At the close of another inbound exchange I think we can congratulate ourselves on a job well done. Yes, there were glitches and inconveniences but everyone pitched in and the end result seemed to leave our ambassadors happy and impressed. My thanks to all participants, and especially the organizing committee, for their hard work and versatility in the face of difficulties. We had to keep waking up the Exchange Director, but that was quite understandable, considering the short time since neuro-surgery, and at least he didn't snore - and he didn't fail to perform any of his duties.
I was very pleased to note that, apart from those who were out-of-town or who had family or friends staying, we had almost 100% participation from our members in one activity or another.
Note for outbound EDs; Despite the freedom to arrange our own travel, when planning our future outbound exchanges we must ensure that our hosts are not expected to pick us up at midnight, or take us to the airport in the pre-dawn hours, even if it means a night in a hotel or other inconvenience along the way.
Next Meeting.
The next meeting will be held at the Ponderosa Steakhouse at Pantops with dinner from 5:30 pm on
Tuesday 3rd May, and the meeting starting at about 6:15 pm. There will be a speaker to discuss the
present political situation in Russia,
Fridays after Five.
We will be volunteering to man the soda stand again this year. The season starts on May 6th at a
temporary site on Garrett Street at the old Ivy Industries property (the south side of the railway).
This site is two and a half blocks from the Mall and is convenient to parking. It will be used until
July when it is hoped that the Charlottesville Pavilion will be completed in front of City Hall.
Five or six volunteers will be required for each occasion, and we stand to earn $ 160 for each nights work. Further details, and a call for volunteers will be made at the next meeting.
March 1st 2005 was a great day for the Friendship Force as our members around the world gathered to honor the legacy of our founder, Wayne Smith, while celebrating in global fashion our 28th anniversary. It began on the beach in New Zealand and ended on the beach in Hawaii, 24 hours later. In between, thousands of members gathered in more than 200 communities in dozens of countries as we conducted a truly global celebration.
An important goal of World Friendship Day was to raise money to support our Legacy Campaign. On behalf of the entire organization, I want to express our appreciation for the recent donation of $ 1,469.00 made by your club (along with your prior donation bringing your total donation to $ 1969). With the strong support we have received from members and clubs around the world we are now able to move forward with our plans to extend the Friendship Force into new regions of the world, while strengthening our existing club network. This would not be possible without the contributions we are receiving from our dedicated and loyal members around the world.
But World Friendship Day was much more than a fundraising event. What we are hearing from around the world is that it also provided a unique opportunity for our members to gather to celebrate their past experiences while re-dedicating themselves to the future of Friendship Force From small parties in homes to large gatherings in public places, our members once again demonstrated their belief in our vision, that a world of friends is a world of peace.
In the months ahead we will be working with experienced volunteers around the world to implement the goals of our Legacy Campaign. We'll keep you and your members up-to-date with our progress so you will be able to share with us the satisfaction of knowing that your contribution is leading to an even stronger Friendship Force for the future.
In friendship,
George T Brown.
President
As some of you may know, Besancon, a city in the eastern part of France, close to the Swiss border, is the "sister city" to Charlottesville, and various visits have been made between the two cities by city officials and others. Through the efforts of Bob Schwagerl, it seems likely that there will be a Friendship Force club formed in Besancon (only the second in France!), and it is tentatively planned that they pay us a visit in the fall to find out how to run a club. If and when this happens, it will combine some of the features of an inbound exchange with workshops and instructional periods where the details of formation and operation of a club will be covered. FFI have agreed to cover their expenses for this period, and it is worthy of note that this is likely to be the first new club formed as a result of the Legacy Campaign, and thus something of which we can be truly proud.
As a follow-up to this activity, it is also tentatively planned that Charlottesville FF should be the first visitors to Besancon FF in 2006. A suggestion has been made that we try to combine this visit with the currently planned outbound exchange to Zutphen in the Netherlands in the spring, and this will certainly be a factor in our planning.
A unique treasure dating back to Roman times, coiled in a bend of the Doubs River, Besancon's exceptional beauty filled Caesar with awe, and the writer Stendahl said "Besancon is not only one of the most beautiful cities in France, it is also a city which is full of people with great hearts and spirits."
You are all invited to attend a Silent Auction on May 13 at 7 pm at Trinity Episcopal Church, Charlottesville. Our FFC is pairing with Trinity to raise money to help build a library in Winneba, Ghana. Most of the proceeds will go toward funding the library but smaller amounts will be given to the church and the FF Legacy Fund (to establish new clubs around the world.) Wine and hors d'oeuvres will be served, African drumming will be performed, and the Silent Auction will be fantastic! Some items to be auctioned are a weekend on the Chesapeake, all meals and a day sail on a 32 ft. Hunter included; paintings and reproductions by local artists; handcrafted items; carpet cleaning; services; and much more!! If you would like to donate goods or a service, please call me. Look for your flyer in the mail!
Fridays After Five will be opening on May 6. Our club will again be participating by staffing the Coke booth. Come to our May 3 meeting to obtain more information and a chance to sign up. We hope for much club participation, as this is our major fundraiser.
The Friendship Force of Charlottesville had the pleasure of entertaining ambassadors from Great Falls, Montana for Garden week from April 16 to April 24. Also among the ambassadors were members from Missoula, Montana and Sun City, Arizona.
Many of the hosts and ambassadors started the week with a tour of the Rotunda and University Gardens and enjoyed seeing Jefferson's dream. The more formal start of the exchange was a reception and dinner at the First United Methodist Church where we welcomed the ambassadors through their EDs Karen Hoover and Donna Searles-Rotvold.
Photographs of Hosts and Ambassadors were taken and we also celebrated the birthday of Jack Hoover.
Arlene Bandy took marvelous photos of the events during the whole exchange and has posted 74 pictures on the WEB at: http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingReg.jsp?Uc=16l5me6p.cn73hqb1&Uy=n5othr&Upost_signin=BrowsePhotos.jsp%3FshowSlide%3Dtrue&Ux=0&UV=627866906428_613722713205. Unfortunately, the address does not all fit on one line and so if you have to type in the address don't put in any spaces.
On Monday April 18 we visited Pamplin Historical Park and toured the site of the battlefield. On Tuesday we visited Monticello and toured the house and gardens and in the evening some of the hosts entertained the ambassadors at chosen restaurants.
On Wednesday most of the hosts entertained their ambassadors by visits to the Friendly Gardens at Earlysville and this was followed by small dinner parties at the homes of selected hosts. Thursday was primarily a free day but was used by some ambassadors to visit other historical sites, such as Montpelier and also some of the small dinner parties were held.
Friday afternoon was spent at the home of Babs and Don Fickes for tea and boat rides on Lake Monticello.
On Saturday a farewell Pot-luck luncheon was held at the home of ED Mark Dryer and his wife Margaret and this was the final formal gathering of a wonderful week with new friends and fond memories.
The Friendship Force of Charlottesville meeting was called to order at 7:00 at the JAG School.
The meeting was started with a silent auction of the souvenirs given to our club by our visiting ambassadors from previous exchanges. Coffee and sweets were served.
John welcomed the membership to the celebration of World Friendship Day. New visitors were welcomed to the meeting: Allen and Willow Drinkwater of Gordonsville and Barbara Kelshaw of Lake Monticello.
The treasurer's report was given by Rita Stoll as our treasurer Dave Ahearn had to leave early. As of March 1, 2005, we have $1,210.13 in income, $1,067.60 in expenses for a checkbook balance of $6,158.53. The 2005 dues are due and the membership was asked to remember to pay.
New name tags will be ordered shortly.
Cheryl Kasper: Ghana Library Fundraising Report. She asked the group to support the library fund for Wineba, Ghana. So far, 400,000 books have been collected and are stored in downtown Charlottesville. The library has acquired land and needs $150,000 to build the building before the books are shipped. There will be a silent auction to raise money for the library on May 13 from 7:00 to 9:00 PM. at Trinity Episcopal Church in Charlottesville. Donations are being accepted for the auction.
Mark Dryer: Inbound Exchange April 17-24, 2005, Montana: The committee has completed a tentative program. There will be 22 ambassadors: 16 from Great Falls, 2 from Missoula and 4 from Sun City, AZ. Besides the Garden Week tours, a visit to Pamplin, the Civil war battlefield plus a visit to Monticello are planned. LeRoy Moyer is doing the brochure for the events. Mark has the profiles of the ambassadors. Lynda Johnson asked for more volunteers for the small dinner parties.
Darrel Stoll reviewed the plans for the Russian outbound planned for September. Only 10 people are committed to going on this exchange. He hopes to get some from other clubs in our region to increase our numbers.
Bob Schwagerl: Possible new club in Besancon, France. We would be the first club to have an exchange with them, thanks to Bob's efforts.
An FFI promotional film was shown.
Gary Ziemer: Results of the silent auction were announced. $359.00 was made.
World Friendship Force Day started in New Zealand and will end up in Hawaii today. The FFI website has a brief history of each of 200 clubs in the world, including Charlottesville. The FFI legacy is to raise enough money to start 30 new clubs outside of the United States and to train new leaders. The one in Besancon, France, might be the first one. Bob Schwagerl read a letter from George Brown, CEO of FFI re: World Friendship Day around the world.
We then watched a movie called "Baraka" which had an environmental theme and no plot.
Respectfully submitted,
Lynda Johnson
Secretary
Twelve members of our club attended the Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference hosted by the FF of Harrisburg, PA in early April. Ours was the largest group, apart from our hosts.
There were several talks and speeches, including some inspiration from our own Bob Schwagerl (in his Regional Representative role) and George Brown, the President of FFI. The main theme of the conference was "How to recruit more members, and retain or revitalize those that we have". A variety of ideas were proposed in presentations, round table discussions and workshops, and we shall probably be implementing some of these in the near future.
Our hosts provided some excellent hospitality, and the entertainment was first-class, with performances of Croatian music and dances, traditional songs of Germany and Austria sung a cappella by a group of six ladies, and finally a presentation by a Victorian dance ensemble of dances and costumes from the Civil War era.
Finally, members of our club and several others were home-hosted by members of the Harrisburg or Lancaster groups for a few interesting days in that traditionally Pennsylvania-Dutch Amish/ Mennonite area.
The Outbound Exchange to Moscow is scheduled for September 18 to 25 as a home stay with the Moscow
club followed by a sightseeing trip to St. Petersburg. There are still several places left and so if
you would like to go contact Darrell Stoll (434-296-2202) as soon as possible.
The Ambassador Friendship Force of Charlottesville, Virginia LeRoy Moyer, Editor 1863 Thomas Jefferson Parkway Charlottesville, VA 22902-7520