I am excited about the opportunities that our Charlottesville FF Club
has had and will continue to have in getting involved in Internationalism
right here in Charlottesville. Patricia Travers and I met with Mayor
Caravati last month. He shared his vision of "Charlottesville's foreign
policy". He also invited every member of our club to attend the Farewell
Reception of the art exchange between Charlottesville and Poggio a Ciano,
our Italian sister city. Several of us attended and enjoyed it very much.
Our club will also sit on the committee that is working to establish our
sister city relationship with Besancon, France. Our Belgian Outbound
Exchange group took greetings to the mayor of Besancon last fall.
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Jim Hart will be Exchange Director for the Open World Russian Leadership Program. We will host fifteen young Russian leaders Sept. 19-27 as one of twenty FF Clubs across the US. Funding is through the Library of Congress. We are very excited about participating in this program!
UVA is interested in having us help out with their student International Host Program. More information about this will be forthcoming later in the year. As you can see, there are many opportunities for our club to serve right here at home!
We need to continue to sell our wonderful International Cookbook. To date we have sold 85. We need to sell 110 to break even; after that we make a profit. They are easy to sell. Just take them to your golf outing, bridge club, ladies' luncheon, book group, or wherever else you belong. Take orders and then pick the books up from Joanne Rawls or Jeanne Pierre. Let's make a genuine club effort to sell them. This is one of our two fundraisers this year so we need everyone's help!
Lastly, Mel and I visited FFI in Atlanta. I thoroughly enjoyed "putting faces" on the people with whom I had been emailing these past few months. We especially enjoyed meeting our new staff contact, Mary Mwambay, who is from the Congo. She hopes to be able to attend the Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference next spring. We are also proud of Peter Almonte who donated two paintings on behalf of our club to the FFI Auction. He and Ann had a wonderful time attending the auction also.
FFI informs us that Berkely Care Travel Insurance has slightly increased their policy fees. Make sure that you discard any old green and white brochures. The new lavender and white brochures can be requested by Outbound Exchange Directors from FFI.
The May 7th General Meeting will be held at the Ponderosa Steak House in Pantops. Dinner is at 5:30 pm with the meeting commencing at 6:45 pm. We will have a speaker on French Canadian Cultural Awareness and will be sending off our Ambassadors to the Canadian Capital Region. Also, we are having an "Exchange Boutique" where one can purchase FF items such as our International Cookbook, club shirts, Virginia books, and club pins which one may want to take on this exchange.
Our business meeting promises to be especially interesting. Jim Hart, Exchange Director, will explain the Open World Russian Leadership Program scheduled to take place September 19-27, 2002. Helen Ida and LeRoy Moyer, Co-exchange Directors, will discuss the Cornwall Inbound Exchange scheduled for October 16/17-23/24. Both Exchange Directors will be asking for your help. Committee reports will follow. Please attend, volunteer, bring guests, and wear your nametags!
September 19-27 - Open World Russian Leadership
Program (RLP)
October 16/17 - 23/24 - Inbound Exchange from
Cornwall, UK
November 7-10 - FFI International Conference in
Dallas, TX
March 27-30, 2003 - Charlottesville FF hosts Mid-
Atlantic Regional Meeting
We are due in Ottawa at 5:00PM on Saturday, June 29. Exchange Director Jocelyne Tessier writes that we will be treated to a "Reveillon", a French Canadian Xmas after mass lunch upon our arrival. She writes further: "That evening's events (5:00 to 9:00 PM) will be held at the Centre de Jour Guigues in Ottawa. This historic building used to be a French school at the beginning of the 20th Century. In 1912, an infamous law was passed in Ontario called 'le Reglement 17' which said that English would be the only teaching language in all schools; French could be taught for only one hour per day and then only if the parents demanded it. Franco-Ontarians then began to fight for the right to French schools. All over the province, French teachers resisted and continued to teach in French, losing their salaries as a result. In October, 1916, mothers armed with hairpins helped the French teachers to stay in Guigues school by guarding it night and day against police and inspectors. The law was finally modified in 1927 after 15 years. Incidentally, the battle continues. Just this year, Franco-Ontarians won another round in court, this time over the closing of Monfort Hospital, the only French hospital in Ontario."
Sounds like we are in for an interesting time. John Webster has volunteered to prepare a Visit Book for this exchange. This is a booklet with photographs and brief biographical sketches of all of our ambassadors that we will provide to each of the hosts. We got this idea from the Aussies when they were here last year and we all agreed that it would be a good thing for us to do also. Our Visit Book was prepared for the exchange to Belgium last fall and the pages for those who were on that exchange are already in John's computer (unless you want to make changes). John will be contacting the rest of you in the next few weeks.
Don't forget the meeting at the Ponderosa on May 7. This will be French-Canadian night. We will have a speaker with a Canadian background who can give us a 'heads up' on what we can expect.
Our Club will be working on the Downtown Mall for the "Friday After Five" concerts. Our assignment is serving soft drinks on May 31st, October 4th, and a third date to be determined. Fifteen workers will be needed each night (a total of 45 work opportunities) to cover the Club's commitment. Volunteers are needed to work one or more nights. This is a wonderful opportunity to make some substantial money to support the Club's activities. The pay is $8,75 per hour. The shift is three and one-half hours each night (5:15 to 8:45PM). If our Club fully staffs the assigned nights, the Club will earn almost $1200 for the three nights (15 volunteers X $8.75/hour/volunteer X 3.5 hours X 3 nights).
Please call Ann Farwell at 434 974-9985 right away to volunteer or with questions. Even though the times seem to be aways off, the Club needs to get the workers lined up. We do not want to miss this opportunity! Ann plans to have a stock of substitutes in case a volunteer is unable to serve. So, if you are uncertain now about your availability later this Fall, go ahead and sign up as a volunteer anyhow.
These three service nights will put the Club in the public eye and provide an opportunity for Friendship Force of Charlottesville to become better known in the community. It very well may also promote membership. Member can enjoy the concert and have a lot of fun.
Support the Club! Volunteer now! Ann Says, "Don't make me call you!"
Ann and I attended Friendship Force International's 25th Anniversary in Atlanta at the Carter Center on March 20th. The event was a Silent Auction, a fundraiser, for which I was invited to donate a painting. As it turned out, I submitted two watercolors. One was an original painting of the city square in Bruges, Belgium, where we visited last September on the FFC exchange. The second painting was a reproduction of my "Blessing of the Hounds" which depicts the annual Thanksgiving Day service at Grace Episcopal Church in Cismont, Virginia. This reproduction was given in response to Atlanta's request that, if feasible, an art work be representative of the chapter's locality. The original painting was presented to Grace Church.
Ann was pleased to learn that the Bruges watercolor was purchased by a South Carolina high school friend who is a physician in Atlanta.
Upon entering the Carter Center en route to the cloak room
(it was a rainy night), we literally bumped into President Carter who
immediately (and automatically, we surmised) held out his hand in friendship.
I did have the presence of mind to say "Hello, Sir." We din't have the chance
to babble that we were from the Friendship Force chapter in Charlottesville,
since he said he was looking for his wife. That concluded our exchange!
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Shortly thereafter, having partaken of an extensive vegetarian buffet, we entered the exhibition space to view the art works. A few minutes later we encountered a friendly lady who said something to the effect of "Isn't this a wonderful event", so Ann agreed with her and introduced me as one of the contributing artists. This woman then thanked me for my participation. Ann chatted with her for a few minutes until her attention was diverted elsewhere. As we walked on, I asked Ann if she knew to whom she had been speaking, and Ann answered, "No - who?" Well, I said, that was Rosalynn Carter. Ann's response was that she was glad she had not recognized Mrs. Carter because she (Ann) might have been nervous! About halfway through the evening, Chip Carter spoke about the Friendship Force purpose, President Carter spoke about disease and poverty afflicting parts of the world, and Mrs. Carter and Constance Swank added their accolades regarding the Friendship force's outreach efforts. This was a truly interesting and informative evening. I was pleased to hear that my two paintings sold for a substantial amount.
Ann and I spent a few extra days enjoying Atlanta and visiting with the Ann's high school and college friends. Cheers to the Friendship Force!
Jim Hart will be traveling to Atlanta April 19 to attend a one-day training seminar conducted by Friendship Force International in conjunction with our club's participation in the Open World Russian Leadership Program. A delegation of 15 Russians is scheduled to arrive in Charlottesville on September 19 and will stay until September 27. Two local professional interpreters, hired by FFI, will accompany the delegation. We are one of twenty Friendship Force clubs participating in RLP this year, and we will receive a budget of $4,500 to cover expenses related to hosting this delegation.
Each group will be composed of delegates who indicated interest in one of eight programmatic themes. Our board indicated to FFI that we would prefer to host delegates who were interested in the following four themes: health, youth issues, women as leaders, and environment. We do not know right now if any of the delegates who visit us will be interested in these four themes. The ones who come may be interested in rule of law, federalism, economic development, or education reform. So, we shall remain flexible about our program schedule until we learn more about the identity and interests of the delegation that will be coming to us. You will agree that Charlottesville has abundant resources for an outstanding program on any and all of these themes.
If you are interested in home hosting, day hosting, or in any other way helping to make our Russian friends feel welcome in Charlottesville, please let Jim Hart know. His work number at The Salvation Army is 295-4058.
While we were pleased with the response of sales at out last meeting, we have total sales of less than 100 books, leaving 200+ books remaining. WE NEED YOUR HELP IN SELLING THE FRIENDSHIP FORCE COOKBOOKS. The books are now offered for sale at the Garden Cafe and the Gift Cellar and will also be announced in the next issue of the Fluvanna Review. There are many ways to share this book with others and at the same time benefit our group's fund raising project.
One such suggestion is to give the book as a host/hostess gift in place of a bottle of wine or bouquet of flowers. Also, have you considered sending a copy to friends we have hosted and as well as those that have hosted us in other countries? I am sure there are many more suggestions and we would love to hear your shared ideas to pass along to the other members. Your help is sincerely solicited and appreciated.
Contributions of mini-autobiographies are requested for the presentation "Visit Book" which will be used to introduce Ambassadors to their Hosts and provides an interesting souvenir/aide memoire of our exchanges.
As a guide, contributions for each individual or couple should be about 150 to 300 words in about five or six paragraphs, covering:-
* Birthplace-childhood-education-family.
* Career activities and achievements
* Hobbies, interests and current activities
* Experiences with Friendship Force
* Aspirations for the future
* Any personal statement or comment.
If you have a photograph(returnable) from which I can scan a face or head, it would help. Otherwise I can take digital portraits, by arrangement (or at the next meeting). A book such as this is of little value if incomplete. Ambassadors please note, with special urgency for those going to Canada in June. If I have your entry for a previous visit I will use that, unless you prefer to change/update it. Questions/contributions to John Webster, by mail at 2 Cardinal Point, Palmyra, VA 22963 or e-mail. jwebster@firstva.com phone me at (434) 589-9573.
To Boost Membership, We Need Prospect Names
We need names. Names, addresses, telephone numbers and e-mail addresses of individuals and couples who might be interested in joining the Friendship Force of Charlottesville. If we are to increase our membership this year, we need the names of as many prospects as possible.
Earlier this year, the Membership Committee and the Executive Board launched a special "Each One/Suggest One" Membership Campaign. The idea behind the campaign is to have each and every current member of the club identify at least one individual they know well -- a friend, acquaintance, business associate or relative -- who might possibly have an interest in FF, and have those individuals invited to an upcoming club meeting.
Some of you have already submitted names of prospects and these individuals have been sent an invitation to a club meeting, along with a packet of background materials pertaining to the organization. Three of those who were contacted -- Marty and Lila Mait and Sandy Russell -- have already joined. Others who were contacted have attended at least one meeting and are considering the possibility of joining. However, we still have not received names of prospects from many others in FF, and we really would appreciate getting those names as soon as possible.
Please send prospect names to Ellen and Walter Lindenmann at 4 Wren Court, Palmyra, VA 22963-2126. Or, if it's more convenient, please give us a call at 434-589-5822, send an e-mail to lindenmann@cstone.net, or bring the names and addresses with you to the next general meeting, scheduled for May 7th. We have extra copies of our club's background brochure and would be happy to send them to anyone who may have need for them.
Three past newsletters have been put up. There is room for a lot more if done the way I have done these three. At this point, I have not transferred all of the bold printing, but this could be done if it is desired. Only having 10 Mb of space (which might be limiting) was an early concern. The total amount of space used so far is about 1/4 Mb, so there is lots of room left.
It would be nice to have a calendar of coming events and write-ups (with pictures) for some of the past exchanges.
Co-Chairs Darrell and Rita Stoll did a super job with the Mystery Dinners held on April 7, 2002. The feedback has been very positive. More of these innovative gatherings are likely in the future.
Site for the FFC picnic will be Helen Ida and LeRoy Moyer's lovely home. More details will be available at the May Membership meeting.
Locations for the Holiday Party are being investigated. More details will be available soon.
The Ambassador Friendship Force of Charlottesville, Virginia Kenneth G. Smith, Editor 9 Leisure Court Lake Monticello, VA 22963