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Friendship Force
of Sacramento Inc.
www.thefriendshipforce.org
www.ffsacramento.org
January 2015
Special Points
of Interest
• Thurs., Jan 8
1:00 Board Meeting & 3:30 General
Meeting at Arden
Dimick Library
• Thurs., Feb 12
Board Meeting &
General Meeting
Time & Place TBA
I
Inside this issue:
Calendar of
Events
2
Announcements 3-4
Photos
5
Minutes
Summary
6
Greetings from the President
The 2015 year is upon us. The more “mature” we
get, the faster the years seem to go.
We ended our year with a great send-off with the
dinner and meeting at the Firebird Restaurant.
Truly a fabulous time was had by all. The meal
was delicious and well chosen by our Activities
Committee members, and our accordion
entertainer made the place jump. We had
clapping, shouting, singing, and even dancing.
The restaurant was mostly ours. We had our own
end of the building, and it all worked out perfectly.
A big Thanks to Glenn Tilton for chairing another
event! Marty of course contributed as always, so it was a great ending to a
great year. We also collected $600 towards our selected charity, so it was a
very successful afternoon and evening.
Our new year will begin with a newly elected board, several new appointed
chairs and an activities calendar almost completed for the entire year! The
first board meeting will be on January 8th at 1 pm at the Arden-Dimick Library.
Come if you wish and watch the new board function. Otherwise come to the
general meeting at 3:30.
Our first general meeting will be on Intergenerational trips. FFI is encouraging
all clubs to look at how they can contribute to the “Next Gen”, so we are
starting off our year with some thoughts, experiences, fun and of course
photos. Marty will be leading this presentation along with George and Lynn
Meyer, who also presented at the conference on this subject in Auckland, New
Zealand, just three months ago. If any of you have had the experience of
taking a grandchild along on a trip, sponsored, planned, or otherwise, please
come and share. After the presentation we will brainstorm if our club might be
able to put on an exchange for a Next Generation group in 2016.
Looking forward to a successful and fulfilling 2015 year.
Pat Ghiglieri, President
Friendship Force of Sacramento Inc.
Page 2
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
Exchange Dates and Events - 2015
Thurs., Jan. 8
1:00 pm Board Meeting and 3:30 pm General Meeting at Arden-Dimick
Library, 891 Watt Ave., Sacramento. Topic: Intergenerational Trips led by
Marty McKnew and Lynn and George Meyer
Thurs., Feb. 12
Board Meeting and General Meeting. Place & Time TBA
Karen Smith - Chair, Ginger Rutland - Speaker on Black History Month
March 13-20,
2015
Outbound Exchange to Blue Mountains, Australia
Marty McKnew, ED
March 20-22
Two-day stopover in Adelaide
March 22-28.
2015
Outbound Exchange to Mt Gambier, Australia
Marty McKnew, ED
May 28 - June 4
2015
Inbound Exchange from Christchurch, New Zealand
Pat McVicar, ED
July 8-14, 2015
Outbound Exchange to Whidbey Island, WA
Patty Wood, ED
August 14-21,
2015
Inbound Exchange from Birmingham, AL
Helen Flach, ED
Aug. 29-31,
2015
World Conference in Vancouver, Canada
Friendship Force of Sacramento Inc.
Page 3
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Happy New Year
As the new year is upon us, we are ready for a fresh start. Our new board
members are in place, as are our exchange directors for both inbound and
outbound exchanges in 2015.
________________________________________
Dues are due
It's time to pay dues for 2015. The rate is still $35 for singles or $65 for families.
You can pay online at the website, www.ffsacramento.org, or send a check to
the treasurer, Ross Deter, 6405 Laughlin Rd., Kelsey, CA 95667. Dues for new
members who joined after September 2014 will be due 12 months after they
joined.
________________________________________
Welcome to our two newest Members
Niefia Zupancic of Sacramento learned of us through the Travel Meetup Group
(Tom Flynn, Helen Flach and others). She is a nurse at Kaiser and also
teaches nursing at Sac State. She enjoys traveling as her schedule permits
and also cooking. She is willing to day host and assist with parties.
Alice Hammel of Sacramento is retired from medical market research. She
enjoys travel, needlework, reading, and art, and is willing to home host. She
heard of Friendship Force through friends in New York, and has already signed
up to go on an exchange with the Dallas Club to Azerbaijan.
Helen Flach
_________________________________
General Meeting - 3:30 pm on Thursday, January 8
Our first meeting of the year will be at the Arden-Dimick Library, 891 Watt Ave.,
and the topic will be Intergenerational Exchanges. Lynn & George Meyer and
Marty McKnew will lead the discussion. Please come and participate.
Friendship Force of Sacramento Inc.
Page 4
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Webmaster Wanted
If you are comfortable working on the computer and are willing to help our club for
one or two hours per month we can use you! Our Webmaster, Chris Smith, wears
several hats for the club. Now that the website is up and running fairly smoothly
he would like to hand off the job to someone else. There will be a few hours of
training for you to learn the basics of the program, but it isn't hard. No need to
learn HTML or any other programming language, you just click on "options" and
type similar to a Word document. Please call Chris at (916) 712-6979 if you can
step in for an hour or two per month.
____________________________________
Holiday Party Report
Friendship Force members and friends met Sunday, December 7, at the Firebird
Restaurant in Carmichael for a Russian Theme Holiday Party and Year End
General Meeting. We enjoyed traditional Russian and Ukrainian foods like
borsch, cabbage rolls, beet salad, chicken pelmini, and several others. The food
was served family style to each table group.
The accordion music set a nice European tone to the room and moved several
like Ken Smith and Carol Chesbrough to get up and dance. We even formed a
conga line around and through the tables. It was festive. President Marty called
us into session for the Year End Meeting and introduced and thanked the
outgoing board members with a gift. Then she helped us welcome the new board
members for 2015.
We donated $600.00 to the Gifts From The Heart, our annual charity chosen to
make a holiday donation. The Gifts from the Heart Program is a holiday gift
giving program of Child Protective Services, Senior & Adult Services Divisions,
and the Public Guardian/Conservator programs in the Sacramento Department of
Health & Human Services. For more information see their website. We have
received a letter of thanks from Tammy Liu, Volunteer and Intern Coordinator. Glenn Tilton, Activities Committee
Friendship Force of Sacramento Inc.
DECEMBER PHOTOS
Page 5
Friendship Force of Sacramento Inc.
Page 6
Mission: To promote global understanding across the barriers that separate people
Vision:
Each individual will make a contribution to global goodwill. • The Friendship
Force worldwide network of clubs and individuals will overcome differences among
people and nations. • By connecting the world, one friend at a time, we will create a
world of friends that becomes a world of peace.
THE FRIENDSHIP FORCE OF SACRAMENTO
Notes from Holiday Party at Firebird Restaurant
December 7, 2014
The Annual Holiday Party was held this year at the Russian-themed Firebird Restaurant
continuing our exposure to traditions and foods from other countries. The Master of
Ceremonies was Glenn Tilton who introduced guests. Attendees were entertained by
accomplished accordion player, Nicolai, while we all tried to solve the Travel Word Search
game prepared by Gwen Tilton.
President Marty McKnew presented her annual report acknowledging contributions of Club
members. She also shared the results of the FFI member survey completed earlier this year.
The new Board was also introduced.
Following are some of the projected presentations for the coming year:
• January 8: Marty and Lynn Meyer will present “Going on a Trip with Grandchildren.”
• February: Black History Month -- Ms. Ginger Rutland will be guest speaker.
• June and September: Roz and Russ Worrall will share their experiences sailing “around
the world.”
Marty announced there was now one space available for the March Australian exchange.
PATTY J. WOOD, Recording Secretary
The Friendship Force of Sacramento
Board Members
President: Pat Ghiglieri
pat.ghiglieri@sbcglobal.net
Membership: Kathy DeBlonk
deblonk@comcast.net
Vice President: Larry Friedman
larryfriedman@gmail.com
Activities Coordinator: Larry Friedman
larryfriedman@gmail.com
Secretary: Sheila Bruton
sbru1@sbcglobal.net
Past President: Marty McKnew
martymcknew@comcast.net
Treasurer: Ross Deter
rdeter40@gmail.com
Publicity: Barbara Beland
bdbeland@gmail.com
Exchange Treasurer: Chris Smith
smithinsac@gmail.com
Newsletter & Crafts Chair: Judy Maas
jemaas@aol.com
Next Newsletter Deadline: January 24, 2015
Please submit your articles to Judy Maas at jemaas@aol.com.