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- Friends of Eberbach
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- Contact Address:
- Rev. John C. Miller, OCC
- 115 North Maple Street
- Ephrata, PA 17522
- jcmocc@ptd.net
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- Officers:
- Bill Hecker, President
- Bill Donecker, Vice President
- Rev. John C. Miller, Secretary
- Betsy Hecker, Treasurer
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- Mission Statement:
- The Friends of Eberbach shall maintain
and expand the Sister-Cities relationship established in 1976
between the Borough of Ephrata, Pennsylvania USA and the city
of Eberbach, Germany. The relationship energizes our historic
connection with the birthplace of Conrad Beisel, founder of the
Ephrata Cloister, and fosters international understanding and
friendship through exchange experiences in education, art, music,
athletics, hosting and economic endeavors.
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- History:
- 1.
- The United States of America and her allies
were victorious at the end of World War II, and the supreme allied
commander, General Dwight David Eisenhower, was lauded for his
military leadership and victory in the European Theater of Operations.
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- General Eisenhower in retrospect realized
that the European Theater of Operation had been ravaged by two
great wars in less than a quarter century.
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- The General concluded that arms and suffering
were not the solution, and he became instrumental in creating
the organization that today is Sister Cities International.
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- The initial purpose of this organization
was to make sure that these wars did not happen again by ensuring
peace through friendships and partnerships. The organization
has evolved through the years and now promotes cultural exchanges,
economic exchanges, the exchange of ideas and the basic partnership
and friendship activities. The organization also grew from it's
European origin to encompass the entire global community during
it's 50 plus years of existence.
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- The celebration of the bicentennial of
our nation was approaching, and the federal government suggested
a plethora of venues for celebrating this 200th anniversary of
freedom that would be more substantial and lasting than a parade.
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- The Ephrata Borough Council chose the
venue of the Sister City relationship. The particular Ephrata/Eberbach
partnership that was formed by the passage of resolutions of
both the Council of Ephrata Borough and the Council of the City
of Eberbach was predicated upon history, heritage and similarities
of the communities. The founder of the Ephrata Cloister was Conrad
Beisel, who was a native of Eberbach, Germany. The Beisel family
operated a bakery in Eberbach and currently the 14th generation
is operating the bakery while training the 15th generation. Many
of the local residents can trace their ancestry to this general
area of Germany. This area was primarily a farming area. The
community has always been progressive and is located on a water
tributary. The community is a purveyor of electric energy to
it's residents. The community has a great recreation center and
has volunteer fire and rescue service. The community has it's
own hospital. The community operates a water treatment and conveyance
system for it's use and sewer for nearby communities. The community
operates a waste water treatment facility that serves not only
their community but surrounding communities. The community also
operates a forest product enterprise through the management of
the surrounding forest land. The community has its own school
system.
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- The Ephrata/Eberbach Partnership is a
shining example of what a Sister Cities International relationship
should be. The past 28 years of partnership have resulted in
visitations in excess of 5000. This number includes exchanges
of basketball teams, musicians, volleyball teams, soccer teams,
orchestras, German language students, elected officials, individual
students, visitors and craftsmen.
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- In 1994, a devestating flood hit Eberbach
causing widespread damage. The Friends of Eberbach and the Cloister
Associates worked jointly with the Ephrata community and Ephrata
Borough Council in an Apple Dumpling fundraiser project to supply
aid to the residents of Eberbach. $17,000.00 was contributed
to the flood fund.
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- This program was operated as a committee
of the Council in the beginning. However, locating host families
for visitors, students, athletes, musicians - an average of 80
per year in various groups ranging in size from 1-50 with comings
and goings four to six times a year - proved to be substantial
work. Making the connections and arrangements for those persons
sent to Germany, providing tours, a venue for games, entertainment,
annual art contests, musical concerts, call lists, visas, sponsoring
trips, bilingual church services, attending Sister City International
meetings, seminars, socials, ect. became a burden to the council
representative. The arranging and coordinating of activities
precipitated the creation of the Ephrata/Eberbach group. After
operating as a governmental group for several years, this group
became a separate corporate structure which maintains the partnership
for the Borough.
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