Cheryl Kasper
Our club is off on an exciting year. All of our committee chairs are in place and enthusiastically working very hard. They are coming up with all sorts of creative ideas about which you will be hearing. (See attached Committee Chairs list.)
Your Board has taken the survey results seriously and has added some programming to our general meetings. We will have two speakers at our March meeting, Cultural Awareness Nights before each of our exchanges, and an international flavor at our summer picnic. All promise to be interesting and great fun! (See calendar included in this newsletter.)
Our cookbook will be shipped the first week in March and you will be receiving information about how you can purchase copies for yourselves and friends.
Peter Almonte has graciously donated one of his paintings to FFI's 25th Anniversary Silent Art Auction scheduled for March 20 in Atlanta. Tickets to this gala are $100. More information is in the Jan./Feb. issue of "Friendship" magazine.
Let us remember how important the mission of Friendship Force is - "a world of friends is a world of peace." Let us begin right here in Charlottesville and extend our friendship to all we meet wherever we travel in this wonderful world. Let us be open to new ideas and insights, different peoples and different ways of living. Let us be willing to extend our hand in friendship to all whom we encounter.
Walter and Ellen Lindenmann
In an effort to increase overall membership in the Friendship Force of Charlottesville during 2002, a special "Each One/Suggest One" Membership Campaign is being planned for this year. 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.
Here's how the program will work: By no later than the next club meeting on March 5th, we would like each and every member to identify at least one individual they know well who is not currently a member of FF, but who might be interested in finding out more information about the organization and possibly consider membership in FF. The name, address, telephone number and, if applicable, e-mail address, of the candidates should be given to Ellen and Walter Lindenmann , Membership Committee chairpersons.
Once we receive the names of candidates for possible membership, a letter of invitation will be prepared and sent out by Cheryl Kasper, Club President, to each of these individuals, inviting them to attend the next meeting of the club. Along with the letter, the candidates for possible membership also will receive a copy of the Friendship Force International brochure, a second brochure that talks specifically about some of the past and current activities of the Charlottesville club, and a membership application form.
FF currently has a membership of 80 individuals. If each of our 80 current members commits to nominate just one candidate to receive an invitation for membership, we would have 80 prospects.
Please do your part. Bring names, addresses and phone numbers of candidates for membership to the next general meeting, scheduled for March 5th. If you have questions about the upcoming Membership Campaign, please contact Ellen and Walter Lindenmann by phone at 589-5822 or via e-mail at lindenmann@cstone.net .
Chuck and Lynda Johnson
Good News! Exchange Director Jocelyne Tessier has increased the number of Ambassadors that the Canadian National Capitol Region will be able to accommodate to 24.
Ambassadors
Chuck and Jane Czarniak John and Shirley Webster George and Patricia Travers Chuck and Pat Barbour Roy and Joanne Horne May Guenin Dick and Arlene Bandy Dom and Rita Starsia Mel and Cheryl Kasper Jeanne Pierre Chuck and Lynda Johnson Frank and Kathy Saurman Ed and Mary Pat Searls Alternates: Darrell and Rita Stoll
Chances are some people will have to cancel between now and June. We would like to have some more alternates so if you haven't already signed up, we would encourage you to do so.
The plan is to depart from Central Virginia on the morning of Friday, June 28 in carpools. We will stay at a motel in the Syracuse-Watertown area (Lynda Johnson is in charge of these arrangements). On Saturday morning, we will drive to Alexandria Bay, NY, for a cruise of the Thousand Islands. It time permits, we will stop in Clayton, NY, to visit a museum and restoration shop devoted to those fabulous wooden Chris Craft and GarWood inboard boats of the '30s, '40s and '50s. We are due in the Ottawa area at about 5:00PM that afternoon. Dick Bandy (591-0889) is in charge of carpool arrangements. Please let him know your travel plans or needs.
At the January meeting, the Ambassadors expressed a preference for the Gaspe' Peninsula as a post-exchange tour. The preferred option would be a customized tour if there were sufficient participation. Otherwise it would be possible to join a regularly scheduled tour, probably leaving from Montreal. As soon as these details have been developed, I will contact the Ambassadors to determine their preferences.
Be sure to mark Tuesday, May 7, on your calendar. At our regular May meeting that night, we plan to invite a speaker to orient us on Canadian-American issues, and also, very importantly, relations and sensitivities between French- and English-speaking Canadians. Perhaps we can also ask Jeanne Pierre to instruct us in a few vital words of French. Chuck Johnson (589-5245), Exchange Director.
Cheryl Kasper
Our March 5 General Meeting will be held at the Ponderosa Restaurant in Pantops. Dinner is at 5:30 with the meeting commencing at 6:45. Our speakers will be UVA retired Prof. Ruhi Ramazani, an expert on the Middle East, who will speak on "Dialogue Among Civilizations". His wife, Nesta Ramazani, a member of the AAUW and teacher of a course on Islam at the Jefferson Center of Lifelong Learning, will speak on "Women and Islam". The Ramazanis emigrated from Iran to the USA in the 1950's. There will be time for questions after they speak.
Following our speakers, we will conduct our business meeting. There will be news on exchanges and committee reports. We will be choosing our possible Outbound Exchange Destinations for 2003. Please use the enclosed listing of clubs for your own planning, and bring it to the meeting. We need to give thoughtful consideration to where we would like to travel. One question you might ask yourself is, "If we do get an exchange to this country, would I be an Ambassador?"
Please invite interested friends to our meetings and please wear your nametags.
Jo Ann Rawls
The Friendship Force of Charlottesville, Virginia International Cook Book is making wonderful progress. We have signed off on the Cover Proof and the Cook Book Proof as of January 25, 2002 and the book is now being prepared for the press. The anticipated arrival date for the finished product, ready for sale, is March 15, 2002. This date is shortly after our March meeting, so we hope we will be surprised with an earlier delivery in order to share the books with all of you at the March 5th meeting.
The committee is so pleased with the results, which is a quality document for which we all can be proud. The committee is anxious for all of you to see your recipe contributions in print, complete with contributor name. We will have 300 books to sell as our fundraiser so please be thinking of the number you need. These cook books are ideal for gifts to family, local friends and host families as our club visits other countries. This is also a wonderful opportunity for prospective members and others to see how meaningful our experiences have been as both ambassadors and hosts through this quality International Cook Book. We thank everyone for their contribution and know you will be pleased with the results.
Ann Farwell
Efforts are underway to develop several fund-raising events. Some thoughts:
We will keep you informed about any developments. Meanwhile, we welcome your suggestions for fundraisers. We also need people to work on the committee. Call me at 434 974-9985 to volunteer for the committee or to share your ideas.
Frank Saurman
Our condolences are extended to Shirley Webster on the recent loss of her mother. We wish a speedy recovery to Chuck Johnson who just had the second surgery on his wrist. You need to heal quickly Chuck.
Please keep Kathy Saurman informed of any news (good or not so good) about any of our Friendship Force members.
Cathy Wallace, Secretary
At the recent Board meeting, many items were discussed. What I want to address here is the survey. Eleven responses were received. Six were in favor of more involved meetings. Five were not in favor of meetings with more programs, but did suggest separate events for programs.
Some of the suggestions were to organize and sponsor lectures and cultural exchanges, contact various clubs in the Charlottesville area for membership interest and promotion of FFC, reach out to church groups, vocal workshops (to enhance our singing), travel insurance seminars, and to contact UVA for speakers to educate us on international topics. An International Night Pot Luck dinner was suggested as a way to attract attendees.
LeRoy Moyer has agreed to work up a Web Site for FFC. He will be known as "Webmaster Leroy Moyer" and will be on Monticello Avenue Web server with a "tie-in" to FFI.
Marilyn Posten
The January 15th meeting was promoted in the Observer, Daily Progress, C'ville, Adelphia Cable and WVIR-TV community calendars. As our world experiences a paradigm shift, we must be open to change and if given a chance, lead to positive growth. Our motto "A World of Friends is A World of Peace" suggests that we are a community willing to take risks by trying to look at things from new and different perspectives. Each member must let everyone they meet know that it is a privilege to belong to the Friendship Force. In light of exchange cancellations, we must seek new avenues of friendship closer to home. I-would like to suggest the following for your consideration as new opportunities to promote global awareness and friendship:
Ours is a creative and cutting-edge club. Surely, there are other opportunities to positively promote our club.I invite your ideas, questions and comments.
The Ambassador Editor Friendship Force of Charlottesville 9 Leisure Court Lake Monticello, Virginia 22963