JANUARY 2007

*President’s Corner*

Dear Members and Friends,

I wish all Pulaski Club members, families and friends a very Happy New Year.  May all your wishes come true, may you get well if you’re sick, may you stay healthy, if you are now, and may we all be here next year to do it all over again.

By the time you are reading this, all the presents will have been opened and all the partying and celebrations are over and done with, but I do hope that the memories will remain with you for a long time.

Our Dec. 10th Christmas dinner and dance was well attended, the food was plentiful, and the Christmas spirit was abundant.  We broke bread in the form of OPLATEK before dinner and wished each other Merry Christmas with a hug and a kiss, the traditional Polish custom most of us remember well.

The bountiful Christmas buffet was prepared by Frances Spychalski and a group of ladies and served with great efficiency.  And this year we didn’t run out of food, and we had enough for some folks to take leftovers home for the next day.

The Nickelcity Kid and his VARITONES BAND did a wonderful job entertaining our regulars as well as a few guests in our midst, which was nice to see.  We put together an impromptu choir and sang old traditional carols in Polish and English which was well received.  Thank you to Rose Pachura and David B. for supplying us with printed song sheets.  John Filipczak sat in with the band to accompany with the carols.  Thank you John.  We’re glad to have you with us.

Our raffle brought in about $300 for the club as we had eight gift baskets left over from our fashion show.  So, to those who donated those baskets – we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.  I know that the lucky winners will enjoy your generous gifts.

The Executive Board decided that we should have Membership Meetings every two months instead of monthly.  However, the officers will continue to meet monthly to run the day-to-day Club’s business.  We will be publishing the meeting dates in this Newsletter, so that you are all informed; and the financial statements will be prepared on a month-to-month basis as always.  The Newsletter will also continue to be published monthly in order to inform you of what’s going on with the Club and to remind you of upcoming functions.

We will continue to have dinners for the special occasions:  Easter, May 3rd Polish Constitution Day, Pulaski Day, and Christmas.  If we have any special events at which meals will be served, they will be published in the Newsletter.

Our next Membership Meeting will be on January 14th, 2007 at 12:30pm, and the dance will start at 2pm.  We are reprinting the dance schedule for 2007 with some corrections and changes, including the starting times for the dances.  So, please pick up the new schedules or save the ones you get with this Newsletter.  

In addition, the Executive Board decided not to have our Open Kitchen for most of our functions in 2007, due to very poor support.  We averaged only 25 to 30 meals sold at most of our dances.  We will offer snack bowls at each table and, during the dance, coffee, and pastries from the kitchen at a nominal charge.  We hope this will not inconvenience or disappoint any of you.

Let’s have a wonderful and fun 2007.  We have dances planned almost every Sunday, so please come out and support your Polish Home – The Pulaski Club.  Thank You!    Casimir Kosinski

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Messages from the Board Members

FIRST VICE PRESIDENT - Chez Falkowski:

I would like to thank the members of the Pulaski Club for electing me to the position of the First Vice President. My main task is to recruit more members to the Club. I humbly ask for your continued advice and support in this regard. I have been living in the Phoenix area for almost 25 years. It is always a heartwarming feeling to see so many people of different ages and backgrounds in the Club s membership and participating in its events.

Any new ideas related to our Club are welcomed and will be thoroughly considered. The Club s mission is to support and promote Polish culture and cooperation between people of different cultural backgrounds. Individuals of Polish descent, related to such persons or affiliated with our Polish culture, may become member.

 I would like to encourage Polish veterans, former members of the Solidarity movement, individuals of Polish descent, and aficionados of Polish culture and history to become members to the Pulaski Club. Here is an example of one exceptional aficionado of Poland Merian C. Cooper.

 His great-great-grandfather was the second-in-command in the Pulaski Legion and a close friend of Casimir Pulaski. His family continued the proud legacy of being an officer and a gentleman of the Pulaski Legion. Just after WWI, Merian volunteered himself and his friends to serve in the Polish Air Force as pilots. They were known as the Kosciuszko Squadron. In the year 1920, Poland was desperately fighting against the invasion of the Soviet Red Army under Lev Trotski (Lev Bronstein). Merian distinguished himself by his gallantry in combat and his daring escape from his Bolshevik s captivity.

He was highly recognized by Poland. During his visit to England in 1940, the famous Polish 303 Squadron greeted him as a hero. Merian Cooper is also remembered for producing movies such as King Kong, The Searches, etc.

You may read more about these pilots in the book A Question of Honor by Lynne Olson and Stanly Cloud.

Luckily for us, we have a very peaceful choice in supporting the Polish heritage by signing-up to become members of the club and participate in its activities. Have a safe, happy, and healthy New Year.

ENTERTAINMENT DIRECTOR - Halina Kosinski:

Happy New Year everyone. There is no report for this month.

TREASURER - Mary Kiselus:

Happy, Healthy, and Prosperous New Year to All!

The month of November was a good month for the Pulaski Club. All our Pulaski Club events, hall rentals, fashion show, along with membership dues collected brought in

$10,159.89. The fashion show was a very profitable event. We cleared nearly $3,000.00.

Thank you to all for great job and effort in putting this event together. Expenses for month of November totaled $5,471.65 (utilities, band service, security, bar & hall, repairs, fashion show expense, and misc.). A nice profit for November in the amount of $4,688.24. I hope we can do the same or better for December, so we can end the year right. Thank you to all of our club members and patrons for supporting the club in 2006. We hope to see you all having a great time at all our events in 2007. Best wishes and all the best in 2007.

FINANCIAL SECRETARY - Stella Wojski:

Thank you for all the renewals. Dues are $24.00 a year. Check your membership card,

and send a check to the Pulaski Club. If you know of anyone with address changes, have them fill out the form in this newsletter or contact me with the changes. Happy New Year.

HALINA S KITCHEN - Halina Kosinski:

We will be serving coffee and desserts at the dances for a nominal fee. Have a healthy and happy New Year.

SUNSHINE COMMITTEE - Shirley Sztuk:

A Get Well card was sent to Orlando Cordova after his surgery. Sympathy cards were

sent to Stephen Batura on the loss of his sister and to Henrietta Nemecek on the loss of her sister-in-law. Our prayers are with you all.

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Nickelcity Dave's NEWS & NOTES

HAPPY NEW YEAR ! I hope you had a nice Christmas too? Great turn out for our Christmas party; the meal was excellent, and the soundz were great too. Everybody had a good time. Looking forward to the polka potluck ..January 1, 2007.
Time to get things moving again on the remodeling in the club. We ll be finishing up the oak trim and getting the rest of the back bar completed. I need to get our liquor and beer displays up, all with the help of our new and present Board of Directors. The P.A. system is complete thanks to Ron, Zenon, and Tom. The Prez. can now walk around the club with his wireless mike.
I should have new glassware for our events in February. The new beer cooler had to be purchased in December as the old beer cooler finally kicked the bucket.
The 2007 Event Schedule for the club is now available. All of our dates are pretty much final, and we did make a few changes, so make sure you pick up an updated copy. Remember the events or times do change sometimes without notice. You can find the updated schedule on the website as well as this Newsletter.

BAR STANDER: A mother and father take their 6-year old son to a nude beach. As the boy walks along the sand, he notices that many of the women have boobs bigger than his mother's, so he goes back to ask her why. She tells her son, "The bigger they are, the sillier the lady is." The boy, pleased with the answer, goes to play in the ocean, but returns to tell his mother that many of the men have larger things than his dad does. She replies, "The bigger THEY are, the dumber the man is." Again satisfied with her answer, the boy goes back to the ocean to play. Shortly thereafter, the boy returns again, and promptly tells his mother: "Daddy is talking to the silliest lady on the beach, and the longer he talks, the dumber he gets."

WAY OUT WEST DYNGUS DAY FEST: Historically a Polish-American tradition, Dyngus Day celebrates the end of the often restrictive observance of Lent and the joy of Easter. Over the decades, Dyngus Day has become a wonderful holiday to celebrate Polish-American culture, heritage, and traditions: APRIL 9th, 2007. Come to the Pulaski Club and celebrate this event for the first time at the Club.
 

Liquor list - 600+ average number of grapes to make a bottle of wine; 83 dry towns and villages in Alaska; 75 percent of Americans who express a preference, say they prefer their beer in a glass bottle; in the 1600 s, thermometers were filled with brandy instead of mercury; 1850 was the first year beer was sold in bottles; 1935 beer was sold in cans; 1860 the corkscrew was invented.
 

Don t be scared, the club provides security for all rental events and most evening member events.
 

MEMBERS RAFFLE is in full swing; remember you must be present to win this drawing. A name will be
picked during the meeting. If no winner, the name goes back in the hat until the next meeting.
$$$GOOD$$$5.00$$$LUCK$$$.
 

RENT THE HALL: The Pulaski club is available for all your social events, (602) 275-9329.
 

REMINDER: The Club s e-mail address is pulaskiclubaz@yahoo.com.
The Club s web site is www.PulaskiClubAZ.org
 

ATTENTION BUSINESS CARD ADVERTISERS: If you would like your business card in the Pulaski Newsletter,
contact Stella Wojski @ (602) 509-2162 for more details.
 

REMEMBER: We are a non-profit organization, your donations are tax deductible. Let s support our club!
Bring a friend to the next dance, we polka people like our dances packed !