Věstník (Temple, Tex.), Vol. 85, No. 11, Ed. 1 Wednesday, March 12, 1997 Page: 1 of 28
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Changing
to meet the needs
of fraternalists.
m
“Joining Hands To Touch Lives-
Fraternalism for the Family
and Our Nauorr’
VĚSTNÍK
SPJST Herald
Official Publication Of The Slavonic Benevolent Order of the State of Texas, Founded 1897
BENEVOLENCE
HUMANITY
j^S
BROTHERHOOD
Postmaster: Please Send Form 3579 to: SUPREME LODGE, SPJST, P. O. Box 100, Temple, Texas 76503
VOLUME 85 NUMBER 11 _ISSN—07458800__ March 12,1997
Annual Reporte Issue
PRESIDENTA REPORT
Giving Credit
Where Credit is Due
Dear Members,
What a difference a year makes! Last
year at this time it was very difficult to
find moisture. The rains háve changed
that. Also at this time lasí year, we were
more than a year from celebrating our
lOOth birthday. Now our society’s birth-
day is just around the comer. We will be
holding our celebration of this event
under the dome at the Bell County Expo
Center in Belton on
July 12 and 13. We
hope that you will
set time as i cle to
come and visit. We
will be íooking for-
ward to seeing you
there. In our lOOth
year we should feel
fortunate that the
organization our
founders put into
operation is still
serving our mem-
bers. We know that
many members
worked long and
hard during those
formative years to
ensure the growth
and stability of our
society. Without
Supreme Lodge President
Howard Leshikar
member involvement our society would
not be the vital organization that it has
become.
Also, we know that last year many
members worked many hours so their
lodge could attain one of the categories in
the Lodge Incentive Program. This year,
fifty lodges achieved one of the Incentive
Awards. Our congratulations go out to all
the lodge officers, sales representatives,
and members who worked together to
achieve their goals.
Last year at the convention held in
Arlington, the delegates passed a number
of proposaís that stated that we should
stress our financial programs, we should
stress our fraternal programs, and we
should stress our membership involve-
ment. The Supreme Lodge is imple-
menting guidelines to meet these goals as
outlined. Also, major efforts would be
directed toward establishing new lodges
and revitalizing dormant lodges. Major
emphasis will be placed on the training
of new lodge officers, especially those
officers who are relativeíy new to our
society.
As you are aware, our past State
Fraternal Activities Coordinator, Frank
Klinkovsky, resigned at the end of the
year to assume his new position as
Director of District Two. We want to say
a big “Thank You” for his past eight
years of Service in this position created in
1988. Over a period of time, Frank
developed this new position into a big
asset for our society and its fraternal pro-
grams. We want to
wish Brother Frank
the best, in > his-new
position.
In January, the
Supreme Lodge
appointed Barbara
Rosenkranz to the
position of State
FAC. She comes to
the position with
experience and dedi-
cation. Barbara will
be working with the
lodges to coordinate
the many fraternal
activities of our
society.
Joni Lange, our
State Youth Director,
District Youth
-- Counselors and
youth leaders háve doně a fine job in plan-
ning and carrying out the many youth pro-
grams across the statě. The enthusiasm of
the parents and the youth involved in these
programs is a testimonial to the superb job
that these counselors do. .
Our museum and library continues to
attract large groups of members and
tourists. Curator Dorothy Pechal and fra-
ternal secretary, Barbara Kovacevich,
háve doně a splendid job this past year in
guiding tours and preserving and promot-
ing our heritage. We are pleased that our
museum has been called “One of the jew-
els in Temple’s Crown.” Just a notě, I am
pleased to announced that Barbara
Kovacevich has accepted the position of
secretary to the President.
Our Editor Brian Vaniček and
Communications Assistant Melanie
Zavodny háve doně an outstanding job
in working to make Vestnik a more
dynamic and effective weekly newspa-
per. Thanks too for the initiative and
creativity they demonstrated in produc-
ing the SPJST Member Services
Directory and other communication and
marketing projects for the SPJST and
our iocaí lodges.
Finally, I want to thank my fellow
offices, the District Directors and Home
Office Personnel for their help in the
implementation of many different pro-
grams this past year. Stressing the posi-
tive and working together for the better-
ment of the entire SPJST, we can truly
say, “THE BEST IS YET TO COME.”
Our best to each and every one of you
from Mary, Cody, Ryan and myself. Our
thanks to you, for your support and hospi-
tality to us on our visits with you.
Fratemally,
Howard B. Leshikar
Supreme Lodge President
—SPJST—
"Congratulations
to all the lodge
officers, sales
representatives,
and members who
worked to achieve
their goals."
více presidenta report
Insurance Department Expresses
High Expectations in Centennial Year
It will soon be a century ago that a
really great idea began to také root in this
great statě. This idea soon led to the
founding of a fraternal organization that
was to influence over a hundred commu-
níties throughout Texas. This organiza-
tion became known as the Slovanská
Podporující Jed-
nota Státu Texas,
the SPJST. As we
prepare to celebrate
our centennial let us
reflect upon the
thousands upon
thousands of frater-
nal acts that would
not háve been doně
if the SPJST had
not been estab-
iished. Think of the
impact we had on
the lives of thou-
sands of people
since our founding
in 1897.
I can’t help but
wonder what frater-
nal act or acts may
háve had the great- --
est impact. Was it the joy attributed to
fellowship and friendships formed
through our lodge activities? Was it the
caring, sharing and encouragement of
members for one another? Was it the
financial benefit of meeting the needs of
numerous families after the death of a
provider? Was it building character and
confidence of youth through one of our
youth programs? We will never know for
certain. We do know that we will enter
Supreme Lodge Více President
Leonard Mikeska
our second century and continue our mis-
sion: "To Serve our Members and
Improve Their Quality ofLife. ”
We expect 1997 to be a very busy and
exciting year. We are Íooking forward to
a grand centennial celebration on July 12
and 13. Throughout the year, the insur-
ance department
will focus attention
on goals to increase
membership and
prémium income for
the long term finan-
cial strength of the
SPJST. We will
work with lodges to
secure and train new
sales representatives
and continue to
update life insurance
products. We will
provide training,
communication and
build on the Service
relationship between
our members and
our sales representa-
tives.
Centennial Membership Drive
On March 1, we will begin a grand
effort to enroíl new members through a
drive unlike anything we háve doně
before. The drive will continue for 10
months until year end. The Centennial
Membership Drive has three exciting fea-
tures:
1) Members who recommend two or
(Contínued on page 3.)
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Vanicek, Brian. Věstník (Temple, Tex.), Vol. 85, No. 11, Ed. 1 Wednesday, March 12, 1997, newspaper, March 12, 1997; Temple, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth633325/m1/1/?q=music: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Slovanska Podporujici Jednota Statu Texas.