Volume 4, Number 1, April, 2004
Polish Literature Club
The Rochester Polish Falcons
What the Polish Heritage Society of Rochester Means to Me
Making a Commitment
PHSR NEEDS A Corresponding Secretary!
KRSC - SUNY Geneseo Intern Developing Polish Contacts Information
A Challenge To The Community

New PHSR Program: Polish Literature Club
Submitted by Witold J. Lawrynowicz

On the beautiful, sunny afternoon of February 29th, 2004, immediately after the morning Polish mass, we held the first official meeting of the Polish Literature Club. This took place in a small auditorium at St. Stanislaus Church on Hudson Avenue. The colorful programs of the event were distributed at the entrance by two Polish girl scouts dressed in medieval like costumes. The auditorium was decorated with medieval like inscriptions and symbols. The Benedictine monks of Santo Domingo de Silos provided sound background, while candles provided illumination. The atmosphere somewhat resembled a monastery of the epoch. The organizers presented information on the history of medieval ages and Polish literature of the time. The oration in both Polish and English was augmented by a visual presentation of a Polish medieval art displayed on a screen on the side of the room and by a performance of the Polish Army Choir singing "Bogurodzica". Speakers also presented three representative samples of medieval poems: "Satyra na leniwych chłopów" a satirical poem about peasants, "Bogurodzica", a Polish song regarded as the first national hymn and "Lament Umierającego", a classic poem constructed as the lament of a dying man. Each of these offerings was preceded by a short introduction depicting times and goals of the literary work. The audience of over 50 people was attentive and congratulated organizers on a job well done. The meeting lasted for an hour and numerous listeners offered their opinions at the end.

The organizers of the event were: Bronek Grzegorek, Ania Ludwinek, Witold Lawrynowicz and Waldek Wojdak. The decorations were made by Agnieszka Mscichowska; refreshments were prepared by Iwona Budz and Irena Marszalek.

The organizers plan to prepare the next meeting in about a month featuring poetry and history of the Polish Renaissance period.

The Polish Heritage Society of Rochester is extremely pleased to welcome the new addition of the Polish Literature Club to its program offerings. This club is unique and its historical content is long overdue in providing us all with the rich literary heritage of our Polish roots. We congratulate all who made this possible and look forward to the club's continued success.

The Rochester Polish Falcons
Submitted by Dodie Piersielak

On January 31, 2004, the Polish Falcons held its annual Installation and Awards banquet.  Wallace Zielanski, National President of the Falcons was in town to present the highest awards that the Falcons can give.  The Legion of Honor is an elite group of Falcon members.   To receive the bronze legion award a member must be active for at least 18 years.  The silver is given five years after that, and the gold legion after five more years.  To receive these awards a member must be active during the five years since his/her last award.  This means they must hold an office, work on committees, participate in Falcon Nest, District and National events.  Also, a Nest can only give out three Legion awards in one year, and only one gold.  This year the Gold Legion of Honor was presented to Ted Krupnicki, the Silver Legion of Honor was given to Geraldine Wilson and the Bronze to Joseph Klein.  In addition several Stars of Merit were given to deserving members.  As the new officers were sworn in, standing with them was Father Adam Ogorzaly, the Falcons new Chaplain.

What the Polish Heritage Society of Rochester Means to Me
Submitted by Jerry Rachfal

Janice and I came to the Rochester area when I got out of the Army in 1963 and have been here ever since.  I grew up in Niagara Falls, NY and knew the classic Polish American home of my era (late 40's and 50's).  We lived upstairs of Babci and Dziadziu Rachfal and life was wonderful.  Babci liked to speak Polish to me, but she died at a young age so my Polish language skills are slight.  I know how to pronounce a lot of Polish words and my mother, now approaching 90 and still living in that home in Niagara Falls, is quite proud of that fact.  Learning Polish from the nuns in grade school was just okay as I recall because I did not take it seriously and as I look back, I wish that I had.  My memory of those nuns, however, is quite vivid. They wore their traditional garb (habits), they always traveled from the convent at Holy Trinity in pairs, and they were generally from far off hometowns like Shamokin and Donora, Pennsylvania.  I suspect that my life in Niagara Falls was quite similar to someone growing up here in Rochester Polonia in that era.

Those memories have stayed with me. I also recall the memories of the Sunday Stas Jasinski Polish Program from Buffalo.  A lot of it was in Polish, but by then, the Polish singers and band leaders, e.g., Gene Wisnewski, Bernie Witkowski and Regina Kujawa were bi-lingual so you were able to understand the lyrics.  My experiences formed some very deep "Polish Roots" in me, and interestingly enough, are not the same with my brother and two sisters.  Quite by accident, Janice and I attended a Skalny Lecture at the UR a couple of years ago and I realized that Rochester Polonia had a lot to offer, and that's how I came to join the Polish Heritage Society of Rochester.  Simply stated, Rochester Polonia and Niagara Falls Polonia have a lot in common.  The Ad Astra Society my mother belonged to at Holy Trinity had hundreds of members in the 50's.  Today, there are only seven ladies left and as she tells me, that is not enough to fill two card tables.  While the Polish Heritage Society can't bring back that part of life, it can act as a catalyst to build on those memories and enrich them for the future.  I am particularly excited about updating many of the Polish landmarks in the Rochester area, one of the many objectives of the Polish Heritage Society.

I am now retired and life is changing: It's fun being a grandfather, but the grandchildren have a hard time pronouncing Dziadze, so I love to tell my mom that they can just say "Stare".  I am not sure that they will ever call me Dziadze, but seeing the grandchildren makes me think of my two dziadzes and the fun I had with them growing up.  Also, being retired gives me the opportunity to get involved with the Polish Heritage Society of Rochester, and frankly, I love it.

Making a Commitment
Submitted by Joseph Mroszczak

I was a recipient of the Rochester Polish People's Home scholarship in 1996.  It was very helpful during my years at the University of Buffalo where I received a BS in Business and Management Information Systems.  Since then I have also completed an MBA at RIT and I am now working at JP Morgan Chase as a Business Analyst.

I am the first son of two Polish immigrants.  My parents came to the U.S. as young adults and have been working very hard to make the lives of their children as wonderful as possible.  They wanted to see their children be the first to go to college, obtain good careers, and accomplish all they did not.  But they never let us forget our heritage and where we came from.  Whether it was through literature and stories, pictures and memories, Saturdays at Polish language classes, authentic dinners, or even Sunday Mass, our Polish traditions and culture were always a significant part of our lives.

At work I learned about a grant JP Morgan Chase offers to not-for-profit organizations and wondered if the Polish Heritage Society of Rochester would be interested.  I thought that this would be a great way to give back to the organization that helped me during my college years.  PHSR was cooperative and helped me focus my volunteer effort which was part of the grant application process.  I researched and created a proposal for raising funds for PHSR.  My effort was successful and JP Morgan Chase awarded the Polish Heritage Society a $1000 grant for the year 2003.  I hope we can continue on and submit an application for funds for year 2004.

I have learned a lot about PHSR as I worked on the project.  I believe that the organization has a great deal of potential and the opportunity to make a significant difference in our community.  I want to help this group realize these opportunities.  My main goal would be to create value for PHSR by developing initiatives that will help increase the organization's significance within the community.

PHSR appreciates all the work that Joe did to help us procure the JP Morgan Chase award.  We look forward to working with Joe to obtain a grant for 2004. Joe is a member of PHSR.

PHSR NEEDS A Corresponding Secretary!

Duties include writing correspondence as directed by the Board, mailing organization announcements, mailing our quarterly newsletter.  The corresponding secretary is appointed to the Board of Directors.  For more details, click the link at the top of this page to return to the home page, and then use the Email link on the right side to send your comments or questions.

KRSC - SUNY Geneseo Intern Developing Polish Contacts Information
Submitted by Michael Leach

Karolina Wodarczyk, a senior at State University of New York at Geneseo and a native of Ostrów, Wielkopolski, is working as a volunteer intern with the Kraków-Rochester Sister Cities Committee to develop an information base of committee contacts in Poland.  These contacts include people from Kraków and elsewhere in Poland that the committee has worked with over the years who might assist in current and future committee projects and form the nucleus for a volunteer sister cities committee in Kraków.  In January 2004 the committee adopted a set of priorities for the next two years, the first of which is to identify its current and historic contacts.  Committee members who will be traveling to Poland over the next few months will meet with several of them to assess current projects and determine their thoughts about directions and activities for the sister cities relationship.  Thereafter, the committee will plan a formal visit to Kraków and invite community leaders of Kraków to send an official delegation to Rochester.  Ms. Wodarczyk will assist the committee in the highest priority task, establishing the contacts information database, as an internship project supporting her Communications major and International Affairs minor at SUNY Geneseo.  She will interview committee members and other supporters of the committee to collect contact information this winter and spring, and assist the committee in its participation in the International Business Council's International Trade Expo at the Rochester Convention Center in May.

Karolina interviewing
Michael Leach's nephew.

If you have information about people in Kraków who would be interested in activities of the Kraków-Rochester Sister Cities Committee or who could support its efforts, please contact Michael Leach or Karolina at 244-8067 to arrange a time to get together.

To purchase your copy of Kathy Urbanic's Shoulder to Shoulder, (2nd Edition) (hard cover), $25, call 323-2908 or 323-2106.  Visit the Shoulder to Shoulder website.

A Challenge To The Community
Submitted by Michael Leach and Frederic Skalny

Michael Leach of the Krakow-Rochester Sister Cities Committee called Frederic Skalny of the Polish Heritage Society of Rochester to suggest co-sponsoring a reception for retired fashion artist and painter Frank Anders.  Anders' work was then being briefly exhibited in the Link Gallery at City Hall and he asked Leach for help in organizing a reception.  The "last minute" event, held on January 29th, was successful and well-attended.  Thanking Leach for the fast work, Skalny laughingly remarked, "We really should do it right."  Leach wrote back:

"Yes, we really should do it right.  That's one of the reasons KRSC and PHSR jumped at the opportunity to assist Anders by holding a reception in his honor.  A few of the KRSC committee members have been saying we should do an art exhibit of some sort, but we haven't found someone to take charge.  I'm hoping that the Anders reception might build enthusiasm.  Frank himself was talking about a show featuring Rochester artists and even talked about somehow getting a group in Krakow to review slides of Krakow artists' work and select several to combine in a joint (maybe traveling) exhibit. The Rzeszow-Buffalo Sister Cities group actually buys one or two works in Rzeszow and then offers them for sale in Buffalo as part of a larger community show, thus covering shipping, framing, and purchase costs.

"KRSC will have three folks in Poland in the next six months that could do some preliminary work or more (Ralph Jozefowicz in April, Wanda Lojasiewicz and Geneseo artist Diane Sophrin in the summer).  It would be wonderful for KRSC and PHSR to cooperate on a joint project of this magnitude.  The scope could be local only, local with selected works-for-sale from Krakow, or extend to a two-city exhibit and sale (or build progressively over this continuum over a two or three year period)."

We need our readers' support.  We would like to convene a brainstorming get together in April-May. Your interest is greatly appreciated.  Please contact Michael Leach at 244-8067 or Frederic Skalny at 467-7405 to have your name added to the list of "brainstormers".  Whatever develops from this get together will be a tremendous leap forward in promoting our Polish heritage.