Welcome to club PIE!

We are a group of Poles living in Redlands, Riverside, San Bernardino, Yucaipa, Loma Linda, Colton, Highland and environs. This area is called, rather grandly, the Inland Empire, and that’s the origin of our name: Poles in the Inland Empire (PIE). Our abbreviation is pronounced like the Greek letter π – the symbol for science. The propagation of knowledge among our members is one of our principal goals.

 Our activities draw upon the rich tradition of Polish independent study organizations and social movements found in both Poland and in the Diaspora, such as The Association for Scholarly Courses (Towarzystwo Kursów Naukowych TKN,) the Flying Universities, Universal Education Societies (Towarzystwo Wiedzy Powszechnej,) self-study groups, and artistic salons. We are independent and unaffiliated with any other organization; we serve only our members.

Our specific goals are:

• To learn about the history and culture of Poland and other countries,
• to become familiar with Christian and non-Christian religions, with respect for all religions as well as for non-believers
• to enhance our knowledge of ecological and health issues,
• to learn about economic systems and experiences in Poland, the U.S. and around the world,
• to expand our general, professional, scientific and cultural knowledge.

Many of us are well-educated people with broad and varied interests and life experiences. We want to provide our members with the opportunity to share their knowledge and life stories. We would like the younger generation of Poles growing up in the United States to draw from the successes, knowledge, examples and experience of their elders, so that they can develop a sense of pride and respect for Polish culture and tradition.

Our meetings and lectures are usually held in Polish; however some are held in English. Sometimes we invite outside speakers; we also have meetings with poetry and songs from earlier times for the enjoyment of the older generation (and to familiarize the younger generation)! We invite artists from Poland and other countries to present programs which may include cabaret, chamber music, etc.

PIE does not collect membership dues and a member is a person who feels like one and shows up at our meetings. In this way we have 60-70 permanent “members.” We meet at random intervals, more or less every six weeks, on average. We suspend our activities in summer. Usually the meetings take place in the houses of our members, and we try to hold them on Saturdays. Take a look at our Calendar of Meetings to get a better idea of our activities, and read the letter: “To PIE members”.

See you at one of the PIE Meetings!