FFSFBA Newsletter April/May 2008

HAPPY 24TH BIRTHDAY, FFSFBA! We celebrated FFI�s 31st birthday at our World Friendship Day in February. Now we look back on 24 memorable years of making friends at home and abroad�and many of them are right here in our own club! When Barry and I joined the club in 2002, we had merely an inkling of how much this organization would change and enrich our lives. No one else understands our compulsion to travel�and in such a unique fashion�as well as our friends in Friendship Force. Our nonmember friends may be awestruck, while our FFSFBA friends nod their heads with a smile that evokes fond memories. I hope that many of you will be prepared to share some of those fond memories at our May 18 meeting, as I�ve explained below.

As for other current facets of FFSFBA, many of them warrant separate articles in this issue, so I�ll just hit the highlights here.

Welcome, new members! I am delighted to introduce Marina Acuna-McFerran of Fremont, Arnie Becker of Hayward, Daniel Eggerding of Campbell, Peggy and Louis Wester of Mountain View, Cathie Flanigan and Bill Kowalik of San Ramon, Chris and Maynard Vitalis of Dublin. Also, Alyce Zahorsky has renewed after a brief absence. You can read more about some of the new members in this issue. Please introduce yourselves at the next meeting.

May 18 Birthday Meeting: Sharing Memories of Exchanges: Along with an excellent speaker from South Africa, we want to feature your stories of the exchange moments that have left the most indelible impressions. Please either email or bring a short description of the event (a 3 x 5 card is a good size), along with a 4 x 6 photo if at all possible. We will read as many of these as possible at the meeting and then place them in our memory album for posterity.

Exchange Directors Needed: See the full article on this. We can't get these exchanges off the ground without a leader for each one, so it�s vital to get someone started on our adventure to Texas for next April. Once we have a leader for each, we can start signing up ambassadors for the outgoing ones and a committee for the incoming.

Speakers Bureau: So far this year we�ve been on the road promoting FF in Fremont, Santa Clara, Berkeley, Campbell, and Dublin, for a total of six presentations. Ivan Heling brought in new members with his program on a Costa Rica exchange in Campbell, and our meeting in Dublin attracted some prospects. The groups have included Retired Public Employees, P.E.O., AARP, and Chamber of Commerce�s Women in Business. Thanks to Ivan and Natalie Heling and to Carolyn Linnard and Chris Vitalis for lining up engagements and venues for us. Have DVD, sound system, flip charts, PowerPoint, and posters and WILL TRAVEL! Book us, please!

Area Groups: Louise Heiduk, the Area Groups Coordinator, and her team of Area Reps are doing a great job of getting the groups organized for a year of enjoyable activities closer to home. We have consolidated into three groups to better serve the current distribution of members. The new roster notates your Area Group assignments.

Nominating Committee: The group is appointed and waiting for your input on 2009 officers.

Leadership Conference: Barry and I and Natalie and Ivan Heling attended the San Diego conference in early May, where Ivan made a stellar presentation on the finances of exchanges. Both couples enjoyed home stays with members in the area and established closer contacts with the cadre of dynamic club presidents now serving in the California chapters.

Friendship Forest Gala in July: At long last, all of the memorial elements and other fixtures for our beloved forest are coming together in San Jose�s Emma Prusch Farm Park. It�s time to celebrate in a big way when we gather for our annual picnic on July 13. Definitely save that date!

In a nutshell, these are many of the major elements of an energetic and growing club. I hope to see you involved in as many of these facets as possible.

�Karen L. McCready, President

Natalie Heling (FFSFBA Activities), Barry Rader (Exchange Director and past FFSFBA President), George Brown (FFI President), Karen McCready (FFSFBA President) and Ivan Heling (FFSFBA Treasurer), at the Western Leadership Conference in San Diago.

Photo courtesy of Natalie Heling

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NORTH MORETON EXCHANGE

Mark your calendars for the week of June 14�20. The ambassadors from North Moreton, Australia will be here at that time. Plan to join us for a great Welcome Brunch at the Clough residence on the morning of the 15th, and a fantastic Farewell Dinner at the Greenwald residence on June 19th. Watch your mail and emails for more information.

�Louise Heiduk

CANADIAN EXCHANGE UPDATE

Whenever I write about the list of members for this exchange, I know that it will soon change. Right now we have 19 members of our club going to the Maritimes in Canada with two more from the Reno/Tahoe club. From there we fly to Hamilton, Ontario, with 19 and one more coming to Toronto. The Reno/Tahoe Club will be supplying 5 for Hamilton, and in Winnipeg we will have a total of 24.

If anyone is interested in being on the waiting list, let me know. So far I have taken 4 from the waiting list; you may be next.

�Barry Rader, ED

RENO/TAHOE MINI EXCHANGE

Seven lucky members of the Canadian Exchange made it to Reno to meet our partners in the exchange. On April 4, Karen and I, Darlene Boyanich, Roger Riffenburgh, and Janis Maurry rode to Reno on the California Zephyr, while Wil and Louise Heiduk drove up. Along the way we discussed our upcoming exchange and other important FFI topics. Upon arriving, only ten minutes late, we were greeted by our hosts and whisked away to fantastic dinners. On Saturday many of us visited the wonderful sights and met with the Reno/Tahoe club for an interesting pot luck. On Sunday we gathered at the Peppermill Casino to enjoy a tasty buffet. Later that day some of us made it up to Virginia City where we were overjoyed by being part of an 1880 celebration at the Bucket of Blood. Locals dressed as if they had just come in from the mine, or from church. The music came from a local band playing country and western and sounding like �the man in black.� The two step, spurs, guns, badges and long dresses were in evidence.

The next morning, Monday, we were supposed to leave at 10:30 a.m. but were notified that the train was running late, due to a boulder that hit the train in Colorado. No problem: more time with our hosts and the wonderful countryside. At 3 p.m., we all gathered only to find out the train would arrive an hour later. OK, no problem. We boarded the train and made it to Davis without any trouble. Yep, two hours of sitting, but not moving: new engine attached in Colorado broke down. Finally, we continued on to our last stop, Emeryville. We arrived about 1 a.m., and most got tucked into bed a couple of hours later.

The trip might have been too long coming home, but the mini-exchange was terrific. The people were fun and motivated (only 28 active members), but almost everybody comes to all events. As an aside, the R/T club attracts members from a huge area, as we do; it�s about 100 miles from their northern community to their southern one.

�Barry Rader

The Reno/Tahoe mini exchange participants. Photo courtesy of Barry Rader

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DEMOS CARRY GREETINGS

Burt and Diane Demo report that they will be seeing FF friends in Herne, Germany, Tralee, Ireland, Glasgow, Scotland and Manchester, England. If any FF members hosted ambassadors from those FF clubs, perhaps they would like the Demos to deliver greetings for them.

PILGRIMAGE PROJECT

Friendship Force International is developing the Pilgrimage Project, which is a program to use the experience of Friendship Force to foster travel experiences. This will foster better understanding of people from our communities who are of different faiths. There are funds available to help faith leaders and �pilgrims� travel to areas of the world which have faith communities representing three main faiths in the U. S.�Christian, Muslim and Jewish. The initial travels will be to Turkey, Jordan and Israel.

There has been some initial contact with faith leaders and organizations interested in interfaith programs, but there is still a lot of contacting and organizing to do. If you�re interested in learning more about the project, please email me. Although I will be in Africa April 15�May 30, I think I can forward info to you; then when I return on June 1st, we can arrange to talk, and perhaps help the FFSFBA be leaders in setting up a tour of faith leaders and people of faith. Friendship Force is not using this project to become a faith-based organization�the purpose is to enable groups of faith to travel together (and maybe to become members of FFSFBA). We anticipate there will be opportunity for some FFSFBA members to join these groups. FFI has some grant funding available to help this Pilgrimage Project.

Thanks for considering this very interesting effort. I hope to hear from you.

�Ron Greenwald

WOULDN'T YOU LIKE TO LEAD AN EXCHANGE?

Of course, the heart and soul of Friendship Force is exchanges, both outbound and incoming. Like any experience of traveling with groups or hosting groups, exchanges require leadership. Like any leadership role, that of Exchange Director has its challenges and rewards. With the three exchanges slated for 2009, the experiences should be especially rewarding. We will be outbound to San Antonio and Dallas, Texas in April, taking in the San Antonio festival. In July, our hosts from Chemnitz, Germany, will be visiting us. In October, we will have the exceptional opportunity to travel to Cape of Good Hope, South Africa.

So, you might ask what you would be getting yourself into. The ED is primarily a coordinator: signing up ambassadors, assembling and directing a committee, communicating with the counterpart ED in the other country or US city, working with a travel agent for outbound exchanges, helping to set up an itinerary for your guests or your traveling group. The advanced assignment of exchanges allows a generous amount of time to get everything in order. The lead time is at least a year, and FFI provides a detailed timeline that enables the ED to stay on top of everything that needs to be done. Because of travel expenses, outbound EDs receive some compensation.

If you are interested in leading any of the aforementioned exchanges or would like to be prepared to lead another in the future, please contact me to sign up for an ED Training on Sunday, July 20, 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. at our home in Fremont. If there is a time conflict, we�ll work something out.

If you have led an exchange and would like to volunteer to be an ED for the Texas, Chemnitz, or South Africa exchange, please let me know soon. Thank you in advance for helping us to make these exchanges happen.

�Karen McCready

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24th BIRTHDAY MEETING TO FEATURE SPEAKER FROM SOUTH AFRICA

How fitting that our speaker on May 18 is from South Africa, the country we will be visiting in October 2009. Sibongile Masuku van Damme, General Manager in the People and Conservation Division of the South African National Parks, is a visiting research fellow at Stanford�s Clayman Institute for Gender Research this quarter. She will speak to us about the People and Conservation Program, whose main aim is to develop mutually beneficial partnerships with communities living on the boundaries of the parks.

Sibongile Masuku van Damme

South Africa has 22 National Parks. To establish conservation enclaves, Black people were removed from the lands of their forebears and re-accommodated as cheap hard labor for building the conservation and tourism infrastructure. International Conservation Bodies such as the IUCN had been making calls for Conservation Agencies not to be �islands in space� but to set up partnerships for their conservation effort with local communities who would derive benefits from such and promote the value of conservation. With the post 1994 government of Nelson Mandela there were calls for Conservation Agencies to make conservation relevant to the needs of the people living in dire states of poverty at their peripheries and suffering the negative impacts of conservation, such as the killing of their livestock and destruction of their fields by animals escaping from park fences.

People and Conservation has responded, addressing community issues through Environmental Education, Community Based Conservation and Economic Empowerment, Cultural Heritage Conservation, Social Science Research, Imbewu Youth Programme.

Join us at the Los Altos Library at 2 p.m., May 18, for this rare opportunity to hear from a leader in South Africa�s rebirth and to share exchange memories with Friendship Force friends.

�Karen McCready

DIRECTIONS FOR THE MAY 18TH MEETING

From northern parts of 880, take Dumbarton Bridge to 101 south. Exit on San Antonio Road west to Los Altos. Cross 82 (El Camino Real) and continue another mile, turning left into the Los Altos Library complex shortly after the police station and intersection (traffic light) at Edith Ave. Park anywhere; several lots are available. Enter the library, then go left to the Community Meeting Room instead of going through the gates into the library proper.

From 880 via Milpitas, take 237 toward Mt. View, exit onto 101 north, exit on San Antonio Road west and proceed as above.

From 280, exit at El Monte Ave. east toward Los Altos and the Bay. Go 1/2 mile then turn left on Foothill Expressway, and the next right onto San Antonio Road. Pass Hillview Ave., then turn right into the library complex and proceed as above.

GALA CELEBRATION AT FRIENDSHIP FOREST ON JULY 13
CALLING ALL PATRONS AND FANS OF FRIENDSHIP FOREST!

This is an early bulletin to alert you that our annual picnic at Prusch Park in San Jose will be extra special this year. The memorial benches and plaques will be in place, signage will be done, and all trees will be clearly identified. It�s time to celebrate all these finishing touches and the hard work that made it all possible. We�re talking mariachi music, local dignitaries, tasty picnic food, and a reunion of all those who got this remarkable project started and kept it going for all these years.

Whom should we invite? We want to include everyone who was instrumental in creating our Forest, such as past members, City of San Jose staff, workers, donors, etc. Let Karen McCready know the names for the guest list.

Many more details to follow, but please save the date and time:
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Noon to 3:00 PM
Emma Prusch Farm Park, 647 South King Road (at Story Road, exit King Road off of 680) San Jose, CA


Mary Alice vanDoorn and Steve Cooper testing a new FFSFBA bench in the Friendship Forest. Photo courtesy of Barry Rader	The Friendship Forest in Prusch Park, San Jose Photo courtesy of Barry Rader

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NEW MEMBERS

Dan Eggerding�Personal History

Dan was born in Valparaiso, Indiana on May 26, 1952. He led a pretty quiet life, taking trips to places like Disneyland, Hollywood and Camp Concordia in Michigan. That was until he took a high school trip to Europe in 1969 with his high school German teacher, Herr Bezick. The trip included a German pen pal named Petra, Dan's best friend, his brother, his mother (a chaperone), his future girlfriend, and his worst enemy, a class bully. It was quite a trip, and it opened his eyes to world travel and making foreign friends.

Since then he has taken at least 35 trips to 55 countries on 6 continents. He is a Test Engineer for Flextronics, which sends him all over the world to their factories, designing and installing test equipment. That pays the bills. He also likes to write travel stories and is starting his own web site hoping to sell some of them. He has completed stories on Southwest China (60 episodes), Brazil (34), Eastern Europe (45) and Franconia (55). He has many more in progress.

Dan loves travel and people, so that�s why he�ll love Friendship Force, which he heard about at Ivan Heling�s presentation at the Campbell Library.

�Dan Eggerding

Introducing Scott and Luree Miller

Scott is originally from Idaho. He currently oversees the University of California/San Francisco Foundation investments and finances, but his CPA expertise has also provided experience from publishing non-profits to banking to writing regulations for accounting standards. His jobs have taken the Millers from San Francisco to Connecticut to Colorado and back to San Francisco (where they now live in the Cow Hollow district).

Luree, originally from Illinois, is a registered nurse working part-time for the Adult Immunization and Travel Clinic with the San Francisco Department of Public Health (she can give advice on all those travel and vaccine needs for Friendship Force exchanges!). They have been married since 1976. Nathaniel, their 26-year-old adopted son from Korea, is working hard to establish his own film production company.

Both Scott and Luree enjoy the city�s cultural diversity, their church, gourmet dining, a good glass of wine, entertaining friends (old and new), skiing (when the knees don't complain), film, and travel anywhere and nearly everywhere. Scott is more adventuresome than Luree�he is the one who was bitten by a dog in Thailand and needed the post-exposure rabies vaccine series! They are enthused about discovering Friendship Force, because its philosophy about learning and understanding the world�s diversity parallels their own.

�Luree Miller

Introducing the Crowes

Both Bill & Martha are mid-west transplants, Bill from Illinois & Martha from Nebraska, but with a combined 90 years of living in the Bay Area. This is the 35th year of a second marriage for both, with an instant combined family of 4 sons, and now 8 grandchildren, ages between 3 and 16, all scattered between California and Australia.

Martha retired from teaching and administration work with the Fremont School District this past year. This is her third time retiring from teaching and we think this one will take.

Bill has had several careers over the years, but finally retired as a paralegal working for a local law firm 5 years ago.

Interests are the San Francisco and Fremont Symphony, Berkeley Rep theater, Mountain View theater, travel, good books, good food, good friends and volunteer work through the Fremont Methodist Church.

�Bill & Martha Crowe

FFSFBA NOMINATIONS FOR 2009

Yes, we�re not even halfway through 2008, but our Board wants to give everyone ample time to consider the leadership for next year. The Executive Board positions are president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer. Because our membership is spread throughout the Bay Area counties, we like to represent a broad range of participants. If you would like to nominate yourself or someone else for one of these positions, please contact one of the following Nominating Committee members:
     Bernice Batchelder
     Faye Butler
     Don Pelland
Thank you for helping to create the best possible leadership for our club.

�Karen McCready, President

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AREA CODES

As you may have noticed, there are some new numbers on your roster between your address and your telephone number. They show to which area group you belong. We now have three area groups: 1. North Bay; 2. Central and South Bay; and 3. East Bay. The main change is that we have combined the East Bay and the Mission San Jose groups. You will also notice that some numbers have a minus sign before them, to denote the Area Group leaders.

�Louise Heiduk

AREA GROUPS

On April 1 the Area Leaders met for lunch at Delancey Street. We discussed reorganization of the area groups. The decision was made to combine the Mission San Jose group and the East Bay group because they are close geographically. We left the North Bay group intact because it is somewhat removed from its closest neighbors. The Central Coast and South Bay groups had just been combined, but with new members that group had become fairly large. We left it intact with the idea that we would plan two activities at the same time to make smaller groups at each activity. We�ll see how that works during this year and readdress the issue next year. Your area leaders have some good plans for gatherings, so read your emails and newsletter, and listen for your phone calls so that you�ll be able to participate.

�Louise Heiduk

SF NORTH BAY AREA 1 CHALLENGE
MAY THROUGH DECEMBER

Just a brief announcement of activities the SF Area North Bay group (Marin to Burlingame) will venture out to do this year. These outings will be open to everyone, so keep an eye open for future emails. Here is the list:

A Walk Through the Mission District; Hidden Murals of San Francisco; Angel Island Tour via Ferry from Tiburon (bag lunch/picnic); Viansi Winery Tour and Lunch (bordering Marin/Sonoma County line); Bay Model in Sausalito, and Lunch; and Dine Around Town, SF to Tommy Toys.

The challenge is to collect a souvenir from each outing; this might require some creativity?

�Gail Boyd, Area 1 Chairperson

AREA 2 NEWS

On Saturday, March 29, 2008 Area 2 members, 24 in all, and 2 guests, gathered in Joy Hewett�s home for a get-acquainted coffee. Delicious food, prepared by many of those in attendance, was served and enjoyed by all. Two games were played to strengthen friendships�and to sharpen thinking ability and memory. Janis Maurry volunteered to chair the next meeting, a pot luck brunch on June 7.

�June Cademartori

EAST BAY AREA GROUP MEETING

You probably know that our East Bay group now includes the former Mission San Jose group. As a result, we expect to be stronger and more active. On Sunday, April 13, 2008, several East Bay members gathered at the Dublin Public Library to participate in an informational meeting for member prospects and to plan area group events for the remainder of the year. Group leader Bill Crowe had sent a letter in advance to initiate suggestions; we took his lead, brainstormed additional ideas, and began to work out carpools. I want to thank the veteran members for sharing their fondest FFSFBA memories, membership chair Mary Pelland and area group coordinator Louise Heiduk for providing support, and Karen Rice, Cathie Flanigan, and Bill Kowalik for bringing prospective members. The beautiful, modern (and free!) facility lent itself well to conversing and networking. We will announce some exciting area events soon.

�Karen McCready

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2008 FFSFBA COMMITTEES

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

President: Karen McCready    President@ffsfba.org
Vice President: Dee Gustavson    VP@ffsfba.org
Secretary: Steve Smallwood     Secretary@ffsfba.org
Treasurer: Ivan Heling      Treasurer@ffsfba.org

STANDING COMMITTEES

Activities Co-Chairs: Lois Smallwood and Natalie Heling   Activities@ffsfba.org
Membership Chair: Mary Pelland     Membership@ffsfba.org
Newsletter Editors: Dave & Dee Gustavson     Newsletter@ffsfba.org
Parliamentarian: Barry Rader      Parliamentarian@ffsfba.org
Publicity Chair:     Publicity@ffsfba.org

EXCHANGE DIRECTORS

Inbound
No. Moreton, Australia�June 13�20: Louise Heiduk InboundA@ffsfba.org

Outbound
Greater Hamilton-Burlington, Ontario, Canada�8/29�9/21: Barry Rader OutboundC@ffsfba.org

Domestic Outbound
Reno/Tahoe�early April: OutboundRTI@ffsfba.org

SUPPORT COMMITTEES

Exchange Banker: Don Pelland     ExchangeBanker@ffsfba.org
Merchandise Chair: Barry Rader     Merchandise@ffsfba.org
Foresters: Don Dillon and Karen Mitchell     Forester@ffsfba.org
Forest Records: Mary Alice vanDoorn
Program Chair: Dee Gustavson     Program@ffsfba.org
Area Group Coordinator: Louise Heiduk     Regional@ffsfba.org
Sunshine: Darlene Boyanich     Sunshine@ffsfba.org
Webmaster: Geri Bechtle     Webmaster@ffsfba.org

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2008 CALENDAR

Sunday, May 18	Birthday Meeting Los Altos Library 1 San Antonio Rd, Los Altos, 2�4 p.m.
June 14�20	North Moreton, Australia Incoming Exchange
Sunday, June 22	Board of Directors Meeting Gustavson home, Los Altos
Sunday July 13	Annual Picnic at Prusch Park San Jose 12�3 p.m.
Sunday, August 17	Board of Directors Meeting
Aug. 29� Sept. 21	Exchange to Greater Hamilton, Ontario, Winnipeg, Maritimes extension
Sunday, Sept. 28	Annual Meeting, Election
October 2�5	FFI International Conference, Gold Coast, Australia
Sunday, Nov. 9	Board of Directors Meeting
Sunday, Dec. 14	Holiday Luncheon at Michaels at Shoreline, Mountain View

FFSFBA website: http://www.ffsfba.org

Friendship Force International
233 Peachtree Street, Suite 2250
Atlanta, Georgia 30303
Tel: 1-404-522-9490, 1-800-554-6715
Fax: 1-404-688-6148
Website: http://www.thefriendshipforce.org

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