hungarians in the carolinas - hungarian american … in the carolinas the carolinas are two very...

Hungarians in the Carolinas

The Carolinas are two very dynamically developing states, and the Hungarian community living here is equally dynamic and rapidly

developing. We are proud to say that our large and active group does a wonderful job honoring and preserving our Hungarian heritage. I

believe that our success is due to our ability to adapt to the changing demands of the community, and to the changing demands of the

times. I’d like to quickly look at how we rode the wave of the technological revolution that took place in the last decades and how we (or

rather technology itself) changed the way our communities are organized.

HAToG Conference, Atlanta, 2013 – Katalin Beck

1985 The Magyar Club of Raleigh

Hungarians in the Carolinas A History

The story starts in the 80s, when some Hungarians friends found each other around Raleigh, NC and they founded The Magyar Club of

Raleigh. Their get-togethers were organized first over the phone and with letters, then with the spread of internet connectivity, through e-

mails.

1998 The Magyar Club of Raleigh Raleigh, NC


Answering the call of the times, in the late 90s they published their website (NCHungarians.org), which -to this day- is a rich

resource of information and is a way for the club to advertise their events.

1999 The Magyar Club of

the Triangle

Raleigh, NC Durham, NC Chapel Hill, NC


The Club’s membership increased radically during the 90s, so by the turn of the century, they had grown to become the Hungarian

Club of the so called “research triangle”, including not only the Hungarians from Raleigh, but also from Durham and Chapel Hill.

2003 The Magyar Club of

the Triangle

Hungarian Community

in Elkin Raleigh, NC Durham, NC Chapel Hill, NC Elkin, NC


Not much a later, a group of Hungarian friends started gathering in Elkin, NC.

Sept.15

2007

The Magyar Club of

the Triangle

Hungarian Community

in Elkin Raleigh, NC Durham, NC Chapel Hill, NC Elkin, NC


The two groups had know each other and supported each other throughout the years. The smart minds of these groups came up with

the brilliant idea that they should find an event organizing platform on the internet. The platform chosen was the “Meetup” social

website. Thus the Carolinas Hungarian Group website was launched and the Carolinas Hungarian Group was founded.

Raleigh, NC Durham, NC Chapel Hill, NC Elkin, NC


2007

The existence of this web based platform brought about a true revelation: it placed on the map all the Hungarians who had been living

in the Carolinas all along, but had never met or had never known of each others’ existence before! Within months the membership of the

Carolinas Hungarian Group skyrocketed and reached the hundreds.

Fall Camp Myrtle Beach,

SC


2007

The advent of this web based communication and collaboration also brought about a PARADIGM SHIFT in how communities worked.

IN THE PAST, we got together in our local groups to plan an event and then we used the web to advertise this event,

NOW, we started by gathering on our website first. All active members – from North and South Carolina – collaborated in our virtual meeting

place planning, organizing, so that a real meeting could happen.

This was the way we organized our first Fall Camp in 2007, just 2 moths after launching our meetup website.

2013 •500 members

•100 events

•7th Fall Camp coming up

•8 Easter Camps

Hungarians in the Carolinas The Present

Raleigh, NC Durham, NC Chapel Hill, NC Elkin, NC Myrtle Beach, SC Spruce Pine. NC Isle Of Palms, SC Charleston, SC Ocean Isle Beach Charlotte. SC Columbia. SC

The Carolinas Hungarian group’s virtual platform brought together nearly 500 members, who have organized 100 events. We’ve just had our

8th Easter Camp this April and our 7th Fall Camp is coming up this November.

Our meetings take place at various places in the two states, ranging from Ashville all the way to the Isle of Palms.

We are attracting many Hungarians from the surrounding states as well, who have joined our group as well as our camps and events.

2013


Raleigh, NC Durham, NC Chapel Hill, NC Elkin, NC Myrtle Beach, SC Spruce Pine. NC Isle Of Palms, SC Charleston, SC Ocean Isle Beach Charlotte. SC Columbia. SC

Our community has followed the dynamics of social media : communities are formed in a virtual space, then realized face-to-face meetings.

After a while, large communities branch out into smaller sub-communities that focus on specific interests, and these smaller groups re-enter

the virtual space – thus closing the circle..


The large group of Hungarians who had connected through the Carolinas Hungarian Group’s website are now forming smaller

communities again - along the lines of their proximity, their special interests, or their agse and life stages. These groups present

themselves on Facebook, like – for example - the Charleston-based Facebook group of SC Hungarians…


… or the Charlotte-based kindergarden group…


… or the Durham based preschool group.


The groups with long traditions didn’t stay behind the curve either, and also enter the Facebook sphere, as NC Hungarians…


… and as Carolinas Hungarians.


The latest and perhaps most progressive development in our community is our youth group and online school.

This is a web-based formation, which means that most of the group’s regular activities take place online, but the activities are augmented

from time to time with real-word meetings, events and classes. (More on the youth group and online school later…)

Hungarians in the Carolinas

The modus operandi of our many groups and formations is to collaborate with each other, to support each other, to share information and

- most importantly –to try to reach and actively engage as many people as possible, from every generation, using as many

communication tools and channels as possible. It is by not structuring ourselves into a hierarchical system, or strict organizational

scheme, that we’ve managed to ensure the free flow of communication and we’ve managed to encourage grass-root initiatives and

creative, dynamic participation. We plan to continue this in the future.

The Future

hungarians in the carolinas - hungarian american … in the carolinas the carolinas are two very...

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