Fall 2015 Newsletter - German Family Society

German Family Society
of Akron, Inc.
Deutscher Familien Verein, Akron e.V.
www.germanfamilysociety.com
Facebook: Akron German Family Society
Twitter: @Akrongfs • blog: www.germanfamilysocietyblog.com
3871 Ranfield Road, Brimfield Township/Kent, Ohio 44240 • 330-678-8229 • Email: [email protected]
Night out with the Buffettman
by: Rich Reikowski
The German Family Society welcomed
back the music of Jimmy Buffett with the
band Tom Watt “The Buffettman” & the
Fruitcakes on Saturday August 15th. The
evening was spectacular as you heard
the best of Jimmy Buffett music and
songs. Tom not only sounds like Jimmy
Buffett but looks like him too! For the 2nd
annual Jimmy Buffett night at GFS there
were large crowds of “Parrot Heads” in
beach attire, hats, flipflops, necklaces,
and ready to party! The burgers were
enjoyed by all as well as chicken, fries,
fruit and more. Let’s not forget the island
drinks of all kinds were flowing. Throughout the evening of music there were
many fun beach and sing along games
led by Dave Sensius.Well done Dave!
The pictures say it all....the German Family
Society certainly knows how to throw a party!
Special thanks goes to Jill Armbrust, Tony
Leipold, Hannah Thompson, and Arron
Engelhart for sharing their pictures.
A Message from our President
It’s been a busy year for us here with our GFS
family. 60th Anniversary was a complete
success and with the help of Dave Sensius,
who put together just an incredible video
history of our club from our beginning at St.
Bernard’s, joining the German American club
in the early 60’s to moving out to our current
home at our Donau Park. This video includes
never seen photos and movies made
throughout those early years.
Many of our members had asked for a copy
of this fantastic video so we had professional
copies made and will have them available
to members and guests at our upcoming
Oktoberfest. Cost will be 12.50 each. It’s a
great keepsake for future generations and
fun looking back at so many of us that were
once very young. Many thanks to Dave
Sensius for taking the time to put this together.
I hope all of our members have a copy of
our 60th Anniversary Book. If you have not
received a copy, please let someone on the
board know. If you have family members that
were involved in the club but are no longer in
the area, let us know as we can provide you
with an extra copy (as supplies last) for our
former friends and family.
Coming from an early summer of all rain to
what you might consider to be a drought for
the second half of summer, we managed to
finish the Kuchen Haus. The Ladies will now
be able to work in a brand new facility serving
our pastries during the festivals and taking the
congestion away from our building. It sure will
be an improvement.
We pride ourselves that for 60 years of our
existence we have managed all of our club
affairs with Volunteers. I can’t stress that
enough, our members hold the future of our
organization in their hands. As time goes
by, we find it difficult at times to meet our
needs for our events. We offer a lot to you
all, our members. We don’t charge for kids
in the groups and offer them many benefits
including travel expenses to other cities. Of
course there are times when bus travel is
not feasible and we do ask kids/parents to
help offset those costs but in most cases the
club takes up most expenses for travel and
lodging. In fact, in talking with the other cities,
we are about the only club that does cover
those costs. Most of their members are asked
to pay for upcoming trips entirely.
So I’m asking you all, our members, to give us
some of your valuable time. We don’t ask for
much, and have only 2 weekends per year
when volunteering is even more critical to
our events success. 4 hours, 6 hours once or
twice a year minimum is what we ask from all
of our members. Many enjoy giving more. We
have had many new members over the last
couple of years and we thank you for joining
us. We welcome you into our Family and look
forward to learning more about each other
and interacting with you all. There is no better
way of meeting others from our club than to
spend some time helping our organization
whether in the Kitchen, or with one of the
Groups, maybe Bartending, selling Tickets
or joining the Grounds Crew, who beside
keeping our Donaupark so beautiful, enjoys
3-4 hours with other retirees and a nice hot
lunch once a week through the summer.
We want to get to know you all better and I
think many of you would like to get to know the
many others here at our club. Please, even if
you had not been asked, come forward and
let someone know you’d like to help. Many
have already done so and were new like
yourselves and today they are enjoying what
this club has always been about. Family! And
I want to shout out to all of you that give us so
much of your time. Thank You, Thank You and
again, Thank You All.
Sincerely, your Volunteer President,
Rudy
As our date for the European Fest approached,
We were hoping and praying that some of our
past members might be looking down and
might assure us of reasonably good weather
for our festival. Like most of our early summer
days, the only thing we could be assured of
was it was probably going to rain that day.
Heck, it had rained just about every day for
the last several weeks!
Our June date fast approached and forecasts
called for, you guessed it, Rain, but not just
any rain, forecasters calling for a complete
Washout.” Move your plans indoors” said
some of the forecasters.
Well, once again, those that seemed to
always be watching out for us from above,
may have pulled together and made it
happen once again. Almost no rain for both
Saturday and Sunday during our Festival.
Although parking cars on the wet grounds
presented a challenge to our parking crew
the weekend Festival was once again a
amazing success.
Our Jugend and Kinder Groups performed
gracefully with smiles on their faces. Our
ever growing Tanz Group also entertained
our guests and wowed them once again.
Although our crowds were a bit light as even
our guests weren’t sure what to expect with
this crazy weather.
We were to introduce and open our new
Kuchen Haus but as plans had it scheduled
to be moved indoors, on short notice we
decided to move our festival back outdoors
but our pastries remained indoors due to
problems moving equipment back out.
Our Sunday morning Mass was held indoors to
play it safe but after lunch, the groups lined
up and we opened the Kirchweih Festival with
a March around in the Pavilion. The current
Kirchweih Bub and Madel Joe Koberlein and
Hannah Sensius relinquished their titles to the
new Kirchweih royalty of, Madel, Marissa
Sensius and Bub, Zak Kemerer. With their
initial dance together, they opened the
evening with fun, laughter and dance. What
a wonderful day at our park... and no rain!
Did You Know.....
• The term Donauschwaben in English is
referred to as Danube Swabians. This
name was coined for the people and
families that moved from the Schwaben
or Swabian area of Germany in the early 1700 to the fertile grounds along the
Danube River of Eastern Europe. Hence
the term Donauschwaben.
• Donauschwaben immigrated to the US
and many other countries at the conclusion of the First World War and many
more after losing their homes and property to the Communists after the 2nd
World War.
• There are Donauschwaben organizations all over the World. Most being in
the United States, Canada and throughout Central and Eastern Europe. South
America and Australia both host many
Donauschwaben clubs as well.
• The Leadership boards for these countries are referred to as “Landesverband”
translated to “National Association”
as in the “USA Landesverband” The
Donauschwaben World Headquarters is
located in Sindelfingen, Germany and is
referred to as the Weltdachverband or
World Association for Donauschwaben.
This is also where the Museum is located focused on our Heritage and History.
• The Financial Arm of the US Donauschwaben organization is referred to as
the “Stiftung”, translated to “Foundation”. Every club pays a portion of their
membership to support the Stiftung.
Their representatives are elected separate from the main Landesverband
board and each city has 2 representa-
tives to this board. Michael Rodesheim
and Allison Burdeshaw represent our
German Family Society
• The Stiftung supports our Clubs and
Youth. They donate thousands of dollars to Groups traveling overseas for
performances, The Youth Group Lagers
(National Youth Group Campouts), Soccer Programs and helps support clubs
with their German Schools and often
overlooked, Scholarships for our Youth.
If you have any interest in applying for
these, see our 2 representatives noted
above.
• Financial Support to the Stiftung comes
from Membership fees but mostly from
Donations made on behalf of family
members, a Will or often a suggestion
made “In Lieu of Flowers”. A tax deductible donations can be made to the National Stiftung or our own Club to support continuation of our history and traditions for current and future members.
• Once a year the US and Canada host a
“Landestreffen” or National Meeting of
all Donauschwaben Clubs. Cities that
host are selected in advance and some
funding is provided by the Stiftung. Here
the Youth Groups perform and show off
their latest dances and uniforms to the
other Cities. Every third year a competition is held within the groups. Akron has
always been one of the leaders in the
past, recognized for their dance skills
and congeniality. This year’s event, held
just a few weeks ago was hosted by our
sister club, Los Angeles Donauschwaben Club. Akron was represented by 60
Kids and Adults.
Kultur Ecke
Culture Corner
Präsident Rudy Stagl hat mich ersucht
als Kulturleiterin des
Clubs etwas über
die Kultur zu schreiben.
Leider ist die Zeit für mich ein bisschen
zu kurz, aber ich werde mich bemühen
im nächsten Newsletter mehr zu schreiben. Eventuell werde ich etwas über
kochen schreiben. Ich bin kein Experte,
was das kochen angeht, aber ich kann
der jüngeren Generation beibringen wie
man aus wenigen Zutaten eine einfache
Mahlzeit zubereiten kann (Rezepte um zu
überleben).
As the Kulturleiterin President Rudy Stagl
asked me to write an article about culture for the newsletter. In future addition I
will be including more. One of the topics
I like to include would be about cooking,
even though I am not an expert. However, do to my life experiences I can help
our youth continue our tradition through
cooking.
The three most important things in my life
are: Family, faith and culture!
Mit Gruß
Anna König
Kulturleiterin
Das wichtigste in meinem Leben sind drei
Dinge: Familie, Glaube und Kultur!
Los Angeles, Landestreffen and Jugend Lager
by Maddie Von Stein
Our Jugend Lager, or “youth camp” if
directly translated, is a great way for
the members of Schwob Youth Groups
around the country to get to know each
other and gain a greater perspective of
our heritage. Much like the annual Labor
Day trips, each Jugend Lager takes place
in a different city during the summer. The
event usually occurs over the course of a
weekend in tents, hosted by the Ortsgruppen (local groups) who schedule times to
learn about the host city, how their ancestors settled in that region, while learning
more about Donauschwaben culture in
general.
Three coach buses drove the nearly 100
kids and chaperones to the heart of LA
where we visited the city’s historical sites.
Once lunch had been finished, Erika
Neumayer, owner and designer of Rare
Dirndl, gave a presentation on traditional
trachts. Much like the differences in design of the costumes we use today, each
region used a different style of pleating
in the underskirts, along with unique hairstyle, aprons and skirt lengths. Liz Burmeister, our fearless leader and MC of the day,
then explained each color team would
have one hour to be split up to create
both a boy and girl’s traditional costume
out of the materials provided. Each of the
six groups got to work straight away, us-
ing scraps of fabric, table skirts, wrapping
paper, ribbons, hot glue, safety pins, fake
flowers and whatever else we could get
our hands on to begin constructing the
outfits on our two volunteers. The biggest
surprise of the day was just how well each
of the groups used a unique design and
ideas to create the makeshift costumes.
After an entertaining fashion show where
a group of judges deemed all of us creative winners.
The most important and fun part was being able to introduce new friends to each
other that we had met that day. These lagers, where we have a chance to bond
together and learn more about where we
all come from are what makes us a family,
no matter how far the distance between
groups. From Los Angeles to Akron and
everywhere in between, we all had the
chance to make new friends from other
groups while strengthening the friendships
we already had. Opportunities to make
memories, sharing in these amazing trips
and cultural experiences are unique experiences will last us a lifetime and help
keep our heritage alive our hearts always.
42nd Annual German Family Society
Special Attractions
& Games for
Kids on Sunday!
Free Parking
Souvenirs
2015
Friday, September 11, 6 pm – Midnight
Saturday, September 12, 3 pm – 11 pm
Sunday, September 13, Noon – 7 pm
Outdoor “Biergarten mit Gemütlichkeit,”
a Kinder Playground & Jäger Tent.
Band Schedule:
Al Zimmerman Band – (Hall)
Friday, 6-10 pm
Fred Ziwich Band – (Pavilion)
Friday, 6:30-11:30 pm
Menu
Schnitzel Dinners, Sausage Dinners,
Cabbage Roll Dinners, Oktoberfest
(mixed) Dinners, Rotisserie Chicken
Dinners, German Franks, Bratwurst,
Hot Pretzels, Corn on Cob, and
German Pastries.
Delci Tones – (Hall)
Saturday, 4-8 pm
Beverages
Spass Band – (Pavilion)
Saturday, 3-6:45 pm
German & Domestic
Beer, Wine, Spirits,
Soft Drinks and Fresh
Squeezed Lemonade.
Edelweiss Combo – (Pavilion)
Saturday, 7:15-11 pm
Al Zimmerman Band – (Hall)
Sunday, 1-5 pm
Deutcher Musik Verein Blasskapelle
(Pavilion) Sunday Noon – 3:15 pm
Hank Haller Band – (Pavilion)
Sunday 3:45 - 7 pm
Entertainment
GFS Performers: Kindergruppe, Jr. Youth Folk
Dancers, Youth Folk
Dancers & Schuhplatter
and Adult Tanzgruppe.
No Food or Drinks Allowed in Park.
$5 per Person Entrance (12 & under are Free)
It’s Not Too Late!!!
German Family Society – Donaupark
3871 Ranfield Road, Brimfield Twp/Kent, Ohio 330-678-8229
Sign up Now for the 5K Keg run on Saturday, September 12th.
Register at www.germanfamilysociety.com
We extend our condolences to
the families of:
Anton Schaffer
Phillipp Mayer
Siegfried Henz ( President
Chicago Aid Society)
Don’t Forget to Make Reservations
for ALL Club Events
Please Note: We require reservations
for our events but if you cannot attend,
please, please call and cancel. Our last
event, Traubenfest was a sell out and
numerous family members turned away.
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German: Crossword ...
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May not be sold/redistributed without permission
We had 35 No-Shows which caused many
not able to attend and a loss of hundreds
of dollars in lost food.
Please be considerate for future events.
Thank You, Rudy
Reservations:
Mrs. Moellmann: 330-633-3949
Mrs. Lehner: 330-335-8985
We are happy to have you join
our organization.
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German: Crossword - Vacation
VACATION - ANSWERS
German Cross Word Puzzle
Hannah Thompson
Kristen Misbrener
Madeline VonStein
Jerry Vydra
Scott Burghardt
Erika Sheeler
Louise Teach
Elizabeth Klingensmith
Jacob Neptune
Nathan Brunn
Barbara Habel
Nicholas Burdohan
Christine Ahmed
Richard Hummel
Julianna Leber
Ann Robinson
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WELCOME NEW
MEMBERS
German Family Society Youth Group
Sausage Sale Fundraiser
Example: Qty 1 = 3 lbs
Qty 2 = 6 lbs (etc)
$4.50 Per Pound / 3-lb min ($13.50 per ~ 3 lb pack)
SELLERS NAME:_______________________
Sausage Orders Deadline: Sunday Oct 4, 2015
Sausage MUST be picked up on: Sunday Oct 18 4-7pm
at German Family Society, Brimfield OH
PLEASE ORDER IN
* ~3 POUND PACKS ONLY *
Full Name
Phone
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For additional lines Please use back of form
If you have any questions or additional orders:
Carri or Steve Sensius
1492 Stoney Pointe Dr
North Canton, Ohio
Phone: (330) 899-9848
FILL IN # OF PACKS
(Number of ~3 lb packs)
Linked sausage
Regular
Hot
Bulk Sausage
Regular
Hot
# packs
# lbs
Total lbs
Upcoming Events
German-American Dance
Traubenfest
Saturday, October 10, 2015
Saturday, November 14, 2015
Music by: Pete Karsti Eintracht Band
Reservations Required
by October 6th.
Music by: Edelweiss Combo
Reservations Required
by November 10th
Annual Elections
Member Appreciation Dinner
Sunday,
November 8, 2015
2:00 PM
All members are welcome!
Membership Dues Update:
Please hold off on sending in your membership dues.We are proposing some changes
to Membership and possibly moving towards
a Family membership plan. Proposal shall
be submitted and voted on at our Annual
Meeting November 8th. Please join us to
hear more about these changes
Reservations: Eva Lehner (330) 335-8985 OR Renate Moellmann (330)633-3949
German: Crossword - Vacation
German Family Society of Akron
1
3871 Ranfield Road
2
Kent, OH 44240
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Down German Cross Word Puzzle
German: Crossword - Vacation
1. Suitcase
14. Where the land meets the ocean
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VACATION
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User-created with abctools® for home and classroom use only.
German: Crossword
6.Graphics
Car and format ©2000-2008 abcteach®
7. Airport
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9. Road map
10. Summer vacation
11. Arrival
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14. You need a surfboard for this
15. Departure
17. Baggage
18. Very large body of salt water
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...
www.abcteach.com
May not be sold/redistributed
without permission
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2. Tourists can rent rooms here
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