The Tsintzinian Chronicle
March 2022 Newsletter for the Tsintzina Society
UPDATE on Gifts and Renovations
At the 2021 General Assembly in Jamestown, outgoing President Duane Ferencz made the following report:
The state of our Society is currently very fragile. We urgently request members to do some local/hometown marketing and campaigning for new membership and/or visitors to our Reunion. For our Society to truly survive another 100 years, we desperately need our current members to pay their dues AND an influx of new membership and Reunion attendance. The financial outlook has not changed but we’ve lost two crucial years of registration income due to Covid-19. Our current pace will have us dissolved in four years barring a catastrophic situation to our building and grounds. The Poolos Hall and Kitchen are priority #1 for repairs if funding accommodates.
Later in the meeting, as Buildings and Grounds Chair (and the incoming Vice President) P.J. Karousis discussed hoped-for repairs and renovations to the Poolos Hall, the kitchen, and the nursery, Society member Alexandra Slezak announced a challenge: she would match, dollar for dollar, up to $1,000 of any money donated by September 1st for the needed repairs. The challenge was immediately answered by the Dusckas group — Sallie Capotis, Karen Martin, Nancy Dusckas, and Connie Dusckas — who each donated $250. Alexandra’s challenge met, Socrates Zacharias announced a family donation of $4,500 in memory of his father, John Zacharias. Then P.J. Karousis announced a $1,000 pledge and asked for others to follow — and so they did! Additional pledges of $1,000 came from Tom Costas, Duane Ferencz, John Schlick, Kathryn Slezak, Peter Sfikas, and Mike Tillotson. Kiki Georgiou pledged $500; Pia Lascaris and Andrew Tillotson both pledged $100; and Kay Zaharis pledged $50. As Duane said, “A FANTASTIC response to the challenge and impromptu pledge drive!”
Thanks to those donations, in February, a group of volunteers arrived at the clubhouse to install the new floor in Poolos Hall. It was repair work done in the nick of time: the workers discovered extensive water and termite damage.
Then and Now: What Is Our Purpose?
by Kay Zaharis
Many of us know our history in Jamestown, New York: How many Greek immigrants from Tsintzina, Goritsa, and Zoupena came to America in the 1880s and 1890s and once a year gathered first in Chicago (in the late 1800s), then in Jamestown (beginning in 1905). In 1914 these gatherings became annual affairs with some traveling from as far away as Hawaii. During the early years this gathering was known as the Tsintzinian Business Men’s Association of America. A directory from the 1920s listed more than 500 Tsintzinian businessmen who gathered “to help foster commercial ties, social contacts, as well as share successful business practices.” * Wives and children also attended to meet other family members, cousins, and friends who lived in other cities and states in America. It was a time to reminisce about the homeland, get updates about relatives who remained in Greece, and even promote intermarriage among American-born Tsintzinians. The gatherings became the highlight of the summer. While these annual conventions continued for decades, the reason for gathering has evolved.
Why do we continue to meet?
Many of us have traveled to Jamestown during the last weekend in July for decades. Some first attended with their grandparents, then their parents, and finally began to bring their spouses and children. The original members and most of their children are now gone, but the traditions live on in 3rd, 4th, and 5th generations who enjoy re-living the music and atmosphere, the familiarity, the food and memories.
The current gatherings are not a meeting of business men, but of descendants of the original families. We come together for an annual celebration of our Greek heritage. Although there are many Greek churches throughout America which celebrate Greek heritage, it is only in Jamestown, New York where hundreds of descendants from the same three villages in Greece gather to carry on the traditions.
Why do some not continue to come to Jamestown?
As time passed, descendants of these three villages often did not marry other Greeks, and as families grew to 3rd, 4th, and 5th generations, many Greek traditions were no longer practiced and children were not interested in Greek culture, being immersed in American celebrations. Often children and a spouse would rather go to an exotic vacation spot or an action-filled amusement destination or a mysterious land abroad, and the annual trip to Jamestown lost its appeal. For some, traveling to Jamestown for four days with a family simply became too costly. And some of our older generations merely found it too difficult to travel.
We understand why some families who attended in past years no long travel to Jamestown during the last weekend of July. However, there are people who do attend and want to see this tradition continue. Which brings to mind the questions --
What is the purpose of the 21st century Tsintzinian Clubhouse and the annual conventions?
And how do we keep the tradition of Jamestown alive?
The answer is that it is up to current (and future) members, each and every one of us. If we have a relative who is older and no longer able to travel to Jamestown, let’s talk to them about why we feel it is important to continue this legacy and tradition for future generations. Ask them to share their memories of attending the convention. While stories won’t prevent the roof from leaking, or the floor from sinking, they will add to the history of our Society. Their personal history becomes a part of the Convention’s history. Each of us also needs to reach out to our Greek friends and share our story with them, hoping that they might contribute to our tradition. We all need to show our pride in not only our Greek culture, but the fact that this organization has been meeting for nearly 130 years at the same place. We want to pass on to future generations the clubhouse and land so they can find new cousins and friends.
What is our purpose?
We no longer meet to discuss our businesses or relatives who have remained in Greece; we gather to experience the warmth, love, music, food, and kinship. We are family and we do not want to see this family break up. Our Tsintzina Society is the oldest active, village-based ethnic society in the United States.
When the Jamestown clubhouse was dedicated in 1924, George Gerasimos, the originator of the idea of an annual national convention, closed his speech with these words:
Dear young Tsintzinian children: It is your duty to respect this patriotic monument. Follow the path which your love has opened for you. Work, that this achievement may become greater and better. We are sure that you will do better, yet if not, at least try to keep it as good and beautiful as today. That will be our sweetest relief after we depart from this world, the relief that our work was done to not perish. **
Even if some of our relatives no longer attend the reunion, encourage them to continue their membership and support this wonderful Society. Let’s not let this clubhouse nor our annual reunion perish.
* Early Greek American Mass Migration by James Peter Gianukos, from the Tsintzina Society Facebook page.
** The History of Tsintzinian Clubhouse and Annual Conventions by Peter Dickson, from the Tsintzina Society website.
2022 Membership Dues are Due
by Kiki Lascaris Georgiou
It's that time of year when we begin to review our budgets, and the Tsintzinian Society does the same. We are looking forward to our 129th year in existence. YES, it will be 129 years that Tsintzinians have been traveling every summer to visit with friends and relatives.
We are looking forward to meeting with you in Jamestown this July and to building new memories. The convention opens with a spaghetti supper on Thursday evening, July 28, and ends after brunch on Sunday, July 31. (Remember that our convention is always the weekend that includes the final Saturday of July!)
If you are unable to attend the convention, please support the Society with a single, family, or benefactor membership. Yearly expenses are approximately $25,000. (The profit and loss statement follows the membership list below.) Don't wait until July to submit your membership dues!!
To pay dues for 2022, go to the Tsintzinian Society website / Membership Dues page and pay via Paypal. Alternately, you can mail a check, made out to the Tsintzinian Society, c/o Margaret Manos, 238 E. 95th Street, Apt. 5-B, New York, New York 10128. Here are the rates:
Individual Adults: $40 ___
Couples and Families (including children under age 21): $60 ___
Benefactor: $100 ___
Additional gifts may be made to the Endowment Fund at any level: $10 ___ $25 ___ $50 ___ $250 ___ $500___ $1,000 ___ Other ___
Active Members as of March 13, 2022
Individuals and Families
Christianos Burlotos, Miltiades J. Mandros, Margaret J. Manos
Benefactors
Damian G. Allis, Nancy E. Dusckas, Ted J. Houvouras, Frank J. Karfes, Cassandra Rinaldi, Andrew Tillotson
Gifts to Endowment Fund
Cassandra Rinaldi
Profit and Loss Statements, 2017-2021
For those who were unable to attend the 2021 Tsintzina Convention, here is the Tsintzina Society Profit & Loss Statement. As you can see, we were almost $7,000 in the red for the 2021 fiscal year. We needed to borrow from the Endowment Fund to make up for the loss last year and losses in past years. It's always been a goal that the member dues pay for the Clubhouse expenses and the convention income will pay for the convention weekend's expenses. This was not the case in 2021.
