Communications Committee
By Mary Williams, Communications Chair

Most new members are introduced to Friendship Force through one of us.
How can YOU help spread the word?

1. Tell your friends about FFD. Friends talk to friends about what they are doing, what they enjoy and what they value.

2. LIKE our FFD Facebook page. When you do, information and announcements about what's going on in the club appear on your own Facebook page. Then - you can SHARE that announcement so that all your FRIENDS can see what we are doing. Exponential exposure of our message to all of our friends!

[Not on Facebook? sign up for a Facebook page if you don't have one. Ask people you know to be your "friends." Visit our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/FriendshipForceDallas/. Or in the search line, type FriendshipForceDallas. You will be taken to our FFD Facebook page. Just under the top banner of the cattle drive there is a place to LIKE the page. Click it. Easy!]

Thanks to Ava Blais and others who are posting events on our Friendship Force Facebook page.

3. If you would like a Friendship Force business card to hand out to someone you meet who seems interested in our club, contact Mary Williams or Pat Peters. One of them will print you ten cards with your name/email on it FREE. Then - pass then out!

Give this one (A card) to people you meet who might be interested in our club. >

< Give this one (B card) to people from other clubs that we might like to visit or have visit us.


- Mary Williams – mwilliamstxtravel@yahoo.com
- Pat Peters – patrycia43@aol.com

4. Invite a friend to our Birmingham events or out next meeting - Saturday July 8, 4 pm at Renner-Frankford Library  (See Meetings).

Other News

• The next Board meeting will be Monday, May 15th, at 1 pm at Mary Latham’s. All members are welcome to attend.

• Patty Niemeyer is heading a search for volunteers for our unfilled positions. If you are interested in any of these positions, please contact Patty at - peanutpatti1@gmail.com.

• edward perez is managing our member database Send any changes of address or email to him - erperez@acm.org. When you receive changes, please update your yearbook

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Membership News
By edward perez, Vice President, Membership - erperez@acm.org

FFD Name Badge Policy

Approved on Feb 14, 2017, this policy states that the club will provide new members of FF Dallas with one name badge without charge. Members may purchase an additional or replacement name badge for $14.00 each or a price approved by the Board. If you need a replacement or a new badge, let edward perez know (erperez@acm.org). He will request our badge supplier, Recognition USA, to make a magnetic style badge for you and mail it to your mailing address on file.

Update

A BIG THANKS to all who invited their friends to our recent meetings. I've sent them information about our club and events. As programs and exchanges are great ways to learn about our club and Friendship Force, please encourage your friends to participate in the Birmingham Inbound Journey in early June as well as to attend our upcoming monthly meetings/events. And remember to attend our events and participate in our Journeys as well. Keep involved in your club and help spread the word about Friendship Force!

I will be scheduling a New Member meeting in either late May or early June. If you have ideas for places to hold the event, please let me know. And if you have any ideas for places where we can meet for "Friendship Gatherings," please let me know…… some examples are:
• Lunches during the daytime (restaurants, picnics, pot lucks)
• Dinners during weeknights (pot lucks or restaurants)
• Outings to arts venues, plays/musicals/concerts, historical parks, festivals/activities, wineries/breweries
• Trips to nearby cities/towns

New Members

Please extend your hand in friendship to new members the next time you see them!

I introduced Camille and Jerry Daugherty in the last newsletter (they joined FFD in December, 2016 & contact info is in the yearbook) – here is a short biography:

Camille and Jerry (Gerald) married Jan, 1966 and they moved to Dallas, Texas in Jan, 1967.
Camille says the best investments they ever made were for her to obtain her Masters of Business Administration (Accounting) while Gerry graduated with a BBA.

After graduation, Camille went to work for a local CPA firm and, in 1980, opened her own CPA firm which she had for 35 years. Gerry joined the army and then the active Reserves. He worked for Travelers Insurance, Howmet Aluminum, Home Depot and ran his own business for nine years until joining Camille’s company as office manager. He is retired while she is semi-retired.

In 1998 Lance, their oldest son, got a job in Paris, France and Camille made reservations. He taught them how to travel abroad and they have continued going to numerous wonderful places. Camille enjoys travel, the theater, cooking, taking piano lessons, movies and socializing with family and friends. They have two sons, Lance and Justin and two delightful grandchildren, Pierce age 13 and Gabby age 13.

They look forward to getting involved in the Friendship Force, traveling with existing friends and making new friends.

Another BIG Friendship Force of Dallas WELCOME to our three newest members – Sharon lives in McKinney and found out about FF from Sharri McIntosh. Kevin & Peggy live in the Las Colinas area and are friends of Paula and edward from way back; they also know the BeHanneseys.

Sharon Rettmeier (who plans to Home Host in June for the Birmingham Journey)
rettmeier@sbcglobal.net

Sharon was born in Rockingham, NC and moved to Charlotte NC when she was 7 yrs. of age. After she completed high school, she moved to Myrtle Beach SC where she eventually met her husband. Since he was in the military, Sharon has lived in many countries. After he retired from the military in the late 1980s, they moved to Allen TX. She was a psychiatric registered nurse for many years. About 11-12 years ago, they moved to McKinney to be near her daughter and family - her other two children and her nine grandkids live nearby. Although she has traveled quite a bit in her life, she would like to see more of the USA as well as Australia and South America. In addition to reading and journaling, she is involved in the McKinney Active Agers 55+ group as well as several Meetup groups.

Kevin & Peggy Yard
yardKP@verizon.net

Kevin & Peggy have lived in Texas since the early 80s. Peggy grew up in New York City and moved to Houston for a marketing job in 1983. Kevin grew up in Erie, PA, attended Univ. of Pittsburgh and Penn St before moving to Dallas for an environmental engineering job in 1981. They have two children - Colleen 26 and Cameron 18. They traveled quite a bit back to visit families in Pennsylvania and New York, but really enjoy visiting Lake Travis outside of Austin TX. They enjoy going to theatre productions, golfing (Kevin) and exercise (Peggy), and are involved with Dallas First Unitarian Church (previously attended Horizon Unitarian Universalist in Carrollton). They are interested in FF journeys to various parts of the USA as well as internationally.

Membership updates

These people have address changes. Please contact edward perez or Mary Williams for updates and  add them to in your yearbook;

Diana Bosworth
Carolyn McMurray

Mary Williams heard from Yvonne Klusman Geissler [former member now living in Burgdorf, Germany] yklusman@aol.com:

Hope all is well with you.
For the winter holidays we were in Lanzarote [Canary Islands], as usual. Unfortunately we had to rebook our return flight, Erich had a stroke. He is now in a nursing home, will never walk again, will never live in his own home again.
He has made peace with his situation. The care in the Home is excellent. He participates in all the activities and likes the food.
We are so grateful about the wonderful times we had, the places we visited and the friends we made. Erich turned 87 in February. May 5th is our 14th wedding anniversary.

Greetings to all our friends at FF Dallas
Light and Blessings,

Yvonne

Member achievements

We have many talented members in our group! Please notify Felicity if you know of anyone with a story to tell. Here is a submission by Ray Enstam our "Coordinator in Chief" of International Journeys:

Adventures with the Friendship Force of Dallas
by Raymond Enstam - Member since 1996 – 20 years!

I have been asked to write about an unexpected adventure from traveling with Friendship Force. Many years ago I went on a home stay exchange to Trujillo, Peru and while there came upon a book in common use in the schools of Peru to teach about the history of Peru in the Amazon. It was named "Sangama: A Story of the Amazon Jungle." It was published in 1942 by Arturo D. Hernández in Spanish. I found out that it also had been published in French and German in the 1950s, but never in English. I thought that the English language readers ought at least to have the opportunity to read this work. The daughter of the family I was staying with is an attorney and she helped me find the family of the author (then deceased). I contacted them and with her help negotiated worldwide publishing rights in English to all the works of Hernández, as well as the Spanish rights in North America.

Checking on his other writings, I found that in the 1930s he had interviewed a young woman who had been kidnapped in 1927 by a fierce tribe of cannibals from the jungle interior. She had been given to one of the warriors and had spent four years as a captive before her daring escape. She learned their language and was treated as a member of this tribe, observing things no outsider had ever been witness to and could not witness without changing the tribe by their very presence. Hernández wrote a book based upon her time in the tribe. The book is entitled "Selva Trágica: Captive in the Jungle." This book had been available in Spanish and French, but never in English. Working with the license agreement that I have, I have translated both of these books into English and they are now available on Amazon. I have also published and sell on Amazon the original Spanish of these two books.

When I first joined the Friendship Force I never imagined where this worldwide organization could lead me. There is a world out there to discover. You just have to look.
Ray

Michael Wald, "travel writer who posed as an attorney for 35 years," publishes a travel blog with many interesting stories on it. Two are on our Articles page about the Amazon jungle trip. He recently wrote a story about Top O Hill in Arlington. See it on his blog:
http://untroddenla.com/when-dallas-was-las-vegas/

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New terms from FFI

An exchange is now called a ‘Journey’
The incoming Exchange Director is now called the ‘Host Coordinator'
The outgoing Exchange Director is now called the ‘Ambassador Coordinator’
 
Updates

FFI is now sending out a quarterly e-newsletter which you should receive if you’ve provided your correct email address to edward perez, our membership chair.

FFI is now sending out a quarterly e-newsletter which you should receive if you’ve provided your correct email address to edward perez, our membership chair.

Three new FFI board members have officially been welcomed - Bobbie Mulholland of FF Adelaide, Australia, Birgit Wagner of FF Varel, Germany, and Stuart May of Boca Raton, Florida, USA.

On January 23, 2017, Friendship Force International received the Annual Grantee of Merit Award for 2017 by the Open World Leadership Center. The Annual Grantee of Merit Award is presented to organizations who have demonstrated outstanding service to Open World Leadership Center.

FFI Website

FFI has recently unveiled its new website and mission statement at https://www.friendshipforce.org/. Check out the upcoming outbound Journeys on the FFI website so you can "Experience Different Views. Discover Common Ground" in the USA or another country https://friendshipforce.org/journeys/

Stories of Friendship

Send stories of your FF experiences that have helped eliminate barriers that separate us and bring us closer together. Send to: http://storiesoffriendship.org/

Publicity

Some really exciting publicity we are a part of - Rick Steves is asking for feedback and reviews - and PLEASE comment on his Facebook post!!

He is gathering info for his second edition of his excellent book, ‘Travel as a Political Act’, and it seems we will be listed in that book upon publication! He asks to let him know ‘if you have any experience with these groups,’ so please chime in on his initial Facebook post or on his website's blog to second his endorsement of FFI! Leave your comments at: https://www.facebook.com/ricksteves/posts/10154860587037745

In friendship,
Matthew Nidek
Director of Operations

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FFI International Conference 2017 - 40th Anniversary
Manchester, UK

August 24 (6 pm) to August 28 (12 pm), 2017
Midland Hotel, Manchester, UK

Manchester day tours, including: a Beatles tour, indoor skydiving, the Imperial War Museum, the National Football Museum, a private canal cruise, city walking tours, an English Manor House and gardens, the BBC headquarters, and a local brewery.

Time is running out for you to celebrate 40 Years of Friendship Force with us in the United Kingdom this August! Here’s a preview of the fantastic lineup of speakers, workshops and plenary sessions we have planned for you!

Speakers

Keynote Speaker: Benedict Allen, TV Presenter, Explorer and Author

We are proud to announce additions to our speaker lineup, including industry experts in the fields of volunteer travel, nonprofit management, public relations, and philanthropy:

- Sucheta Rawal is an award-winning food and travel writer, author, cooking instructor and philanthropist. As the founder and executive director of Go Eat Give, Sucheta’s personal mission is to raise awareness of global cultures through meaningful travel, good eating, and community interaction. She founded Go Eat Give as a blog in 2011, through which she wanted to educated readers about sustainable and volunteer traveling, learning about authentic cuisines, and engaging with locals. Go Eat Give is now a 501(c)(3) registered non-profit serving audiences across 120 countries. Sucheta has traveled to 67 countries (and counting) bringing back exclusive experiences, which she shares through writing, speaking engagements and cooking classes.

- Andrew Bowen, APR (Accredited in Public Relations), is the founder and principal at Clearview Communications and Public Relations Inc., a multi-disciplinary PR/Marketing firm Bowen founded in 2002. Bowen’s professional PR experience includes executive positions at two international marketing/advertising/public relations agencies, Ketchum and Fletcher Martin Ewing, where he led the Public Affairs Teams. His expertise encompasses all aspects of traditional and social media, media relations, newswriting, commentaries, speech writing, public affairs, crisis communications/crisis management and reputation management.

- Jeanine Tousignant - President of Jeanine & Company, Jeanine Tousignant's philosophy is “Give where your heart is” when it comes to working with and advising donors and organizations about philanthropy and fundraising. Jeanine has worked with individual donors, companies, and foundations for over 20 years to help them maximize their giving to match their values. She also specializes in shaping nonprofit fundraising programs to match the right givers with the mission that matters to them. With this fundraising and relationship expertise, Jeanine is helping FFI clubs maximize their fundraising techniques and provides information about legacy giving (planned giving) to FFI members.

These new faces will be in Manchester, along with our other dynamic speakers:
- Suzy Smith Bennitt - former FFI President and daughter of founder Wayne Smith
- Jeremi Snook - FFI CEO and President
- Benedict Allen - Explorer, BBC Presenter, and author
- Stefanie Powers - Hollywood actress and philanthropist

Read more about these speakers on the World Conference website.

Workshops

This Year's World Conference Workshop topics Include:
- How To Be a Brit: A Humorous Cultural Journey
- The British Invasion: Music of the 1960s
- Manchester's Art and History
- Regency Rejigged: Dance like Jane Austen
- Documenting Journeys with Videos, Blogs, and Photography
- Journey Requests and the Planning Process
- Making Friends and Making an Impact
- Practical Tools to Engage the Media
- Revitalizing Europe: From Vision to Action
- Philanthropy 101
- A Multigenerational Approach to Recruitment
- Myths and Realities of Great Leaders
- Club Best Practices

*All workshops are subject to change*

Other Plenary Highlights

- A Welcome to Manchester
- Global Reach: Meet the Delegates
- Beatles Sing-Along
- Host Cup Ceremony and Annual Awards
- Friendship Force Theatre
- Q&A with the FF International Board of Directors and President
- My FF Life: A Story in One Sentence
- Raffles and Prizes

Visit our World Conference website here and reserve your spot in our delegation today!
Flyer: http://www3.thefriendshipforce.org/downloads/Manchester_Flyer.pdf

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Capital Campaign

We are proud to announce the official launch of Friendship Force International’s 40th Anniversary Capital Campaign!

As members, we wanted you to be the first to learn of this exciting, new anniversary campaign!

Around the globe, you all have marked this remarkable milestone in grand style by holding more than sixty 40th Anniversary Celebrations. By launching the 40th Anniversary Capital Campaign today, we are hoping to build on the momentum of your incredible celebrations to propel Friendship Force forward - to the next 40 years and beyond!

The campaign will invest in Friendship Force now and launch new initiatives for the future – with the common theme of planting the seeds of friendship. Our objective is to raise $1,000,000 to accomplish the following three goals:

Goal 1: Expand our core by strengthening worldwide membership and building new clubs
Goal 2: Engage future leaders by providing new programs for youth and families
Goal 3: Activate a new socially-responsible travel network

We are grateful for our FFI community’s wonderful support through initiatives like the “I’m In!” Campaign and annual donations over the years. For the 40th Anniversary Campaign, we will be seeking support from within our membership and from new sources such as like-minded companies, foundations, and donors who share the values of Friendship Force.

Are you interested in giving or getting involved with the campaign? Please email me at ceo@friendshipforce.org or Pallie at pallie@friendshipforce.org.

Be sure to visit our new 40th Anniversary Campaign page to see our Campaign Case for Support, read about the objectives for this fundraising campaign, and learn how the funds will be utilized to further our mission.
As we continue to grow and invest more deeply in our mission, your support will remain incredibly important. Thank you for your support of Friendship Force International and for playing an integral role in our global community!

In friendship,
Jeremi Snook, FFI President and CEO

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Remember that you are welcome to join other clubs on their exchanges if there is room. When you travel with another club you help fill their seats and make new friends in another club as well as your destination club. See the FFI World of Friends Catalog for a list of all exchanges with openings: http://www2.thefriendshipforce.org/catalog/ffi_listonly.aspx.

If you are interested in any of these exchanges, contact the Host Coordinator ASAP. The decision for a Journey to go or to cancel occurs at least 90 days preceding a scheduled date. Notice of remaining seats can be out of date as Journeys fill and there are cancellations. Contact the Host Coordinator for the most current information.

Please contact clubs well in advance, as an exchange may cancel if the Host Coordinator doesn’t know about your interest.

See where some other clubs are going on our Other Clubs page.

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