I picked up a copy of the Polish Weekly newspaper the other day and a photo on the front page jumped out at me. The caption read,
West Side Detroit Polish American Historical Society Board Members Stas Wisniach, Laurie Gomulka Palazzolo, & Alina Klin PhD during their second official board meeting at the Society's headquarters in the Heritage Room of St.Hedwig Catholic Church on Detroit's west side.
I found that very interesting. The accompanying article titled "Polish Detroit's Own "West Side Story"" went on to list the names of the Society's officers which reads like a Who's Who list of prominent Detroit area Polish Americans. These are not individuals looking for a cause. I know for a fact that some of these individuals are active with other Polonia groups already. They probably don't have a lot of spare time on their hands. People who volunteer never do. Volunteering sucks up all the time you have and then some. So these people must be real believers in what this organization is all about.
It sounds like they're the keepers of a collection of documents and memorabilia compiled by the late Pamela Lazar, a past president of the Polish Genealogical Society of Michigan. This collection is to be archived at the Heritage Room at St. Hedwig, a prominent west side Polish Catholic Church. It seems that there is also a tie-in with the west side Dom Polski Hall as well though it's not clear to me what that might be. Hmmm... my fingers are itching to examine their collection of documents and I would love to tour the Dom Polski Hall. I might have to get involved... yikes! I didn't just say that did I?
I want to go on record here... I'm not looking for another volunteer project. I have my fingers in too many pies as it is. But I can't resist the opportunity to find out more about the organization. So I'm going to fill out the application (downloaded from their web site) and send in my dues. They'll let me know if they'll accept me after they've had a chance to discuss my application at their next Board meeting. I'd sort of like it if they approved me "conditionally"... that is, on the condition that I keep my fingers out of their pie. Like maybe I could be a member in name only ;-) Yeah. That sounds good to me. Somehow I don't think I'll be that lucky though. One of these days I'll get a phone call asking me to get involved. Urrgh. I'll want to say "no" but I probably won't. You see, my family ties are to Detroit's west-side Polish community of yesteryear. And I'm a sucker for family history stuff. But maybe this time I can set a limit on my time involvement and stick with it. I hope so. You'd better hope so too or I won't have any time to keep up with this blog!
