Volunteer
Beyond my work in film, history, and literature, volunteerism has always been a vital part of my life. I believe that storytelling extends beyond the screen and the written word—it is also about building communities, preserving cultural heritage, and fostering meaningful connections.
In 2001, Ms. Papp was elected President of the Rákóczi Foundation, an organization mandated primarily to support the education of young people through a scholarship programs and bursaries. The highly successful Students Without Boundaries program, organized each year by the Foundation, brings together 135 Hungarian students who live in minority status from five countries.
In 2005, the Rákóczi Foundation launched an Oral History Project in partnership with the Multicultural History Society of Ontario to commemorate the lives, struggles and achievements of those refugees who came to Canada following the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. The resulting Hungarian Exodus Exhibit is traveling across Canada and has been displayed in many cities and institutions across this country. A separate copy of the exhibit is traveling throughout Hungary as well. Read more at www.1956memorial.com.
The “Students without Boundaries” program was awarded the first Charlemagne Youth Prize in 2008 by the European Parliament. Each year, since 1994, more than one hundred students from Romania, Slovakia, Serbia, Hungary, Ukraine and Canada gather for leadership workshops on European issues.
