An East Texas family is preparing to embark on a long-term mission to serve others in the region from a newly-established ministry base in southern Poland. This week marks one year since the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine. The anniversary highlights an ongoing humanitarian crisis across central Europe. In early May, the McClung family…
Category: Poland In Focus
My reports on an East Texas delegation’s visit to learn more about efforts to care for Ukrainian refugees in Tyler, Texas’ sister city in Poland.
Tyler Sister Cities Organization fundraising second round of humanitarian relief for Ukrainian refugees
The Tyler Sister Cities Organization is raising funds to send more humanitarian relief to thousands of Ukrainian refugees in its sister city of Jelenia Góra, Poland. Since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, millions of refugees have fled across the border into Poland. Tyler’s longtime sister city of Jelenia Góra, located…
Tyler Fire Chief sends customized ‘Ben Franklin’ style fire helmet to Polish counterpart
An early Christmas gift just arrived at the main fire station in Tyler’s sister city in Poland. The commander of the fire brigade in Jelenia Góra recently unboxed a customized American-style fire helmet, a symbol of gratitude from Tyler Fire Chief David Coble. In late September, Coble was part of a small group of representatives…
WATCH: Poland’s Valley of Palaces and Gardens
Click the video below for a brief tour of several castles in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship of Poland.
Small rose garden in Poland promotes Tyler as ‘Rose Capital of America’
Tyler’s Municipal Rose Garden, the largest in America, is making its mark in a city more than five thousand miles from Texas. Tyler’s sister city in southwest Poland has established a small flower garden in a city park as a symbol of cooperation between international partner cities. The modest rose bed in Jelenia Góra is…
WATCH: Future American President visits Tyler’s Polish sister city in 1800
Jelenia Góra, Poland is quite proud of a future American President’s visit in the year 1800. Click here to watch.
Professors from Poland, Tyler Junior College share perspectives through international exchange
Faculty and students at Tyler Junior College are gaining a broader perspective on the world through an ongoing exchange partnership with Karkonosze University of Applied Science in Poland. Located in Tyler’s sister city of Jelenia Góra, in southwest Poland, the public college of about 1,000 students offers bachelor’s and master’s degrees in the fields of…
WATCH: Inside Europe’s finest example of Baroque architecture
The Basilica of the Assumption in Krzeszów, Poland is considered to be one of the greatest examples of Baroque architecture in Europe. Click here to take a tour.
Namesake of Tyler’s first hospital, current chaplain share common connection to Poland
The namesake of Tyler’s CHRISTUS Trinity Mother Frances Hospital and a chaplain currently serving patients there share an interesting connection. Polish-born Mother Frances Siedliska founded the order of religious known as the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth in 1875. Years later in the 1930s, 16 sisters came to Tyler from Chicago to operate…
Tyler Sister Cities delegation incorporates barbecue, dancing into citizen diplomacy in Poland
While Polish and English may sound vastly different, the Tyler Sister Cities delegation is quickly learning they speak the same language as their counterparts in Jelenia Góra: barbecue. On the fourth day of a mission to Tyler’s sister city in Poland, the East Texas team took a break from meetings over educational and cultural exchange…
Tyler’s sister city cuts ties with Russian partner, signs agreements with Ukrainian cities
As Russia marks the annexation of territories in eastern Ukraine on Friday, Tyler’s sister city in Poland is making a bold statement about the war. Jelenia Góra held an official signing ceremony in a historic theater to mark new partnerships with two cities in Ukraine. Earlier in the year, Jelenia Góra severed its sister city…
WATCH: Day 3 of East Texas delegation’s visit to Polish sister city
Lane walks through a promenade in Jelenia Góra to share observations and a surprise street performance.
East Texas missionaries providing housing, relief to Ukrainian refugees in Poland
A team of 25 missionaries from the East Texas-based Youth With A Mission, or YWAM, are on a two-month trip to Poland, providing outreach and immediate aid to Ukrainian refugees who have fled violence in their home country. Josh and Meg McClung are leading an outreach team through MercyWorks, a YWAM ministry. This is the…
East Texas delegation visits Ukrainian refugee center in Poland
Members of a delegation from the City of Tyler and the Tyler Sister Cities organization visited a Ukrainian refugee resource center set up in Tyler’s sister city of Jelenia Góra, Poland on Wednesday. Much of the food and supplies handed out here were purchased with private donations from East Texas effort that collected more than…
Tyler Fire Chief tours modern station in Polish sister city, proposes firefighter exchange
On Wednesday, Tyler Fire Chief David Coble toured a recently-constructed fire station in Tyler’s sister city of Jelenia Góra, Poland. Coble is traveling with a group of representatives from East Texas to deepen the partnership between the two communities. His Polish counterpart led the delegation on a tour of Jelenia Góra’s main fire station, an…
East Texas student art project presented to Ukrainian refugee children in Poland
A message of hope from East Texas has made its way into the hands of children forced to flee the conflict in Ukraine. On Wednesday, a delegation from the City of Tyler and the Tyler Sister Cities Organization presented the artwork of East Texas schoolchildren to a refugee resource center in Jelenia Góra, Poland. It…
Poland relationship among oldest, most active of Tyler’s sister city partnerships
The City of Tyler’s partnership with Jelenia Góra in southwestern Poland is among the most active of its five current international sister city relationships. As one of the oldest cities in Poland, Jelenia Góra’s 900-year history includes nearly three decades of collaborations with East Texas. Jelenia Góra, Poland ‘Twinning’ ceremonies to formalize the sister city…
City of Tyler sending delegation to sister city in Poland
A delegation from the City of Tyler and other community groups will make a diplomatic mission to its sister city, Jelenia Góra, Poland, this week to strengthen ties between the two communities. Representatives of the City of Tyler include Fire Chief David Coble, City Engineer Darin Jennings, Tyler Sister Cities Organization board member Mickey Slimp,…
Lane Luckie 