June 1, 2017

Seems like there’s always food involved!

Our members who participated in the trip to Turkey have returned home and have many great experiences to share. It sounds like the hosting clubs did an outstanding job in welcoming our group, and our Journey Director, Chuck Goldfarb, did an equally great job in organizing on our end. We will look forward to opportunities to hear more of the details from the participants.

We also had a group make a shorter journey, to Richmond, VA, for a weekend visit. This group experienced the food and culture of an area that is close by but quite different from the DC area.

We are starting to implement our new locally focused activities. Several local groups are meeting during the weekend of June 3-4. These local activities can be dinners at a home or restaurant or some other activity of interest. We hope to get to know each other a little better by doing some things that should require less travel around the Beltway and generally won’t take a lot of effort to organize. Be on the lookout for an email from one of our members if you have not already been contacted about an event in your area. We have two groups meeting in Maryland, one in D.C., and (currently) one in Virginia. The Virginia group probably will be split into two groups.

At the end of June, we are planning to have a meal at an English pub (or some other interesting restaurant, TBD). This will be on June 25th. Look for an email soon with more details.

Looking ahead, we are considering having a pool party in July. Please respond to the interest survey so we can decide on whether to hold this event and which of the two possible dates will be better.

In the fall, we will be hosting a group from Hamburg, Germany. They arrive on September 9th and depart on the 16th. Plans are underway and requests for volunteers for hosting and various activities will be coming out soon. Please get involved. There are many things you can do even if you can’t home host, such as accompanying the group during the one of the days they are here, helping plan the schedule of activities, coordinating or assisting with a specific activity such as the farewell dinner, and so on.

In the really long term, we are going to be hosting a regional meeting of Friendship Force clubs in the spring of 2018. We could use some help over the next few months in organizing this, so if you have an interest in meeting planning or just would like to help with this, let us know.

If you are new to Friendship Force, don’t hesitate to jump in when there is a call for volunteers for something. No experience is needed…we will make sure you have all the information you need.

I look forward to seeing you at upcoming events!

In Friendship,

Claire Gesalman, President

FFNCA