Save the Date!
We will be hosting the 92nd Kfeirian Reunion at the Embassy Suites by Hilton Charlotte Concord Golf Resort & Spa, 5400 John Q. Hammons Drive NW, Concord, NC 28027 on Labor Day weekend, August 30-September 2, 2024.
Please use the link below or call 888-838-6235 and reference the Kfeirian Reunion or group code 94H to make your room reservations. Our special room rate is $169/night plus tax which includes Complimentary Self-parking, Internet, Breakfast and Evening Reception.
Kfeirian Family Reunion
Additional updates for the 92nd Kfeirian Reunion will be posted at the 92nd Reunion page as they become available at:
http://kfeir.com/92nd-reunion-2024.html
http://kfeir.com/92nd-reunion-2024.html
The Kfeirian Reunion Foundation relies heavily on the generosity of our members to support and maintain our programs. We provide college scholarships to Kfeirian students, food boxes to those in need living in Kfeir, Lebanon and support to ensure our goal to continue our annual Kfeirian Reunions to reach 100 years and beyond. If you have donated to the Kfeirian Reunion recently, please accept our sincere thanks. We are grateful to have you as part of our family.
On behalf of the Kfreirian Reunion Foundation, welcome to the Kfeir.com website.
This website contains a wealth of knowledge of the heritage of our families who immigrated from the village of Kfeir, Lebanon to the United States of America. Please feel free to browse through the various pages of our history, past reunions, recipes and many other family related documents and stories.
Our heritage has bound us together. My grandparents, Kallel and Emily Bassett, came to this country in the late 1920’s looking for opportunity to build a life in the free world. They did not speak English and they came to Ellis Island, NY on a ship not knowing what lay ahead but they were determined to follow their dreams, as did so many of our relatives. I have always admired their bravery in making such a big move.
Memories of my childhood center around getting together on weekends with our extended family and socializing, listening to Arabic music and sometimes dancing in our homes. It is very evident that we are a social people and I cannot imagine my life growing up without being surrounded by so many family members. It is not surprising that the founders of our Reunion created the Kfeirian Reunion officially in 1932 so that we can have a special weekend to spend with each other on a yearly basis.
We have just celebrated our 91st Kfeirian Reunion and as I attend each year, I am overwhelmed with the experience and love that I feel being together and sharing our lives. From discussing our ancestry and how we are related, to eating wonderful Lebanese food and dancing to live Arabic music, we celebrate the common bond that we were all born and raised into, so many miles from our homeland.
We are on our way to celebrating 100 years of our heritage and I look forward to meeting more and more of my cousins in the years to come!
Rebecca Rahal Anderson
President, Kfeirian Reunion Foundation
This website contains a wealth of knowledge of the heritage of our families who immigrated from the village of Kfeir, Lebanon to the United States of America. Please feel free to browse through the various pages of our history, past reunions, recipes and many other family related documents and stories.
Our heritage has bound us together. My grandparents, Kallel and Emily Bassett, came to this country in the late 1920’s looking for opportunity to build a life in the free world. They did not speak English and they came to Ellis Island, NY on a ship not knowing what lay ahead but they were determined to follow their dreams, as did so many of our relatives. I have always admired their bravery in making such a big move.
Memories of my childhood center around getting together on weekends with our extended family and socializing, listening to Arabic music and sometimes dancing in our homes. It is very evident that we are a social people and I cannot imagine my life growing up without being surrounded by so many family members. It is not surprising that the founders of our Reunion created the Kfeirian Reunion officially in 1932 so that we can have a special weekend to spend with each other on a yearly basis.
We have just celebrated our 91st Kfeirian Reunion and as I attend each year, I am overwhelmed with the experience and love that I feel being together and sharing our lives. From discussing our ancestry and how we are related, to eating wonderful Lebanese food and dancing to live Arabic music, we celebrate the common bond that we were all born and raised into, so many miles from our homeland.
We are on our way to celebrating 100 years of our heritage and I look forward to meeting more and more of my cousins in the years to come!
Rebecca Rahal Anderson
President, Kfeirian Reunion Foundation
The History of Our Website - Kfeir.com
by Denise Mickel Russell
Let’s talk about our website, Kfeir.com!
I did a little digging to find out the history of our website and with the help of Kevin and James Donley, I found out quite a bit. Our website was originally built in 1996 in GeoCities by Diann Dee Michael who was the Kfeirian President at the time. Diann choose the Heartland Neighborhood of GeoCities to add Kfeirian information and pictures from past reunions. Content continued to be added for the next few years and included color photos and a complete update of the 64th reunion and information for the upcoming 65th reunion. Kevin created the first Kfeirian Family Tree Genealogy Page on our GeoCities site which included the history of our tree and links to dozens of genealogy resources available at the time. Unfortunately this original website no longer exists.
By the year 2000, the board decided it was time for the reunion to have its own website with its own domain name and thus, http://www.kfeir.com was born and still exists today. In 2001 Kevin Donley served as the Webmaster for the site which continued to grow and housed the latest pictures from reunions, all Kfeirian updates, Scholarship information including the application, family trees and even Kfeirian merchandise.
In 2007, in an effort to keep up with changing technology, James Donley was asked to determine the best way to evolve the site into a modern website and at that point the site was rewritten in Wordpress using the IPower Web Hosting service. This update brought us the introduction to the main heading that we still use today featuring a picture of the Village of Kfeir, the Lebanese, United States, Canadian and Brazilian flags and the "Welcome to Kfeir" sign that you see on the top of this Home page.
By 2014, the board decided that the website needed an update again and we hired a mother/daughter team to give the website a facelift. At that time, the site was moved to Weebly, still using IPower Web Hosting and I became the Webmaster and have held this position ever since. From that point on, we started adding historical information dating back as far as 1928. We did this by asking everyone to provide any reunion information that you may have such as newspaper articles, programs, schedule of events and pictures from past reunions. As these documents were sent in, they were scanned and added to the appropriate reunion year. They were also categorized and sent to Marshall University for safekeeping in the Special Collections Department. This year I'm excited to announce that Becky Rahal Anderson is working with me to learn how to update the site!
Over the years, a new section on the website was started for family stories. This is my favorite section of the website because the stories are about our family members that tell their individual tales either from their family members who wrote the stories and sometimes directly from the person who the story is about.
When you visit the Kfeirian website, be sure to check out the Foundation page where you will find information about our Board of Trustees, Scholarship Information and several historical bits of information that may interest you. Our Reunion page is a place where you can see information from past reunions and look for the reunions that you attended. Send in your pictures or any other documentation that you may have from a reunion so that we can include them on the appropriate page. Check out the Family News page and be sure to send us your stories and information about what is going on in your family. You could spend hours looking for your relatives once you connect to the Kfeirian tree which you can do at the Family Tree page and learn how you are connected to other Kfeirians. Visit the Newsletters section and have a chance to view past newsletters. And then check out the Village of Kfeir section where you can read about your cousins who have visited Kfeir in the past.
In addition to all the information on Kfeir.com, you may also enjoy checking out our Facebook page, the YouTube Channel and the Instagram page. The links to all of our social media are posted below. We would love to hear back from you if you have something to add to the website. Just send an email to reunion@kfeir.com and let us know how you can help.
I did a little digging to find out the history of our website and with the help of Kevin and James Donley, I found out quite a bit. Our website was originally built in 1996 in GeoCities by Diann Dee Michael who was the Kfeirian President at the time. Diann choose the Heartland Neighborhood of GeoCities to add Kfeirian information and pictures from past reunions. Content continued to be added for the next few years and included color photos and a complete update of the 64th reunion and information for the upcoming 65th reunion. Kevin created the first Kfeirian Family Tree Genealogy Page on our GeoCities site which included the history of our tree and links to dozens of genealogy resources available at the time. Unfortunately this original website no longer exists.
By the year 2000, the board decided it was time for the reunion to have its own website with its own domain name and thus, http://www.kfeir.com was born and still exists today. In 2001 Kevin Donley served as the Webmaster for the site which continued to grow and housed the latest pictures from reunions, all Kfeirian updates, Scholarship information including the application, family trees and even Kfeirian merchandise.
In 2007, in an effort to keep up with changing technology, James Donley was asked to determine the best way to evolve the site into a modern website and at that point the site was rewritten in Wordpress using the IPower Web Hosting service. This update brought us the introduction to the main heading that we still use today featuring a picture of the Village of Kfeir, the Lebanese, United States, Canadian and Brazilian flags and the "Welcome to Kfeir" sign that you see on the top of this Home page.
By 2014, the board decided that the website needed an update again and we hired a mother/daughter team to give the website a facelift. At that time, the site was moved to Weebly, still using IPower Web Hosting and I became the Webmaster and have held this position ever since. From that point on, we started adding historical information dating back as far as 1928. We did this by asking everyone to provide any reunion information that you may have such as newspaper articles, programs, schedule of events and pictures from past reunions. As these documents were sent in, they were scanned and added to the appropriate reunion year. They were also categorized and sent to Marshall University for safekeeping in the Special Collections Department. This year I'm excited to announce that Becky Rahal Anderson is working with me to learn how to update the site!
Over the years, a new section on the website was started for family stories. This is my favorite section of the website because the stories are about our family members that tell their individual tales either from their family members who wrote the stories and sometimes directly from the person who the story is about.
When you visit the Kfeirian website, be sure to check out the Foundation page where you will find information about our Board of Trustees, Scholarship Information and several historical bits of information that may interest you. Our Reunion page is a place where you can see information from past reunions and look for the reunions that you attended. Send in your pictures or any other documentation that you may have from a reunion so that we can include them on the appropriate page. Check out the Family News page and be sure to send us your stories and information about what is going on in your family. You could spend hours looking for your relatives once you connect to the Kfeirian tree which you can do at the Family Tree page and learn how you are connected to other Kfeirians. Visit the Newsletters section and have a chance to view past newsletters. And then check out the Village of Kfeir section where you can read about your cousins who have visited Kfeir in the past.
In addition to all the information on Kfeir.com, you may also enjoy checking out our Facebook page, the YouTube Channel and the Instagram page. The links to all of our social media are posted below. We would love to hear back from you if you have something to add to the website. Just send an email to reunion@kfeir.com and let us know how you can help.
Social Media Links
Facebook: Kfeirian Reunion
If you have a Facebook account, please join our Facebook page. Here you will find all kinds of information about our Kfeirian history and it is a great place to be kept informed of future reunions.
YouTube Channel: Kfeirian Reunion Foundation, Inc.
Here you will find videos from past reunions and videos from trips to Lebanon and Kfeir.
When visiting the YouTube Channel, be sure to Log in to YouTube, Subscribe to our channel and click the bell to be notified when new videos have been uploaded.
Instagram: kfeirian_reunion
Brand new in 2022, we have an Instagram Page! Check out fun photos and videos from past reunions and maybe even learn an Arabic word or two.
EMails: Our email address is reunion@kfeir.com.
Membership List: Click here to be added to our Membership List to make sure you are receiving announcements about Kfeirian Reunions. Please provide your full name, address, phone number and email.
Family News: Click here to submit your Family News, Feedback or Ask us a Question.
Facebook: Kfeirian Reunion
If you have a Facebook account, please join our Facebook page. Here you will find all kinds of information about our Kfeirian history and it is a great place to be kept informed of future reunions.
YouTube Channel: Kfeirian Reunion Foundation, Inc.
Here you will find videos from past reunions and videos from trips to Lebanon and Kfeir.
When visiting the YouTube Channel, be sure to Log in to YouTube, Subscribe to our channel and click the bell to be notified when new videos have been uploaded.
Instagram: kfeirian_reunion
Brand new in 2022, we have an Instagram Page! Check out fun photos and videos from past reunions and maybe even learn an Arabic word or two.
EMails: Our email address is reunion@kfeir.com.
Membership List: Click here to be added to our Membership List to make sure you are receiving announcements about Kfeirian Reunions. Please provide your full name, address, phone number and email.
Family News: Click here to submit your Family News, Feedback or Ask us a Question.