Hungarian Reformed Federation of America

The Hungarian Reformed Federation of America (HRFA) is a fraternal organization chartered by congress in 1907. The HRFA main office is in the Kossuth House located at 2001 Massachusetts Avenue in Washington, D.C. It publishes the Fraternity/Testveriseg periodical once quarterly.[1]

History
The Kossuth House located in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C.

The HRFA was founded at Trenton, New Jersey on July 5, 1896.[2] The need was to build relationships between scattered groups of Hungarian immigrants and create congregational centers. There was also a need to support the financial needs of the members in times of death or disaster. The goal of the federation as defined by Rev. Sandor Kalassay were and are:

"The aim of the Federation, besides giving material and moral support to the Hungarian Calvinist mission in America, is to pay a death benefit and funeral expenses to the heirs of the members. The Federation will begin to function when it reaches a membership of 500. Any Hungarian who will pay the $1 initiation fee and the annual fee of $1 may become a member. Having reached a membership of 500, the Federation will pay a $250 death benefit and $50 for funeral expenses. The amounts will be collected from the members through proportional assessments."

By 1898 the federation had grown to 936 members and in 1907 it received a charter from Congress. The federation asked for and received a national charter to allow it to be a national organization, with branches in every state founded on charity rather than business.

Membership

Membership is open. The organization had 37,235 members in 1965, 28,00 in 1979[3] and 18,433 in 1994.[4]

Benefits

In the 1979 the society sold insurance in about twelve states, the District of Columbia and Canada. It sponsors study contest student aid and loans; convention every 4 years and ran a home for the aged in Ligonier, Pennsylvania. Apparently cites the groups periodical[5]

References
  1. G. Schuchat, Molly (April 1981). "Hungarian Americans in the Nation's Capital". Anthropological Quarterly. 54: 89–93. doi:10.2307/3318012. JSTOR 3318012.
  2. Maxine N. Lurie, Marc Mappen (2004). Encyclopedia of New Jersey. Rutgers University Press. p. 396. ISBN 0-8135-3325-2.
  3. Schmidt, Alvin J. Fraternal Organizations Westport, CT; Greenwood Press p.165
  4. Alan Axelrod International Encyclopedia of Secret Societies and Fraternal Orders New York; Facts on File, inc 1997 p.131
  5. Schmidt pp.164-5
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.