Frankly, Is the Lesesne/Lesane Legacy in Jeopardy?

Hello Again Family & Friends--

The last time Pittsburgh held a reunion was 1984. We are really getting geared up for your visit in July. And we are so thrilled to hear so many exciting comments and helpful reflections. However, the Coordinators recently had our Kinfolk Representatives "phone conference" meet and discovered something interesting. A lot of the Kinfolk chapters (we include ourselves in this) simply are not meeting regularly enough. Yes, we're all super busy, in a super busy world, and perhaps, if there is not a reunion happening in your town, you simply don't think it's important. But nothing could be further from the truth!

The reason the first reunion was held in Pittsburgh in 1980, was because the family was becoming splintered. In agreement with family members from across the country, we formed a mandate to keep in touch with our blood relations, to continue research into your background, to foster "the positive" in our upcoming generations and to generally keep all of us in the spirit of God as we continued forward in our lives. Now, as with every one else, the ability of family to spread even further, be involved in much more than was possible years ago, and our difficulty in keeping our young folks engaged, has threatened to change the shape of future family events.

Through the Coordinator's conversation, we discovered keeping our family reunions relevant means involvement and inclusion throughout the year; not just during reunion times. We also realized, the willingness of the elders to keep the lines of communication open with our young people is imperative. Discussions about our family, its growth, and its legacy should happen on an on-going basis, so that when the reunions come up, young people aren't asking "Why should I go?"

Another issue is how people--young and older in this case--want to spend their money. While, for many of our family, the reunion is a priority, some are conflicted. As it was pointed out in our conference call, some would rather have the designer shoes, the tattoos or buy very expensive booze. (Yes, you should be laughing)

 But it our job as family to impress on all close to us the equal importance of "family." We in Pittsburgh are confident you will support us as we have supported all of our chapters in the past decades, but we also know it's going to continue to be more and more difficult as the years go by for future reunion planners. So we are putting out a Family APB: Please plan to reinstate regular meetings with your local Kinfolk Chapters ASAP. And let them know that in addition to the many sites and venues they can visit while they are in Pittsburgh, there will be plenty of time for family gathering and discussion.  Including daily times in our hospitality room, morning stretch and swim session, which we hope will be programmed by different chapters (Call us for details!) our Friday night " Taste of Home" program, our two genealogy workshops and Kinfolk Coordinator's meeting (Lots to talk about!). And of course our Saturday Night Banquet. Come one; come all! Let's make this reunion a family renaissance!

Christine
Coordinator, Pittsburgh Kinfolk
412-596-6521

Official Reunion Letter for Pittsburgh's Lesesne/Lesane 2016 Reunion/ You can Book Your Room TODAY!

Pittsburgh Kinfolk Club

Greetings Family and Friends,

Season's greetings! We wish you good health and prosperity in the new year. As you may be aware, 2016 marks the 19th biennial celebration and genealogy conference of the Kinfolk Club's Lesesne/Lesane Reunion. This is the first time the reunion has been in the "steel city" in 35 years and we are honored to be hosting this prestigious event, Many of you have let us know excited you are to see the event return to the city in which it originated and we are working hard to see that when you come, you enjoy Pittsburgh to the fullest. 

To that end, we have booked a destination hotel right at the pinnacle of the famous three rivers, close to downtown and numerous locations for which Pittsburgh is famous including: The Incline, PNC park, The Senator John Heinz History Museum, The Children's Museum, the Carnegie Science Center and the Warhol Museum. And in addition to the special bus tour we are planning, you can also enjoy city views and news via the "Ducky" tour, a vehicle than travel both on land and water. 

You'll be amazed by the amount of activities you'll be able to discover and  experience on your own, as well ans the times we've arranged to gather together to enjoy each other and learn the Lesesne/Lesane heritage.

Please reference this blog for updates, and click the tabs to the left for specifics. You may also receive additional updates as we go along via mail or email.Also access information and updates on our Lesesne/Lesane Facebook page. Please call, if you have further questions.

Sincerely, 

Christine Bethea,

Kinfolk Pittsburgh, Coordinator 412-596-6521

Gloria Ikpey, lst Vice President 412-586-8648

Steven McCray, 2nd Vice President 412-953-3803

Welcome Kinfolk!

Technology has caught up with us! Welcome to the new Kinfolk blog. With this "newsletter," we hope this will be the space you come to get all your information for upcoming family reunions, news from other chapters, as well as notices on graduations, marriages, and other noteworthy news from family and friends.

This will also be the space to place business notices or services being offered by family. Fairly soon you'll be able to contact your chapter president for placing news in this blog, but in the meantime, please send articles to me, Christine Bethea at passports.art@gmail.com or Stephen MccCray at jaramaya@hotmail.com  with your news and info. We are the temporary Editors-in-chief to get your info posted. Also other family members can be added as administrators so stories can be shared from all over the country. Let us know if you want to be an LL Reporter for your club.

Thanks!

Christine Bethea/Kinfolk Club Pittsburgh