SEPTEMBER 2007
From the President
Greetings Members and Friends, and welcome back to our Pulaski Club.
On July 28th 2007, we have lost Henry Spychalski, a good member and friend to all of us. The memorial service was held on August 5th, and many of our members came to pay their respects to Henry, wife Frances, and family. His constant presence and infectious smile will be missed. Our condolences and prayers go out to Frances Spychalski and her family.
Most of you missed the notice, in this column, for the May Membership meeting; and due to lack of a quorum, that meeting was not held. So on Sept. 2nd, John Smoltz and Lou Pavlik will entertain us after we finish up with the September Membership meeting which will start at 12:30pm.
Some work has been started at the club during the summer and should be all completed for our first meeting on Sept. 2nd. The bar is getting some finishing touches as well. Thanks to all volunteers including employees of K&C Associates, Andrew Czerski’s electrical contracting company and Wesley Ochocki, who contributed countless hours along with his wife Diane.
We were contacted by Mr. Greg Giczi, Channel Eight TV General Manager, who is of Polish heritage, to see if we could organize a group of volunteers for one of their membership drives. This will give some exposure to the Club as well as some community service points to those who volunteer. The two remaining drives for this year will be on October 6-9 or December 1-11.
The Arizona Republic newspaper and their website, AZCENTRAL.COM, have approached us, back in June, to nominate a person from our community to be interviewed on camera for a collection of short videos of immigrants from around the World, which was being prepared for the 4th of July Independence Day. You’re welcome to view these interviews in the “video” section of the website at AZCENTRAL.COM. Brian Kotwasinski was doing many of the video interviews. He’s the son of Robert Kotwasinski, a longtime member and supporter of the Pulaski Club. Pulaski Club gets credit for facilitating the piece.
We were also contacted by a person who has been involved in sending books, letters, or packages to our servicemen and women in the Middle East. She also has the address to the troops deployed there from Poland. If anyone wishes to send letters, cards, books, or packages to those who are sacrificing for us, we have a phone number available. We can do this as individuals or as members of our club.
Wesley Ochocki, a member, is offering basic Polish language classes to all. Members will get a considerable discount. We will post a sign-up sheet to see how many folks are interested, before starting the classes.
David Bonczkiewicz is volunteering his time to open up the club on Friday nights for dancing to his DJ music, snacks, and spirits. We will have flyers and information posted in this newsletter.
Looks like we are about to have a busy remainder of 2007, and we are looking forward to having some fun. Please join us.
Your President, Casimir Kosinski
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FIRST VICE PRESIDENT - Chez Falkowski:
I hope everybody had a good time during the summer and now will enjoy coming to the Club on Fridays as well and will appreciate all changes in the hall. I guess you are aware that the US presidential race already started. Every candidate promises changes too.
I definitely see changes for better in Poland. I miss the times when someone's word of honor was accepted and applied as a binding contract. At this time, there is a row about sacking the Vice-Premier because his associate/subordinate was jailed for taking bribe and promising influence on the vice-premier decisions. The ruling coalition has fallen apart. The sacked populist politician was a member of the Communist Party in his younger years. Another issue is so called the "literature canon" - list of Polish books required and suggested for reading by students from grammar to high school levels. The Secretary of Education removed the acclaimed contemporary author who described homosexual relations in his work and added the old patriotic books by Henryk Sienkiewicz. Sienkiewicz got the Nobel Award in literature for his famous novel "Quo Vadis" in 1905. His historic Trilogy (novels "With Fire and Sword", "Deluge", & "Fire in the Steppe") has been highly acclaimed by many generations of readers and educators. Angry post-communists and their liberal allies started to cry "foul" and "shame". They publicly stated, "deluge of anything, but Sienkiewicz".
Evidently we are witnessing a quite noisy struggle between groups of people with different set of moral values and goals. By the way, novels in English and movies based on Trilogy with English subtitles are available through Internet.
Let's get back to the Pulaski Club and its very friendly membership. If you know a person of Polish descent or linked to Polish culture, please invite him or her to come to our events and encourage then to join our Club.
2nd VP / ENTERTAINMENT DIRECTOR - Halina Kosinski:
Though we are still feeling the heat of summer, it is time to plan and prepare for the September events at the club.
I was able to acquire a set of new tablecloths in a cream color and another set of doilies and food buffet tablecloths in sage green. I am very grateful to Mary Kiselus’ Mom for hemming the edges of the doilies. Both colors work very well with each other as well as separately and are suitable for various occasions.
September is going to be a very busy month at our club. We will be starting off with our membership meeting/dance on September 2nd, followed by two dances on September 16th and September 23rd, and ending the month with the big Saturday night dance on Sept. 29th organized by the Polish Highlander Association.
Food will be available for purchase at all the dances. Our prices are very reasonable for home cooked meals, and we would like to increase sales to make it worthwhile for the club to continue this service.
One option that might improve dinner sales could be changing the time of having food from 2-3 PM to 5-6 PM. For those of you who do not want to dance on a full stomach, a later meal might be more suitable.
Please let us know what your preferences are the next time you’re picking up your meal at the kitchen service window.
TREASURER - Mary Kiselus:
Pulaski Club events during the month of April proved to be quite profitable. Our Easter Dinner Dance, Dyngus Day Dance, 4/27 Dance, along with the rentals brought in $9110.50. Very good income. However, expenses for April were high. Expenses totaled $9109.53. This includes utilities, bands, security, bar, kitchen, repairs and maintenance expenses, advertising, our Corporation Committee filing fee, and our first half property taxes ($2745.24). Income for April totaled $.97. Financials for May, June, July, and August will be reported in our October Newsletter.
I hope everyone had a good summer and you are all ready to join us at the club for fun, food, and dance. Welcome back and best wishes to all.
FINANCIAL SECRETARY - Diana O‘Loughlin:
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.
SUNSHINE COMMITTEE - Shirley Sztuk:
As many of you know our long time member Henry Spychalski passed away. He and his wife Frances contributed so much to our Club. He will be greatly missed.
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"Nickelcity Dave's"
NEWS & NOTES
1 WELCOME BACK - It’s time to get back to the polka swing of things at the Club and bring you another fun second half season of good music, good food, and great friends. The Board of Directors and I try to piece some more of the puzzle together and continue on our remodeling projects. The backroom will have a new look “mirrors”, the bottle display shelves and oak trim should be done, and the portrait of Pulaski should be hung in place. Thank You goes out to all our extra helping hands. Direct all remolding questions or issues to the Chairman of the Board, Bruno Klus.
2 BARTENDERS WANTED: Volunteers needed to help bartend at our weekend dances and the Club rentals. Any Club member interested, contact David at (602)741-8214. I’ll teach ya all I know. “Let’s have some fun on the inside of the bar!”
3 FRIDAY NIGHT SOUNDZ… The Pulaski Club presents Friday night music featuring the DJ soundz of “Nickelcity Dave”, 7 to 10 pm. September 14th is country music night; top country music, country swing, two step, waltz, and line dance. September 21st is 50’s night; dance to the oldies with 50’s & 60’s music. No charge, open to Club members and guests, bar drinks, and light snacks available. For more details contact the club at (602)275-9329.
4 MARK YOUR CALENDAR - November 17th - the Pulaski Club will host an Auction & Euro Disco Dance with proceeds going to a local children’s shelter. For more details, contact Danuta & Wieslaw Ochocki at (480)612-3070.
5 BARTENDER: I Have a Beer Problem... Joe and John split a quarter keg of beer. There are (approx.) 41 mugs of beer to be drank from the keg, and each mug contains 12oz of beer. After one hour and 4 mugs, Joe has to take a leak. John however needs to take a leak after only 2 mugs during this time. If both Joe and John continue drinking for six hours... How many leaks will be taken during this period by each and how many mugs will remain in that quarter keg?
6 BAR-STANDERS: Never Tick off a Woman - A wife came home just in time to find her husband in bed with another woman. With super-human strength borne of fury, she dragged him down the stairs, out the back door, and into the tool shed in the back yard and put his "manhood" in a vice. She secured it tightly and removed the handle. Next she picked up a hack saw. The husband was terrified, and screamed, Stop! Stop! “You're not going to cut it off, are you?" The wife, with a gleam of revenge in her eye, put the saw in her husband's hand and said, “Nope, I'm going to set the shed on fire. You do whatever you have to do."
7 RENT THE HALL: The Pulaski Club is available for all your social events. Basic club price is $1,150.00. This includes a 6 hr. rental, cleaning deposit, and damage deposit (refundable). In addition, we offer full bar service, a house “DJ” service (Nickelcity Dave), security, kitchen, and a list of available catering services for your event. Call to reserve the club for your special event, (602) 275-9329.
8 REMEMBER: We are a non-profit organization; your donations are tax deductible.
“Bring a friend to the next dance,
we polka people like our dances packed