Notes from Arlene

Hope you are all doing well.

A lot is going on-here's a brief description of February thru April:

February 8: Board meeting, Regional Conference Call, Outbound Calgary meeting

February 17: Small dinner party hosted by Marilyn Posten (Marilyn had asked for FFC members who wanted to participate to contact her at the January meeting); special guests are the Babai family from Iran. Food and customs will be topics for cultural discussion. Hopefully a cultural awareness presentation can be prepared for a future FFC meeting. If a member is interested to work on this, please let me know.

February 17: Dale Walden is traveling to Costa Rica with a humanitarian FFI Club. She writes that she will be staying in Liberia, a colonial town in the north west, where no one speaks English. First she will go to Bogota with an add on to Cartagena, Colombia and then to San Blas Islands off Panama; next to Poas and Arenal areas of Costa Rica. She will join the humanitarian FFI in Liberia and then on with the group to Brasilito where they are purchasing a computer for a school and other school supplies.

March 11: Regular Meeting: 6:30 at Ponderosa. A PowerPoint presentation will be given by Zorica Panman. Zorica grew up and attended college in Macedonia. She has studied economics, world history, and international business. The speaker will discuss the contentious debate over ethnic identities and nationalist ideologies as well as display beautiful pictures. Zorica's PowerPoint will run 15 minutes in length followed by Q&A. Please remember to bring friends to the meeting.

Before discussing April, I would like to express a very special thanks to Babs Fickes for volunteering to be inbound exchange director for the Greater Hamilton and Burlington, Canadian exchange. Initial details from Babs are as follows:

April 20 Arrival date approximately 7:00 p.m.:  
              Pot luck at Fickes' home
April 21 Historic Garden Week Tour
April 22 Monticello and UVa Pavilion Gardens 
April 23 Depart

Don't forget to check www.thefriendshipforce.org . The International Convention in Australia 2009 is now described and registration has begun.

So many members of FFC are making a difference either as individual or group efforts.

It is truly amazing to see so much going on-keep up the good work.

In Bound from Canada

Membership, this is an upcoming 3 night- 2 day visit from Canada. They chose to come for Garden week. We will tour the Greenwood Estates on Monday, the 21st. 5 homes and the Varista Vineyard for lunch. Tuesday we will tour Monticello early and lunch at Michie Tavern. Then we will go to the UVA Pavilion Gardens. Included in that tour is a tour of Carr Hill, UVA Presidents home. There is also an exhibit of the 30 year anniversary of Garden Week and the many projects the Virginia Garden Clubs have funded.

I am planning a buffet here, 51 Out of Bounds Road on Sunday, April 20. The hosts should be here at 5:30 with our ambassadors arriving approx. 6:00pm. I need hosts for 5 couples and 9 women. Don and I will host the ED and wife and if necessary, a single woman. I will be at the March meeting with a sign-up sheet or you can e-mail me or call 589-2186.

In Friendship,

              Babs Fickes "

FRIENDSHIP FORCE CHARLOTTESVILLE
MEETING MINUTES JANUARY 8, 2008

The first meeting of the New Year, held at the Ponderosa restaurant, was called to order at 6:30 PM by President Arlene Bandy.

The meeting began with reminiscing about a past trip to Costa Rica with a PowerPoint presentation using the club projector. This was followed by a short film from FF International about the club mission.

Minutes from the November 6, 2007 meeting were printed in the Ambassador, and were approved as printed.

Betsy Edgecomb stated the club has $6213.31 in the treasury.

Membership Committee chair, Walk O'Connell recommends we invite a friend and set a personal goal of each bringing in one new member. The possibility of a competition with a prize for the person bringing in the most new members was raised and it was suggested that a sign be posted on the window at Ponderosa with meeting times and a statement of philosophy about the club.

Bill Smith has been appointed Social Committee chair by the board. A request for a volunteer to head the Archives Committee remained open. Barbara Kelshaw has been asked to head the Membership Outreach Committee.

Chuck Johnson announced we have an invitation to the Martin Luther King Day Breakfast/The Judge Advocate General's Legal Center and School for Friday, 1/11/08 at 7 AM. Five members indicated that they would attend.

Bob Schwagerl, inbound exchange director for Hamburg, Germany announced there are 11 women and 3 couples coming to Charlottesville September 20th - 27th. Some of the ambassadors will be from Norderstedt and will be known to our club through our outbound trip to their city. The group will be traveling to Raleigh, NC for the 2nd week of their exchange. Bob also gave an update on the Pilgrimage exchange, and the ongoing search for members to fill Christian, Jewish and Muslim leadership positions.

Leroy Moyer and Walt O'Connell will represent FFC at the Mid-Atlantic Roundtable April 4th and 5th in WV. The International 2008 Conference will be held at the Marriott Resort, Gold Coast, Australia, October 2nd - 5th. Online registration begins January 22, 2008.

A motion was passed allowing a member to contact Fluvanna Library regarding a donation of books given to the club as club gifts when visiting Charlottesville.

Marilyn Posten announced the opportunity to meet in small groups or dinner parties for a family from Iran that she is hosting through the International Hosting program at the University of Virginia. She also expects to be returning to Japan later in the year on invitation from the many Japanese families she has hosted for the International Center in the past.

The business meeting was adjourned at 7:30 p.m. followed by a Calgary outbound meeting.

Mark Dryer, exchange director for Calgary, June 18-25, 2008 discussed an offer from Brewster (Group Vacation Planners) regarding an extended tour which would begin Wednesday, June 25 - ending July 1, 2008. A down payment of $150 was paid by each Ambassador participating with the Calgary Exchange.

              Respectfully submitted,
              May Guenin, substitute secretary

Upcoming Fund Raising

For the past several years the club has been assisting at Fridays After Five, mostly with ID checking. This is usually a fun evening in which the club needs 8 people. Last year, for a variety of reasons, there were some evenings in which it was difficult to get enough members to fulfill our manning needs. For the next meeting, think about helping in this fund raising effort if you will be physically able to do it.

One of our members has worked at the JPJ Arena during big events. This has been fairly profitable and the organization is looking for older people in a non-profit organization to help. At the next meeting I will hopefully have complete details. Should we take on another fund raiser at this time?

              LeRoy Moyer, Fundraising Chairman