Philadelphia Hungarian Missions

Our purpose is not only to serve the local Hungarian Community in Philadelphia and vicinity by preserving and honoring our cherished Hungarian religious and cultural traditions, but also to serve our less fortunate Hungarian brethren in the Hungarian homeland through charitable acts and contributions.  Examples of efforts made with the participation of our members:

In 2000 we organized a charity drive to provide funds to help complete construction of the Rety Reformed Church in Nagyvarad.  The thankful congregation had the names of donors inscribed in the backs of their new pews.  A DONATION WAS ALSO MADE IN THE NAME OF Glading Church.

In 2001, our charity drives were for the flood victims of the Tisza River floods in Tisza-Bokeny and Tisza-Becsen in the subCarpathian (Karpat-alja) region of Ukraine, a region predominately populated by ethnic Hungarians; also funds were gathered for the Marianum Hungarian Language Church School, Komarom, Slovakia.

Since then, we have had smaller efforts, including sending peanut butter to orphanages around Hungary and clothing to the Ungvar region of subCarpathian (Karpat-alja) region of Ukraine.

Our commitment for a tradition of helping Hungarians in need stems from the proud traditions dating from Hungarian immigrant miners in northeastern Pennsylvania and the tremendous hardships they faced. The Darr Mine Disaster is known as one of the worst in U.S. history. On December 19, 1907 a gas and dust explosion killed 239 coal miners in the tunnels of the Darr Mine. Hungarian organizations, charities, and churches helped the families of the victims. The American Hungarian Federation placed a Memorial there in 1909. The majority of the dead were Hungarian-American. Our tradition of giving in Philadelphia dates back to those days. We remember their contributions as inspiration for us today.