Sponsor a Child

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In 2009 the economic crisis facing America hurts the small groups that have been providing needed services to the Hungarian-American community for years the hardest.  The HRFA was founded as a Society dedicated to the service of immigrants to the United States and helping them maintain their ethnic culture and identity as they make the transition to productive, patriotic citizens of our country.

One of the pillars of this community structure are the Saturday schools around the country, often sponsored by churches, that teach our Hungarian language to our children.  This fragile web of schools always suffers from a lack of proper funding and facilities, yet they continue to persevere over the years.  But this new situation presents a larger problem then ever before.  The children that attend these schools are a mix of generations, many of them from immigrant families.  These are the hardest hit by the recession.  At the same time, it is these new Americans that have traditionally been the focus of the HRFA.

To try to address this problem the HRFA has developed the Testvériség (Fraternity) program.  This program seeks to make a lifeline across generations from those of us who are already established in this country to those who are just starting their journey.  Many of these children come from upstanding families that want nothing more than to maintain their Hungarian heritage as they become Americans.  But due to the financial crisis they are unable to afford the tuition required to attend a Hungarian Language Saturday School.  The Testvériség Program allows those of us who would to be able to step up and help these children in their time of need. 

There are two ways you can help.  You can either sponsor a child through a monthly payment or in a lump sum donation.    Use the links below to pledge online.  We are looking for donors who are willing to support either a whole, half or quarter child.    The program has a low overhead ratio ensuring that 90% of donations go to direct aid.

Children receiving aid will send a thank you letter to their sponsors to let them know directly how their donation helped their lives. 

2009-ben az Amerikát sújtó gazdasági válság az olyan kisebb csoportokra mérte a legsúlyosabb csapárt, mint amilyenek például az amerikai magyar közösséget támogató szervezetek. Az Amerikai Magyar Református Egyesületet (AMRE) azzal a szándékkal alapították, hogy az Egyesült Államokba kivándorló magyarok szolgálatában álljon, és segítsen nekik megőrizni magyar identitásukat és kultúrájukat, miközben az amerikai társadalom részévé válnak.

Ennek a közösségi struktúrának nagyon fontos pillérei az ország több pontján működő Szombati Iskolák, amelyek általában a templomok támogatásával arra törekszenek, hogy megtanítsák a gyermekeinket a magyar nyelvre. Ez a törékeny iskolahálózat mindig is szükségét érezte egy állandó és megbízható anyagi támogatásnak és infrastruktúrának, de mégis sikerült valahogy fennmaradniuk. Ám a gazdasági válság új, sokkal nehezebb helyzetet teremtett az iskoláknak, mint amivel valaha szembesülniük kellett. A tanintézmények diákjai több generáció képviselői, sokan immigráns családok gyermekei. Őket érinti legérzékenyebben a válság, és ők azok az új amerikai magyarok, akik hagyományosan az AMRE középpontjában álltak.

A megoldás elősegítéséhez az Amerikai Magyar Református Egyesület létrehozta a Testvériség Programot, amelynek lényege, hogy megtalálja a párbeszéd és az együttműködés lehetőségét azok között, akik már letelepedtek és gyökeret vertek Amerikában, és akik még csak most kezdik ezt a folyamatot. Sok család semmi másra nem vágyik jobban, mint, hogy a gyermekeik magyarságuk teljes tudatában nőjenek fel, miközben az Egyesült Államok polgárai lesznek, de a pénzügyi válság következtében nem engedhetik meg maguknak, hogy a magyar nyelvű szombati iskolába jársaaák gyermekeiket. A Testvériség program segítségével azonban azok, akik megengedhetik maguknak, segítő kezet nyújthatnak ezeknek a gyerekeknek.

Kétféle módon segíthet. A bankszámláról átutalt állandó, havi támogatással, vagy egy egyszeri hozzájárulással. Az adományozó vállalhat egy egész évi tandíjat, vagy más adományozókkal együttműködve akár egy fél- vagy negyedévet is lehet szponzorálni. A programon keresztül érkező adományok 10 százalékával biztosítjuk a rendszer működését, 90 százalék pedig a családok kiadását fedezi.

Az adomány nem egy névtelen szervezethez megy hanem egy gyermeknek, aki levelet ír a támogatóinak, hogy azok pontosan tudják, mire ment a jótékonyságuk.

Click Here for HRFA Blog entries dealing with Hungarian Language education (in Hungarian)
Magyar Óvoda
Ballagás

Click On the Logo to go to the donations page.

Program Overview

The Testvériség program is new project of the HRFA for 2009 to help small Hungarian-American organizations, churches, schools and charities implement fundraising tools that are only available to larger organizations. At the same time it is a vehicle for concerned supporters of these organizations to be able to support these groups on a regular basis.

The program works similarly to the United Way. Hungarian-American organizations sign on to become member organizations. The HRFA only vets the organizations to ensure that their mission is in some way Hungarian. Individuals and other donors make pledges to the organization of their choosing, agreeing to support them on a monthly basis. In this way the community, in a bottom up fashion determines which group gets how much support. The HRFA only acts as a conduit, facilitating the transfer of funds.

The distinctive features of this program are the bottom up, democratic system and the focus on regular, monthly support.

How Can I Participate?

• Click HERE TO MAKE A DONATION ONLINE
• Hungarian Organizations can download this form, complete and mail it to us to become part of the Testvériség program
• To become a Sustaining Member of the Hungarian Community download this form and return it completed with a check for your first donation.
• A list of participating Hungarian Organizations can be found here.

Testvériség (Fraternity)

The HRFA is a Fraternal Benefit Society whose overall mission is to provide financial benefits to our members. We also have a broader mission to the Hungarian Community as a whole, regardless of whether they choose to be members of the Federation or not. We recognize that the Hungarian-American community is a thriving multi-faceted civic culture and we would not seek to have it any other way. We play an important role as a financial institution to our members and seek to do the same for the community at large. This program allows the HRFA to share its access to the banking system to the whole community, while letting the community decide how that access should be best used.

This is how it works. “Sustaining Members”of the Hungarian-American community make a monthly pledge of five dollars or more to the organization of their choice. They make a check out to the HRFA. The HRFA will turn this check into an automatic monthly debit from your checking account. Each month we will collect the pledges, add up the pledges and cut a single check to the receiving organization. We will keep an accounting of all pledges and checks and post that information on our website. We will take a 10% fee to cover the costs of the program. No disbursement will be made in a given month for less then $100.

Supporters that pledge $25 or more will become “Social Members” of the HRFA and will receive the “Fraternity” Magazine and have access to other fraternal benefits.

Monthly Support

The most important element of this program is monthly support. Our community is small and widespread. We need to be able to count on each and every member of our community for support. By pledging on a regular basis, we give the groups of volunteers that are doing amazing work in this community preserving language, culture, faith and history support that they can count on. Most of us are unable to be physically present and give of our time and effort to make the Hungarian community strong. This program gives each and every person, regardless of where they live, an opportunity to support a cause THEY believe in, no matter where that is.

For Organizations

If you would like to add your organization to the list to allow individuals and donors to give to your via the “Testvériség Program” then simply download the PDF form. Complete the form and return it to the Home Office and you will be added to the list. The only criteria is that you be engaged in an activity related to the Hungarian-American community. If donors select you for donation we will aggregate all your donations and send them to you via check, as per your instructions in the sign-up form. There is no obligation to your organization. There is no reason for you not to sign up.

For Donors

If you would like to donate to one of the organizations in the list, simply download and complete the “Sustaining Member” agreement that allows us to debit your account for your pledged amount each month and send it to us with your first pledge payment. After that we will automatically debit your account and forward the aggregated payments to the charity. We will post a complete accounting of the donations and the recipients on our website for complete transparency.

Here is a list of the organizations that you can support through the Testvériség Program

• New Jersey
  • Aprokfalva Magyar Óvoda
  • Csürdöngölö Néptánc Csoport
  • Életfa Ensemble
  • Széchényi Magyar Iskola
  • Magyar Reformed Church, New Brunswick
• Washington DC
  • The Hungarian School of Greater Washington D.C.
• Pennsylvania
  • Bethlen Communities