PACT Launches Capital Campaign at Polka Picnic

Pictured: City Councilman Tom Winiewski, PACT President Stan Machosky, Toledo Mayor Michael Collins and PACT Vice-President, Matt Zaleski. From the Toledo Blade, Monday, August 11, 2014: The second annual Polka Party Picnic offered far more than the expected polka dancing and kielbasa meal at St. Hyacinth Catholic Church on Sunday afternoon. At the event, the Polish -American Community of Toledo, or PACT, announced plans to launch a $1million capital campaign to raise funds to establish a Toledo area Polish-American Community Center. “A major issue is that the churches formed by some of the…

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PACT’s Capital Campaign for a Polish Community Center

http://www.toledoblade.com/Culture/2014/08/11/Poles-set-sights-on-1M-center.html In 2009, a group of Poles gathered at Ski’s Restaurant to address some of the needs of the local Polish community.   Like some of the other area ethnic groups in the Toledo area, the Poles were witness to a dying heritage, with their old Polish neighborhoods becoming blight-ridden and once popular churches closing.  Certainly the future looked bleak. To address these issues and more, the group formed a new Polish organization — The Polish-American Community of Toledo (PACT).  Five years later a lot has changed for the Toledo Poles.…

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UT Press Publishes New Book on Toledo’s Polish Community

American Originals: Northwest Ohio’s Polish Community at Home, Work, Worship, and Play is the latest book to be published by the University of Toledo Press. The 258 page work presents a glimpse into the history of one of Toledo’s most important ethnic groups. “The book is a mix of the broader themes that have shaped our community with the actual lives that Polish-Americans recall–sometimes remembered with pain, more often with joy, and always with the respect for the accomplishments of the families, friends and neighbors,” said Timothy Borden, editor of…

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2014 Scholarship Winners are Announced

Congratulations to this year’s PACT/TPA scholarship winners!  They are: College category: Jessica Pietrasz Jessica Pietrasz, age 18, of Rossford, Ohio who will be attending Youngstown State University this fall.  She is also the recipient of YSU’s Red & White Scholarship.  She is active in cross country, volleyball, basketball, track and student council.  Jessica will receive the Martin A. Blaszczyk scholarship.  It is awarded to the “best” submission as determined by the judges.  Martin A. Blaszczyk was the editor of the Lagrange Street News, a monthly newspaper that connected residents and…

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2014 Kielbasa Klassic Golf Scramble

PACT and Stanley’s Market are once again teaming up for the annual Kielbasa Klassic Golf Scramble.  This year, it will be held on Sunday, August 3rd, 2014 at the Giant Oak Golf Course on Lewis Avenue in Temperance Michigan.  The starting time is 10:00 AM.  The price for the scramble will be the same as in years past:  $75 per man or $300 per team.  This price includes golf, cart, food, beer and pop, team skins, door prizes, challenge holes and the famous “Kielbasa Klassic” t-shirt!  This year, there are…

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Kielbasa Cook Off Winners (2016)

The Fourth Annual Kielbasa Cook-Off hosted by The Polish-American Community of Toledo (PACT) raised an estimated $5,000 for PACT’s Capital Campaign to develop a Polish-American Community Center in the Toledo area.  At the same time, PACT also announced the start of  its on-line efforts — Indiegogo.com — to raise money for the  project.   Seven teams competed this year. Shawn Zaborski and his team of Polish Village Kielbasa, won the Kielbasa Cook-Off for the third year in a row.  They earned the title “Kielbasa King” a trophy, and a check for…

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Our Lady of Czestochowa

From Catholictraditions.org: The origin of this miraculous image in Czestochowa, Poland is unknown for absolute certainty, but according to tradition the painting was a portrait of Our Lady done by St. John sometime after the Crucifixion of Our Lord and remained in the Holy Land until discovered by St. Helena of the Cross in the fourth century. The painting was taken to Constaninople, where St. Helena’s son, the Emperor Constantine, erected a church for its enthronement. This image was revered by the people of the city. During  the siege by…

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Fat Thursday in Poland (Shrove Tuesday in the U.S.)

  No discussion of Easter is complete without a mention of its much-anticipated precursor — Fat Tuesday, also known as Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras. It’s the last chance to party hearty before Ash Wednesday when Lent begins. In the old days, meat and meat byproducts, like butter and eggs, couldn’t be eaten during Lent. So ingenious cooks used up all their dairy and eggs during Fat Week, from Shrove Thursday to Shrove Tuesday, by making  pączki(POHNCH-kee) in Poland.

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2014 PACT/TPA Scholarship Awards

The Polish American Community of Toledo is happy to announce that along with the Toledo Poznan Alliance, we will be awarding four $1,000.00 scholarships to High School/College students based on academics, extra-curricular activities and an essay submitted about “What Having a Polish-American Heritage Means To Me”. To apply for one of these scholarships, download the scholarship application located on the right.  It can be sent to PACT, P.O. Box 1033, Sylvania, OH  43560.  The deadline for receiving applications is May 31, 2014. Anyone can apply for these scholarships, so if you…

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