THE KOSCIUSZKO FOUNDATION
Promoting Educational and Cultural Exchanges and Relations Between the United States and Poland Since 1925
CHICAGO CHAPTER
Dear Members and Friends of the Kosciuszko Foundation,
With the initiative of the KF President Alex Storozynski, all of the KF Chapters will organize a fundraising party celebrating Tadeusz Kosciuszko’s Imieniny (Name-Day) on October 28th, 2009. The celebration of Tadeusz Kosciuszko’s Imieniny will bring back a Polish tradition as well as memories of a significant historical event.
On October 28th,, 1792, the Imieniny for Tadeusz, Prince Czartoryski held a party at the Sieniawa Palace for Tadeusz Kosciuszko. Russia had just crushed Poland’s army, outlawed the May 3 Constitution and banned the Virtuti Militari medals given to Polish heroes. The officers who received this medal sent the blue ribbons from these orders to their wives and girlfriends. At the party for Kosciuszko, women wore white dresses with black and azure-sashes and braided their hair with the ribbons from the medals. The women also fashioned a garland crown on Kosciuszko’s head made from branches and leaves from an oak tree planted 100 years earlier by King Sobieski.
Each Chapter could use this opportunity to choose one person to be honored. Ideally, it would be an individual who, thanks to his/her time and effort has contributed the most for the Kosciuszko Foundation and our cause this year. In our Chapter we will honor Mariola Golota, who supported her daughter, Alexandra Golota to represent Chicago Chapter as debutante at the prestigious KF Annual Ball in New York last April. It was a historical event for our Chapter. For the first time we had our debutante at a KF Annual Ball.
You are cordially invited to the celebration of Tadeusz Kosciuszko’s Imieniny
organized by The Chicago Chapter of the Kosciuszko Foundation
at 6:00 pm on October 28th, 2009
at the Polish Museum of America, 984 North Milwaukee Ave. Chicago
This event will inaugurate a tradition of annual celebrations of Tadeusz Kosciuszko’s Imieniny. Suggested donation for the event is $10. We are preparing an engaging program including compositions of Kosciuszko performed by Music Academy of Paderewski Symphony Orchestra.
This special evening will also feature a performance by the Polonia Dance Ensemble, a ruffle drawing and a silent auction with opals from Australia‘s Highest Peak, Mt. Kosciuszko. Opals are gifts from Fundacja Kulturalna Pulsu Polonii in Sydney. This organization coordinates the annual Polish culture festival Kozzie Fest on Mount Kosciuszko. The opals were brought specifically for our Chapter Kosciuszko’s Imieniny event by a Winter expedition (in August this year) to Mt. Kosciuszko. The profit from the auction will be used to support the Kozzie Fest.
We are also putting together a program booklet with a well-wisher list for various amounts of donations. All listings will be one to two lines. These contributions will be spend for scholarships. Please complete the attached well-wisher form and return it to the Chapter Treasurer.
http://www.kosciuszkofoundation.org/