Hungarian Charity Balls Supported:
2011
BÁLBIZOTTSÁG / BALL COMMITTEE
- Erika Fedor (Ball Chairperson)
- Irén Högye
- Frank Koszorús Jr.
- Marianne Koszorús
- Judit Kölus
- Erszébet Tóth
- Bryan Dawson
Tiszteletbeli Védnökök / Honorary
Committee
BALL PATRONS
- Bethlen Community
- Mr. & Mrs. István Fedor
- Mr. & Mrs. László Hőgye
- Mr. John Stetz
SPONSORS
- Mr. Julius Balogh and The Amerikai Magyar Klub of Hungary
- Mr. & Mrs. Theodore Boone
- Mr. & Mrs. George Kopits
- Mr. & Mrs. Imre Lendvay-Lintner
- Mr. & Mrs. Ákos Nagy
- The Honorable Anikó Gaál Schott
- Mrs. Frederika Szatmári
- Dr. Eugene Volker & Dr. Katalin Almay
DONORS
- Mr. Louis Balla
- Bryan and Chiquis Dawson
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...
[read
more on Wikipedia]
100 ÉVES A NEMZETKÖZI CSERKÉSZMOZGALOM
- MIT JELENT EZ SZÁMUNKRA? –
Száz évvel ezelott egy afrikai szolgálatból
hazatéro angol katonatiszt elindította azt a nevelo mozgalmat,
amely mára a világ legnagyobb ifjúsági szerveztévé
fejlodött. Lord Baden Powell az ifjúság kalandvágyára
és romantikus hajlamára alapozta jellemnevelo rendszerét,
amellyel talpraesett, testben és lélekben egészséges, jellemes fiatalokat nevel. Az új mozgalom futótuzként terjedt szét a
világon. Magyarország az elsok között volt, ahol
nevelok és vezeto államférfiak – élvonalban
olyan kimagasló személyekkel, mint gr.Teleki Pál és Sík Sándor
– felismerték a cserkészet értékét.
Felismerték, hogy egy cserkészszellemu fiatalság
megalapozhat egy életképes, szilárd erkölcsi alapokon nyugvó,
sikeres társadalmat. Ezáltal a meglátás által
vezérelve, kidolgozták a magyar cserkészet rendszerét,
kiegészítve a Baden Powell-i alapokat egy jellegzetesen
magyar színezettel.
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
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