The Danube Swabian Foundation of the U.S.A., Inc.
Die Donauschwaebische Stiftung der USA, Inc.
Christmas Letter 2018
The Science Behind Why Schwowe Leute give Money to the Danube Swabian Foundation USA – (The Stiftung)
The first thing to note is that I am not ascientist; however, I did read a bunch of scientific stuff about giving to charities. A fact that I learned about giving away money is that it feels really good. Research shows that we derive more happiness from spending money on people with whom we have strong ties than on those we don’t. I’m not suggesting leaving other charities out of your holiday good cheer, but I ask you to consider giving a little more to the Schwowe Jugend you love and hold dear. Research also shows that when you give to the Stiftung there is a physiological response. Your brain’s pleasure and reward centers light up. You get a boost of feel-good endorphins just like when you tzepple polka on the dance floor. Oxytocin hormones are released lowering your stress and making you feel more connected to others like when you are at the club’s bar sharing a schnapps. Dopamine is released in the same part of the brain that’s turned on when making whoopee or eating a slice of chocolate torte. You just can’t beat that! Please give! You can give during our annual Christmas Fund Drive, or any other time of the year you witness the Jugend in our dance groups, schools, bands or sport teams. You can give when you have a pocketful of change for the Pfennig Krieg. You can also give by leaving a bequest in your will. “We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.” Winston Churchill With good science and research to support my plea, by giving to the Stiftung you will be happier and healthier in the year to come.
Frohe Weihnachten und ein Glückliches Neues Jahr von uns allen in der Donauschwäbischen Stiftung. Eddie Tullius – President
Liebe Landsleut,
The time for our annual plea for contributions has arrived. Passing on our heritage does not come without cost. Our foundation’s annual budget is spent primarily on youth activities: youth dance groups, German schools, and bands. Frankly, foundation checks provide only a fraction of the financial support needed to run our youth programs. The home clubs provide the lion’s share of support. We have just completed our annual gathering in Kitchener and the support from our young “Schwobs” was tremendous. I’m beginning to notice that “Einwanderungsgeneration” members are becoming less and less at these events. Planning a smooth transition from one generation to the next is crucial to our clubs surviving for the long term. Don’t forget why our clubs were established! We must focus on our language, tradition, and culture. Anyone can run a party center, but not everyone can pass on the values we received from our ancestors. The fourth Welttreffen is scheduled for 2019 in Hungary and Romania. Solicitation for participants began a few months back and the initial response was astounding. Almost 100 applicants from around the world have responded to apply for 60 openings. What a wonderful statement that makes about interest in preserving our culture! The foundation has plans to support this endeavor. Our Jugendlager program also continues to operate successfully. St. Louis hosted this gathering in 2018 and many young people from around the US and Canada were able to attend thanks to foundation support.
In closing, I ask every Schwob who reads this letter to reach into their pocket and make an annual donation of fifty dollars or more.
Danke und Frohe Weihnachten!
Robert F. Filippi – President, Landesverband der Donauschwaben & Chairman, Danube Swabian Foundation
The Stiftung has helped sponsor the Jugendfreundschaftslagers for the past ten years. We are pleased to share with you the report of the Annniversary year Lager in St. Louis. The St. Louis group hosted the first Lager in 2008 and how fitting that ten years later, they again hosted our youth from across the continent for an event not many will soon forget.
Jugendfreundschaftslager 2008-2018 – 10th Anniversary
WEIHNACHTEN IM SOMMER
This year’s Jugendfreundschaftslager was hosted in St Louis by the German Culture Society. The goal of the Jugendfreundschaftslager has always been to promote friendship and a better understanding of the Donauschwaben heritage and traditions in an atmosphere of fun and camaraderie. So, with that thought in mind, Christmas trees were trimmed … lights & stockings were hung in the pavilion with care in hopes that the Christkind’l soon would be there! There was no better time or place than ‘Weihnachten im Sommer” at a Jugendlager to share some Donauschwaben Christmas traditions and history with our youth. Thursday – Arrival & Welcome. The Jugendfreundschaftslager began after 2:00 when the Donauschwaben clubs from Chicago Aid, Chicago Donau, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Kitchener, Los Angeles, Milwaukee and St Louis mixed & mingled after arriving. Camp was set up and ice breaker games were played. Dinner consisted of St Louis’ Bavarian Sliders (pretzel bun, bratwurst, swiss/cheese & spicy mustard), potato salad and chips. Wrist bands of 4 different colors were given out, one color per person for whatever group they would belong to for the weekend. Each of the four groups were made up of a few Jugend of each city to help promote new friendships. There was music entertainment and games in the evening. Friday – ‘Meet Me in St Louis’ tour day. Leaving at 8:30am, 93 of us (all wearing our red ‘Weihnachten im Sommer” t-shirts) loaded up two coach buses that took us downtown to tour the Gateway Arch. The Arch is 630 feet tall; making it the tallest man-made monument in the United States; 630 feet is also the distance from leg to leg at ground level. We took tram rides up to the top, looking out the windows on a clear day the view at the top can cover up to thirty miles in either direction. Lunch took us to the German Culture Society hall for a ‘Taste of St Louis’ – an all original St Louis cuisine – Imo’s pizza (St Louis’ original thin crust pizza), toasted ravioli, Rich & Charlie’s Salad and a desert of ‘Gooey Butter’ cookies. After lunch we headed to another St Louis icon the City Museum. The museum is for young and old, a playground & funhouse made out of unique found objects such as old chimneys, salvaged bridges, construction cranes, miles of tile, and even two abandoned planes coming all within St Louis’s municipal borders. After hours of fun the buses headed back to Donau Park where dinner also hosted a few more St Louis originals: BBQ pork steaks and Ted Drewes’ frozen custard for desert. Many cooled off on the slip ‘n slide (a Jugendlager tradition) after dinner and the rest of the evening was a mix of music, fun & relaxation. Saturday – Tag der Donauschwaben. The entire day was oriented towards learning Christmas culture and history. Each color group was assigned to one of 4 stations, which rotated throughout the day. The pavilion hosted dancing and everyone was taught a new friendship dance that was choreographed by the St Louis Jugendgruppe.
- The pavilion hosted dancing and everyone was taught a new friendship dance that was choreographed by the St Louis Jugendgruppe.
- The kitchen- every group that came in had their hands in making dinner for the evening. With recipes in hand they made…Chicken Paprikash & Knödel. They chopped & browned onions, cut up chicken, added spices, stirred the Paprikash to perfection. Then the Knödel were made; measuring ingredients, mixing the dough, dropping spoonsful of dough into boiling water, watching the Knödel as they rose to the top, checking to make sure they were no longer doughy.
- Our indoor lodge also hosted each group and they were shown how our ancestors made original Strohsterne Christmas ornaments. Strohsterne once decked many Donauschwaben Weihnachtsbäume, along with Szaloncukor (salone-zucker) and candles. Each Jugend made a Strohstern (straw star) ornament and hung it on the our Weihnachtsbaum.
- The most loved station by all of the Jugend was our ‘Einmalige Wettlauf’ or Amazing Race (Donauschwaben style). Again, with Weihnachten in mind our Amazing Race had passports, route info, road blocks, detours and speed bumps. The obstacle course was decorated with wrapped presents; the vocabulary session blasted Donauschwaben words with a Vocab Scramble to get the next clue; the coloring session had blind-folded Jugend coloring the Donauschwaben Wappen (coat of arms) and the German Food Taste Test was determined by a game of pong in empty beer steins! Winners of each race received various St Louis memorabilia .
Lunch was served in the pavilion with Weihnachtsplätzchen (Christmas cookies), made by our Oma’s, as a desert. Various stories were told about all of our Oma’s & Opa’s childhood Christmas memories. Many of them remembering similar things; Christmas church services and das Christkind, special meals such as ham baked in bread dough, Weihnachtsplätzchen, gifts of oranges and nuts, singing Weihnachtslieder beim Weihnachtsbaum etc.
Christkindchen Zart Dear sweet, tender Christkindchen,
Ich hab schon lang auf dich gewartet. I have waited a long time for you.
Sollst mir Äpfel und Nϋβe beschehen Please gift me apples and nuts
Und mich lehren Vater und Mutter Ehren. And teach me to honor my father and mother.
We followed some of those traditions, singing German Christmas songs together with the accompaniment of Joey Wendl’s accordion…in 97-degree heat of the summer:). And yes, das Christkind and Knecht Ruprecht did make an appearance bringing oranges and chocolate for everyone. They singled out many of the Jugend whom they knew had not been so good all year. Each was brought to the front of the pavilion and their wrongs recited to everyone. Knecht Ruprecht set them straight with threats of taking the switch to them if they didn’t change their ways! Low and behold even our Jugendleiterin from Cincinnati was scolded for her ‘Zähneputzen’ ?…but was then rewarded with a gift of a camping gnome in remembrance for attending every Jugendfreundschaftslager since it began in 2008! The afternoon continued by finishing our group rounds of each activity and then in lieu of the terrible hot weather everyone went to a nearby pool to swim for a few hours. Dinner was ready when everyone returned and the Chicken Paprikash and Knödel made by the Jugend, along with Gurkensalat and other various salads was served to all who attended. The evening began with all of the Jugend dancing the new friendship dance that they had learned and music from “Die Spitzbuam” band played afterwards for dancing & music entertainment. The finale of our ‘Tag der Donauschwaben’ ended with a fireworks display enjoyed by everyone. Sunday after breakfast, we broke down camp and said our ‘Auf Wiedersehen’ to new and old friends with hopes of seeing each other the next Labor Day weekend. It’s been exciting to see the great leaps and bounds that the Jugendfreundschaftslager has made since it first started in St Louis in 2008. Many thanks to the support of the Stiftung, and to the Landesverband clubs for making this one of the best events for our Jugend.
Happy 10th Anniversary Jugendfreundschaftslager and Frohe Weihnachten! Rosemarie Ficken, St. Louis
The Stiftung Officers and Directors are pleased to announce the results of the Pfennigkrieg fundraising competition which was announced in Kitchener, Ontario during the annual Treffen. The total amount pledged was $7531.69. The Deutscher Kulturverein of St. Louis was the winner of the Ulmerschachtel trophy with their winning donation of $2401.00. Cincinnati was a close second with $1613.00. We thank all the member clubs who participated in this great fundraiser! With such great response, our President Ed Tullius has announced that we WILL continue this fundraiser again this year and look forward to the Ulmerschachtel trophy being presented again at the Treffen on Labor Day weekend 2019.
Please send donations to : DANUBE SWABIAN FOUNDATION, USA c/o William Kolbow, Treasurer 14678 Willamette Ave. , Chino, Ca. 91710 Donations are fully tax deductible in accordance with IRS regulations.