Council of Estonian Societies in Australia acknowledges the contributions thus far to the Rahvuskapital (National Appeal Fund)

Austraalia Eesti Seltside Liidu juhatus tänab siiralt kõiki lahkeid annetajaid!

 Anneliis Martinson
Rahvus kapitali  sekretär

With huge gratitude the Council of Estonian Societies in Australia acknowledges the contributions thus far to the Rahvuskapital (National Appeal Fund). We would particularly like to thank Hillar Semenov, our self-appointed promoter, who has generated much interest through social media to establish the $100 club- his generation of discussion on Facebook has most certainly helped our cause by drawing more attention to the issue!  Thank you very much to the people who have donated thus far including an extremely generous donation from the Thirlmere Klubi Ring!

The Council of Estonian Societies in Australia was founded in the early 1950’s during a time when there was a major influx of Estonian migrants. The thought behind forming the central organization was to support other Estonian’s in their activities to maintain their culture. Rahvuskapital was set-up as an annual drive for donations for this purpose. Donations came in well, as there were many generous people among your parents and grandparents. A major generation was that of Mr Ants Kaljo who on his passing gave his entire estate to the fund. With this money the Council has been able to support all of the activities by various member associations around Australia. The Estonian Archives, Sõrve Children’s Camp and Meie Kodu newspaper are all recipients of these donations, but are not lone recipients with plenty of smaller organisations benefiting from your donations as well.

The generation of Estonian/Australians that have followed have blended into Australian society and lost interest in some of activities of their forbearers. But we are experiencing a new awakening post Estonia’s re-independence, a new generation of Estonians arriving as migrants and of course our many visiting backpackers. All of our major ‘Eesti Seltsid’ have new generation Estonians on their committees and attendances at Adelaide’s functions are at a new high. But in recent years, the monetary support for these associations has been poor.

If you haven’t done so already, please take some time to think about this and reflect on the efforts of our predecessors. The Rahvuskapital appeal will continue to run until June 30^th 2014. As in previous years, any contribution to the appeal will be greatly appreciated no matter the size.

•  Cheques/Money Orders can be made out to Council of Estonian Societies in Australia and posted to AESL Appeal Treasurer:
• Eve Smart, 116 Folkestone Road, Dover Gardens SA 5048
• For your convenience it is possible to transfer donations directly to our Commonwealth Bank Account BSB: 062 233 Account No: 1006-2870

All names and sums donated will be listed in the “Meie Kodu” newspaper, unless one chooses to remain anonymous.

Council of Estonian Societies in Australia

RAHVUSKAPITALI  2014. AASTA KORJANDUSE

ANNETAJATE ESIMENE NIMEKIRI