By Tamara Hartman

The students of Holy Cross elementary school in Maspeth will soon be working hard on Thanksgiving baskets. Each will have a turkey, or a certificate worth a turkey, and will bring an American offering of food to a new Polish immigrant family.

It is a tradition that started about eight years ago, according to school secretary Sandy Gabrielli, and the baskets include canned food donations and a meal to give thanks for “soup to nuts.” But the tradition in Maspeth is more about shared understanding than charity. At Holy Cross, Polish immigrant children learn English for the first time and families share the Polish tradition of hard work, perseverance, savings, and slowly but ever steadily, building a better life and affording a better education for their children.

Tessie (“Cesia”) Unikofski’s immigrant story began with her father, Anthony Markowski, who came to America in the “beginning of the 1900” and stayed with his brother who was living in Blissville, which is part of Long Island City. Once her father was established and found work, he sent for his wife, daughter and son to join him.

Polonians Organized to Minister to Our Community, Inc. (P.O.M.O.C., Inc.) Maspeth office. Tribune Photo by Tamara Hartman

The family then moved to Laurel Hill, which Unikofski said is now part of Maspeth, and her father worked for Phelps Dodge. Later, another uncle would emigrate from Poland and stay with the Markowski family until he was established. Unikofski was born while the family was in Laurel Hill and they moved to Willow Avenue when she was four or five years old.

Unikofski said that the family’s slow emigration from Poland to opportunity in America and Queens was a flight from hardship in their native land. “It was tough there, honey . . . everybody was coming over,” she said.

And they populated Unikofski’s neighborhood where Polish was spoken in the household and both parents worked doing manual labor (Unikofski’s mom worked in a tin factory) to better the life of their children.

They lived near Holy Cross and Unikofski remembers classes being taught in English and Polish. She also praised the work of the nuns and their success in teaching.

Chet Szarejko – a long-time Queens civic and political activist as well as a proud Pole – is the political activities chair for the downstate division of the Polish American Congress. A child of Polish immigrants, he is working with the Polish community to build its political strength and network it with other ethnic groups.

Polonians Organized to Minister to Our Community, Inc. (P.O.M.O.C., Inc.) Executive Director Ewa Kornacka. Tribune Photo by Tamara Hartman

The Tribune spoke to Szarejko the morning after he attended the Northeast Queens Jewish Community Council meeting and just before the pre-Election Day rally at Queens Democratic headquarters. He said he has worked to bring Hindus, Sikhs, Chinese, Hispanics, African Americans and any other cultural mix he can together with the Polish organization and maintains that strength can be found best in unity and numbers.

Szarejko reports that there are one million residents in New York State who trace themselves back to Polish ancestry, and the majority of those are in the metropolitan area.

As for new immigrants, Szarejko said that he mostly works with people who settle in Greenpoint, Brooklyn looking for affordable housing and that Poland currently has “something like 26 percent unemployment,” which is moving today’s immigrant to seek out a better life in America.

Szarejko’s father first immigrated to Scranton, Pennsylvania “before World War II” to work in the coal mines until he had established himself and sent for his wife and five children, who would come to America through Ellis Island.

Szarejko urged new immigrants and long-standing residents of Queens alike to contact the Polish American Congress through him at 428-4369 and join in the pride in their heritage while they organize their numbers.

When new Polish immigrants come to Maspeth and – in increasing numbers – Ridgewood, their first stop for information is often P.O.M.O.C (Polonians Organized to Minister to Our Community, Inc.).

P.O.M.O.C Executive Director Ewa Kornacka said the Polish community in Queens is second in size only to Greenpoint, and it’s growing. Immigrant numbers are up in Ridgewood because of the convenience of subway transportation, but Maspeth still has a strong Polish presence, both new and old.

Kornacka has been with the not-for-profit human service agency for 10 years and she spoke of what was once a requirement and is now a tradition of being sponsored by a family to come to the United States. In the early 90s, when visa lotteries did not include caps, the Polish immigration numbers were as high as 30,000 a year, but capping has brought limits into a range of 3,500 a year, Kornacka said.

She added that there is a special common mentality among the Polish immigrants she has worked with. “They don’t come here to collect. They come here to work.”

Once they arrive in Queens, they are “hardly here and they already know about all these schools” and are requesting more information from P.O.M.O.C. Kornacka said it is a very effective word-of-mouth network enforced by a strong desire to see their children educated. She added, however, that immigrants are often surprised at the lack of day care services for their children, and are used to their homeland’s “protective system of child care” in which “day care centers are free and easily available.” Sometimes, due to the day care situation,  Polish immigrants will come with their children and have to send the children back to Poland to live with grandparents until they are better established, Kornacka said.

With the help of City and State funding as well as some private donations, P.O.M.O.C. holds health fairs, assists in immigration related matters, organizes recreational trips, helps arrange for some transportation to certain medical visits for seniors, and offers assistance in a wide variety of forms to both Polish immigrants and local Maspeth seniors.

The Holy Cross Thanksgiving basket project is coordinated through P.O.M.O.C. and Kornacka traditionally provides the school with general information on a handful of immigrant families in need and then delivers the baskets with the help of local volunteers.

To reach P.O.M.O.C., call 326-9098 or 326-7819. Its Queens office is located at 60-17 56th Dr., in Maspeth, and is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Due to City budget cuts, English As A Second Language and Citizenship Classes cannot be held at both P.O.M.O.C. locations (the one in Queens and the one in Brooklyn), however, Kornacka said arrangements can be made for Queens immigrants who want to learn.

Kornacka steered the Tribune to a restaurant called “Kormoran” on 61st Street (56-27 61st St.) in Maspeth as her secret spot for the best in Polish cuisine.

Inside, a gracious woman behind the counter apologized for struggling with English and worked hard to make all of her customers feel at home. The décor is sparce, but the portions are plentiful with “Golabki” (stuffed cabbage) with two vegetables and potatoes for just $5 and Red Borsch with Pierogis (“Barszcz Czerwony Z Uszkami”) for $2.50. Kornacka held up a piece of 8 ½’’ by 11’’ paper and added to her review that their pork chops are “like this” . . . all served in the hearty, mild style of traditional Polish cuisine. Pierogis – the Polish answer to ravioli which is usually stuffed with mashed potato and cheese and fried or boiled – have become a favorite across generation and ethnic lines in Queens.

Unikofski remembers that when they “sold the house on 69th Place” it was bought by a middle aged couple who had lived in Greenpoint, Brooklyn and worked both during the day and at night to make the money that would let them buy a house.

Unikofski said that she still sees new Polish immigrants moving into Maspeth, and the difference they have made in “fixing up those houses” and restoring them with pride.

Kornacka agreed, and said that on more than one occasion she has had to try and convince a Polish immigrant who was clearly in need to take the services offered to them by the United States, such as food stamps. Kornacka described the immigrants she works with as very hard working people with the will to do jobs that people born in America would never do for such meager salaries.

Szarejko told the story of one Polish immigrant with two master’s degrees who is working doing odd jobs and handy-work while he learns the language and establishes a home. Many of the immigrant women work as housekeepers, Szarejko added, and meanwhile the established Polish immigrants are banning together in business organizations and technology fields, he said.

Kornacka confirmed that today’s Polish immigrants in Queens, much like those who built up Maspeth at the turn of the century, are focused on establishing their families with a stable home and then investing in their children’s education for their family and their future.