PTPI Blog


Posts Tagged ‘Community Chapters’

A Message from PTPI’s Punjab, Pakistan Chapter

Wednesday, August 18th, 2010

Dear PTPI Family and Friends,

I hope this email finds you all well.  You may be aware of the recent flood disaster, the worst ever in Pakistan.  I’m writing this to you after visiting some of the approachable areas affected by the flood.

The number of people suffering from the massive floods in Pakistan exceeds 14 million – more than the combined total of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the 2005 Kashmir earthquake and the 2010 Haiti earthquake.  The death toll in this disaster is approximately more than 1,600 people so far in the floods that first hit Pakistan two weeks ago.

This is the time that we should help these people as much as we can.  We can help in any manner, supplying food, water and clothes.

Adnan Shahzad and members of the Punjab, Pakistan Chapter with a member of the Tainan, Taiwan Chapter at PTPI's 2009 Asia Pacific Conference in Taiwan

We feel it is our responsibility to help, and therefore, as President of PTPI’s Punjab, Pakistan Chapter, I myself, along with some chapter and community members, have contributed approximately $4,000 USD to date.

We are making boxes that include water, wheat, cooking oil, beans, sugar and milk.  Each box will be distributed to a family in need.  Our goal is to make 500 boxes to start and this target can be achieved with the help of our friends in the community, as well as by requesting our international chapter friends to contribute to this great cause.  We are trying as much as we can to help them survive.

Contributions may be sent to PTPI World Headquarters.  If sending a check, please be sure to mention Pakistan in the memo section.  If using a credit card online, donate to the International Friendship Fund and use the note section to indicate that the contribution is for Pakistan.

For further details, you can contact me by email at president@ptpipk.org.

Best Regards,

Adnan Shahzad
President, PTPI’s Punjab, Pakistan Chapter
Member, Board of Trustees, PTPI
Public Relations Officer, PTPI Asia Pacific Council

***SPECIAL THANKS***

Many of our chapters have already reached out to assist the people of Pakistan.  Thank you to the following:

-Mr. Kyeoungsik Kang and the Cheonan, South Korea Chapter
-Mr. Charlie Cheng and the  Tainan, Taiwan Chapter
-Mrs. Ruth Allen and the  Greater Phoenix, Arizona USA Chapter
-Mr. Robert Inman Ragsdale III and the Atlanta, Georgia USA Chapter

We are touched by the strength of our global family.  PTPI World Headquarters joins these chapters in contributing support.

Joyce C. Hall College Scholarship Recipients – 2010

Tuesday, August 17th, 2010

The $2,000 Joyce C. Hall College Scholarship is awarded to up to five high school students or full-time university students.  Applicants much have participated in PTPI programs in the past, and have at least a 3.0 grade point average on a 4.0 scale.  International students are encouraged to apply.

To lean more about how to apply, click here.  The deadline is October 15, 2010.

Congratulations to this year’s scholarship recipients:

Sandra Bartol

AshLeigh Berglund

  • Served as President of PTPI’s Atlanta, Georgia Student Chapter for five years
  • Participated in five Global Youth Forums
  • Will attend Agnes Scott College in Georgia to study International Relations and Spanish

Aleksandra Kubica

  • Founder and two-year President of PTPI’s Katowice, Poland Student Chapter
  • Member of PTPI’s Gliwice, Poland Community Chapter for three years
  • Participated in the 2007 Peace Camp and European Youth Forum
  • Will begin her second year at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland where she is majoring in International Relations

Samantha Italiano

  • Member of PTPI for two years
  • Participated in two Global Youth Forums
  • Will attend Elon University in North Carolina to study International Relations and possibly Italian and dance as well

Anthony Salamone

  • Member of PTPI for seven years
  • Founder of PTPI’s Osterville, Massachussets (PEACE) Student Chapter
  • Participated in five Global Youth Forums and the 2007 Peace Camp
  • Will begin his second year at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland where he is majoring in European Union Studies and modern European Languages.

A Note from Regina and Ernest Walti

Monday, June 21st, 2010

Typical People to People:  We meet one another any time and any place.  About twenty years ago, at a PTPI conference in America, we met Marsha Wallace, an active, engaged and engaging PTPI member from Los Angeles, with a heartwarming and unforgetable laugh, and exceptional generosity.

We were reminded of 1996, when a Russian group was visiting our chapter. We then discovered the remarkable singing talent of our guest Ekaterina “Katie” Gaidanskaia. We decided to help her with the realisation of a music education.

Marsha contributed countless times over the years, along with other generous donations from our own Interlaken, Switzerland Chapter members, to foster the music education of this talented young woman. Five years later Katia was able to graduate from an Opera program at the Opera House in Genova, Italy.  She was also invited to do a post graduate year at La Scala in Milan, further testimony to her gift, her hard work, and the support of generous friends like Marsha.  Katia is now married to Massimo Pastorelli and appears in major Opera Houses all over Europe.

Marsha was once again in Switzerland this spring, to visit Rita Fischer before going on to the PTPI European Conference in Pecs, Hungary.   Marsha and Rita met while Rita was studying in America, and from time to time, they are able to get together.  We agreed to get together with Rita and Marsha in the Restaurant Kaiser Franz in Zug.

Marsha, Rita, Regina and Ernest in Zug

Rita, Marsha, Regina and Ernest in Zug

We had already met Rita Fischer several years before, when she came to visit Marsha, who was then on a Homestay with us in Interlaken.  Rita promptly and spontaneously joined the Interlaken Chapter.

This time, as usual, we weren’t short of discussion topics:  the goings on in PTPI these days, exchange of memories, forthcoming causes and activities of the organization worldwide, and naturally also new chapters in our family stories.

If destiny doesn’t get in the way, we will meet one another again, sometime, somewhere.

Cultivating PTPI acquaintances into real lasting friendships is worth the effort.  Stay in touch by e-mail, snail mail, or, even better, meeting face to face in a beautiful place.

Regina and ERnest Walti
PTPI’s Interlaken/Berner Oberland, Switzerland Chapter

Translation by Chapter Board member, Dr. Ronnie Blakeney