Polonia Global Fund

Activities will take place on Sat. Aug. 25 and Sun. Aug. 26, 2007

Members of the Cheektowaga Community Symphony Orchestra String Section will headline this year’s Dozynki Harvest Festival at Corpus Christi Church on Sunday, August 26 at 4:30 p.m.. Let by guest conductor Judith Hirsch, the ensemble will play a varied program including Mozart, Bach, and lighter fare. Preceding the string concert, Fr. Anzelm Chalupka and Bruce Woody will present a program on piano, guitar and voice at 4 p.m. Pastor of Corpus Christi Church, Fr. Anzelm has been playing guitar since he was nine
years old. At the age of 13, he won second place in an all-Poland guitar competition for students under 15 years of age. Fr. Anzelm studied at the Liturgical Music Institute at the Papal Academy of Theology in Cracow and also plays the French Horn. Bruce Woody is a pianist and organist with a rich performance history who teaches music for the Catholic School System in WNY. Bruce is also a staff organist at the Riviera Theatre and performs regularly at Shea’s Performing Arts Center providing pre show music for their Broadway Series. Fr. Anzelm and Bruce Woody’s program will include religious and popular songs in English and in Polish.

Both performances will be held in the beautiful and historic Corpus Christi Church . The church was recently designated a New York State Landmark and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in recognition of its architectural and historic significance. Its beautiful interior includes a copy of Rafael’s Disputa in the dome above the altar, as well as stunning stained glass work. All proceeds from the festival will go toward restoration of the church building.

Music for dancing will be provided under the big tent by Al Kania’s Polka Smile Eastern Style on Saturday, August 25 from 6-10 p.m. The Pic-A-Polka Band with Joe Macielag will play on Sunday, August 26 during a special Mass of Thanksgiving for the Harvest to be celebrated at 11:30 a.m. as well as for dancing under the big tent from 1-4 p.m.. Rounding out the festival between 6-10 p.m. on Sunday will be Achilles Revival, an energetic group of young musicians that play classic rock covers as well as original material. Throughout the day on Saturday and Sunday, local piano students of Emmit Whitaker will play in the Polish Café during the festival.

Saturday’s events also include a dramatic one-man performance at 2 p.m. entitled Maximillian, Saint of Auschwitz about the life of St. Maximillian Kolbe, a priest who substituted his life for a condemned man in the Auschwitz concentration camp.

Also at 2 p.m. on Saturday, there will be an opportunity for children and adults to participate in a hands-on paper cutting activity led by folk artist Barbara Frackiewicz.

The Food:

• Roast Pork and beef roll-up dinner by Chef John: Saturday 4-8
• Chicken Dinner by Chef John: Sunday 12:30-?;
• Brother Peter’s Polish Food Tent (Polish sausage, sauerkraut, golabki, pierogi, etc.) Sat. & Sun. 12:30-8 p.m.
• Polish Beer Tent variety of beers imported from Poland: Sat. & Sun. 12:30-?
• Homemade Polish pastries and teas: Sat. & Sun. 12:30-? in the Polish Café.
• Produce and Natural Bread Market: Sat. & Sun. 1-5p.m.

Polish Thanksgiving:

Dozynki is a centuries old Polish harvest festival that celebrates the end of the grain harvest. Thanks are given to God for the earth’s bounty at a special Holy Mass.

At Corpus Christi Church in Buffalo a specially made wreath of grains, herbs and flowers, along with a specially designed bread baked by Mazurek’s Bakery will be presented during the Mass at 11:30 am on Sunday, August 26.

Other attractions:

• Silent Art Auction featuring award winning photographers and other artists: in the Polish Café.
• Polish Gift Shop featuring unique folk and religious items, books, etc.
• Theme Basket Auction: over 70 quality gift baskets.
• Church Tours by local church historian Bill Koch at 3:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. on Sat. and Sun.
• Polish Sing-a-long: Sunday at 6 p.m. in the Polish Café.

Location:

Corpus Christi Church is located at 199 Clark Street off Broadway, one block from the Broadway Market.

Admission is free to all events. Free-will offerings will be graciously accepted at the concert and the dramatic performance.

While many offshore outsourcing decisions are calculated moves to seed new markets and reduce costs, a smaller number arise simply from familiarity with the culture and economy in question—which may in fact be a bigger, more natural threat to the U.S. than the former because of its long-term commitment and drive for quality. Take software testing tool vendor Parasoft. In 1989, just two years after founding the Monrovia, Calif.-based company, CEO Adam Kolawa launched a subsidiary in his homeland, Poland. His experience has taught him that such a maneuver should be considered from a long-term, strategic standpoint—it’s not a quick fix, in his opinion.

“The fact that I’m Polish has a lot to do with me outsourcing to Poland,” Kolawa says, though he admits that the country’s low labor costs and abundance of educated people didn’t hurt. Today, half of the company’s software development is done in Krakow, along with other business services such as customer support, sales, travel booking, maintenance and almost any task that can be done remotely. Kolawa adds, “This [facility] didn’t reduce employment in our California office, but of course it kept it from rising—[over the years] the number of employees has increased at about the same rate.” Parasoft currently employs 250 people, 80 of them in Poland.

But Kolawa cautions that the road to positive returns was a long one, requiring years of nurturing before he could reap a bountiful harvest. First, the technical skill of his offshore employees was low. “They just came with basic programming languages and were able to write only small programs,” he says. To top it off, Polish isn’t an easy language to learn, so all Polish programmers must speak English. Even so, the lack of Polish-speaking managers in the U.S. meant that frequent visits to the U.S. were necessary.

Poor attention to detail was the biggest problem. “The first project of any importance was to write a GUI to one of our products. What they delivered worked on only the examples that were included in the program. They thought only about implementing the specifications. Once the product was used in a way which was not specified in use cases, it failed—there were memory leaks in the product, it was slow, and so on.”

Lack of creativity was the next stumbling block. “The first step in getting people to be creative is to get them thinking that the glass is half full, not half empty: Every problem is an opportunity to improve and invent,” Kolawa explains. “I had to get them to think that problems they find in programming are not excuses not to do their jobs, but opportunities to create new products.”

“The first reports from them were that it was impossible to do something the way we wanted them to do it—period. No solution was offered. What I had to teach them was that anything can be done—give me a solution. At first, I wasn’t getting very many good ideas, but for the ones that were good, I praised them a lot.”

Kolawa soon realized that one of the problems with creativity arose from a lack of confidence that Polish programmers could create software to sell in the world market. Introducing parts that they wrote into Parasoft’s products was a springboard to writing larger parts of products then full products—until finally, to Kolawa’s delight, they began to propose ideas for new products.

“I think that the lack of creativity is widespread. Japan and China have a huge problem with this,” he opines, attributing the deficiency to their overly restrictive school systems. “Bright people don’t lose creativity in the U.S. school system.”

The subsidiary model is critically important, Kolawa claims: “If the outsourcing organization isn’t part of the original company, outsourcing won’t work.” Subsidiaries are taxed in the country they reside in, and all employees are local, paid at local rates and currency. And while the products can be created cheaper offshore, “there’s no market pressure to reduce their price.”

“Today,” says Kolawa, “there’s no distinction among projects that can be outsourced [to the Polish team]. They’re the same as the U.S. groups—all the groups work together, even if the work is distributed.” And, now that his investment is bearing fruit, he’s considering expanding to other countries.

© Rosalyn Lum, DevTalk, CMP Media LLC

PGF, as part of its mission to build international understanding and acceptance, believes that good international relations are founded upon mutual respect, tolerance, and a fair-deal.

To that end PGF encourages you to write to your elected representatives in support of visa free status for Polish nationals. Poland, a good and trusted friend of the United States in the center of Europe, is still faced with Cold War era travel obstacles. While most European citizens are free to travel to and from the United States without visas, Polish citizens must procure expensive visas often spending weeks away from family and friends to do so. This system is patently unjust especially in light of Poland’s long history of support for the United States and for freedom.

Let your voice be heard. Contact your local Congressperson or your Senator.

Malgosia Kwiatkowska and her husband Bolek lead the OLIMPOL organization that aided the Polish Olympic effort for Sydney 2000. They provided interpreting, guide services, driving, accommodations and organized meetings with Australian Polonia. She sits on the committee of the Polish Club in Ashfield.

For over twenty-five years, Don Samull has been publishing the annual Polish American Calendar. Although, each year is different, the format always includes a historic or cultural note for each day and a Polish recipe for each month.

The 8 1/2 by 11-inch, glossy finish calendar contains homey line drawings of landmarks associated with Polish-American history like the Kosciusko House National Monument in Philadelphia and Fort Pulaski in Savannah, Ga.

Recipes include Sweet & Sour Cabbage for October, Mushroom Barley Soup for November, and Dill Pickle Soup for December. There are also interesting factoids such as the population of Poles in each state and suggestions for heritage-honoring activities.

The 2003 calendar spotlights Polish Americans. Plans for the 2004 edition include an almanac of special Polish days including holidays, fast days, name days, and famous birthdays. The calendar is in English and includes Polish Language translations for the months and days of the week.

Calendars are available for a remarkable $5.75 per copy (postage included!).

Beside his calendar offers, Mr. Samull offers numerous other new and pre-owned Polish-related items and books. The items offered include imports from Poland such as Christmas & Easter cards, tree ornaments, Wigilia booklets, Opłatki, and food items.

Mr. Samull is is cultural enthusiast. He is a well known fixture in the Detroit and Hamtramck communities who is always ready to share his knowledge and enthusiasm for learning.

Mr. Samull fulfills orders and works with his loyal customers one-on-one. You will not find him running an e-business, but rather taking orders via postal or E-mail. To contact Mr. Samull, you may write to him at 1312 N. Drexel, Dearborn, MI 48128 or send him an e-mail.