This year’s Vintner Dinner was a resounding success! We savored delicious Hungarian wines from top quality boutique wineries located in the best wine-growing regions of Hungary; we enjoyed an excellent dinner at the Canterbury Golf Club; and we had many nostalgic moments listening to the wonderful musicians of Harmonia. What a great evening to celebrate the Museum! Friends of the Museum enjoyed tasting 5 different wines, bidding on lovely items on our auction and raffle table; but mostly, they enjoyed each other’s company, meeting old and new friends throughout the evening. This year’s honoree for the Vintner Dinner was the Hungarian Association, Magyar Társaság, which celebrates 65 years of spotlighting issues that affect Hungarians throughout the world, while promoting Hungarian culture, arts, literature, and scientific achievements, through their annual Congress held over the Thanksgiving weekend.
Dr John Nádas spoke to the dinner guests about the work of the Association, and his gracious words summarizing the work of the Association, and also commending the role of all the various American-Hungarian organizations in Cleveland, were very well received. Over 100 guests were welcomed by the Museum Board members, and we hope to see many of you at next year’s Vintner Dinner!
Dr. Nádas’s words to our guests included the following message:
“We are honored to be one of many organization in Cleveland that add to the diversity and cultural landscape of the Hungarian Community. We are proud to be a part of the active Hungarian American community. Let me take this opportunity to greet the members of the Hungarian Heritage Museum and their Board, and congratulate them on their on-going lecture and exhibit series enriching the Cleveland Hungarian experience. At the same time please allow me to applaud our fellow organizations that contribute to this experience: the American Hungarian Friends of Scouting and their four scout troops and dance ensemble, the Cleveland Hungarian Development Panel and the Paprika Ball, the Hungarian Cultural Center of Northeastern Ohio and their numerous activities in Hiram Park, the Hungarian Cultural Garden of Cleveland maintaining our Hungarian jewel in the center of Cleveland, the Hungarian Genealogical Society of Greater Cleveland researching our family ties, the Hungarian School Care Club and the Hungarian Schools passing on our language heritage, the Szent László Association a caritative organization, the World Federation of Hungarian Veterans honoring our past, our radio stations the Kapossy hour and the Bocskai rádio, our churches: St. Elizabeth, St. Emeric, the Reformed churches on the West Side, in Lorain and Walton Hills, our Lutheran Churches on the West Side and in the old Buckeye Neighborhood, the Hungarian Bethany Baptist Church, The Seventh Day Adventist Church, the William Penn Association, and the organization that represents them all: The United Hungarian Societies. We, Hungarians, are indeed a strong presence in this community.
The Hungarian Association was created in 1952 to create a Hungarian community for those displaced and uprooted by the war. For decades we supported free speech for those oppressed by communism. We provided a cultural and social oasis for all things Hungarian, not only for Clevelanders but members of the international Hungarian community. The Árpád Academy acknowledged the contributions of Hungarian artists, writers and scientists when their native homeland couldn’t or wouldn’t. Our Association was the haven for immigrants offering a society that resembled what had been left behind. Today we can boldly say we are no longer emigrants, but members of the Hungarian diaspora. We still offer a Hungarian cultural forum on literature, science, music, but today are supported and encouraged by the Hungarian government. For this we are thankful.
Although the Hungarian Association has strong ties to its founders Nádas János, Nádas Rózsa and Nádas Gyula, it is not tied to one person. In the past, Board members included Professor Somogyi Ferenc, Szabolcs Őrzse, Alapi Etu, Kiss Ferenc, Beodray Ferenc and Piroska, Makk Imre, Burgyán Aladár, and Szabó Zóltán.
Today our board has 14 members, and I wish to accept this honor here tonight in their name, because their contribution and the spirit in which they volunteer make our Association great. A heartfelt thank you to
Peller Ildiko, Dömötörffy Zsolt, Pereszlényi Marti, Varga Sándor, Mészáros Mária, Somogyi Lél, , Rátoni-Nagy Valéria, Ludányi Panni, Erőssy Ica, Simon Benedek Zsuzsa, Toldy Ágnes, O’Reilly Krisztina, Nádas Kuni.”
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