Dear Members and Friends of the Houston-Leipzig Sister City Association,
I am excited and honored to serve as your President in 2016. I became involved with Houston-Leipzig in 2013 and I have served on the Board since 2014. My interest in joining Houston-Leipzig arose when I met some of your members through other organizations. My father’s family emigrated from Germany to Central Texas in the 1800’s, so I was interested in learning more about German culture and my heritage. After I attended a few of your meetings and learned more about the mission of Sister Cities International to promote peace through people-to-people relationships, I became a club member and began to become more involved. I believe that our organization, working with our counterpart the Städtepartnerschaft Leipzig-Houston e.V., has been very successful in forming and maintaining personal connections between Houston and Leipzig. I look forward to working with you as we continue to strengthen this important relationship.
And now, here are some highlights of what we have planned for the first half of 2016. Please mark your calendars for our meeting on Thursday, January 28, when we will be fortunate to have Dr. Hans Boas from the University of Texas at Austin as our guest speaker. Dr. Boas is well-known for his work as the Project Director of the Texas German Dialect Project. On February 23, we will hold our meeting in conjunction with Sister Cities Houston at their Networking Dinner honoring Consul General Ricarda Redeker. On March 10, Dr. Irene Guenther of the University of Houston will be our guest speaker. On April 12 we will welcome back the Houston Grand Opera (HGO) dramaturg, Paul Hopper. He will give a presentation on Siegfried, the third installment of Wagner’s Ring Cycle which will be staged at HGO April 16-May 1. In May, tentatively set for May 12, we will return to the Museum of Fine Arts Houston for a presentation by Dr. Helga Aurisch. And, as is our tradition, we will have a summer on June 16, July 14 and August 11.
In closing, I have a few requests. We are in need of members to help with our meetings in areas such as food and beverage set-up and clean-up. Please consider volunteering this year. You can contact me at any time at Kathy@HoustonLeipzig.org. Your Board also welcomes your suggestions for future programs.
Happy New Year to all and I hope to see you at our first meeting on January 28.
Sincerely,
Kathy Kennedy
2016 President
Houston-Leipzig Sister City Association