“Changing the Way You See The World”

Hats off to FFDallas for being the best host of the 2009 SW Regional Conference! I have received many compliments on a job well done, and for planning a fun-filled weekend for our 93 attendees who came from the 10 southwest clubs, as well as guests who flew in from the Midwest, east coast, Hawaii, and Canada! 

A special thanks goes to the conference committee (edward perez, Paula Rose, Mary Williams, Teresa Wilkin, Mary Suther, Ray Enstam, Mary Latham, Jim Bourn, and Ken Walker) and all the additional volunteers who helped make our conference a success. As the conference coordinator, I appreciated the opportunity to work with such a talented and organized group of volunteers! If you missed the conference, you’ll just have to ask a member who can tell you about the wonderful small group dinners, the engaging special guest speakers from SMU and Dallas Arts District, the informative discussions with the FFI representatives, the meaningful workshops led by our members and other club leaders, the exciting raffle prizes, and the dazzling entertainment. Save the date for next year’s conference, which will be hosted by the FF Rio Grand Valley Feb. 2010.

Our club welcomed 13 guests at the January meeting for the multimedia presentation on the Costa Rica exchange. We are always encouraged by the increased interest in Friendship Force, and hope to see more new members in our club. Please continue to invite your friends and neighbors to one of our monthly meetings. The March meeting will be a celebration of “World Friendship Day”, recognizing Friendship Force as an organization that promotes global friendship and peace. 

This issue marks a change in newsletter editors. I want to thank Ken Walker for the exceptional job he has done in putting together informative and interesting publications over the past year. My husband John, who assumes the duties starting with this edition, has big shoes to fill.
We have a busy calendar with lots of opportunities to participate and promote Friendship Force of Dallas. Hope to see you at our next meeting!

~Wendy

March Meeting

Program: 

Make reservations by Mar 3, 2009, checks payable to Friendship Force of Dallas. Send to Dora Stahl, edstahl@swbell.net 

Program:

Henny Houston will speak at the 

March Meeting. 

Note: Our April meeting will be the Farewell Dinner for our San Francisco inbound exchange: April 29

2009 SW Regional Conference Wrap-up 

The Southwest 2009 Regional Conference was a rip roaring success as close to 100 Friendship Force members from five states gathered at the Crowne Plaza Hotel February 6-8. 

Friday evening attendees enjoyed ethnic dinners while the presidents of the clubs got to share information with FFI representatives Debbie Powell and Dave Kalan.

On Saturday morning guest speaker Michael Colatrella, director of SMU’s Dispute Resolution program, explained the process of managing conflict by first listening well, acknowledging what the other person is saying, refocusing by summarizing your understanding of the problem, and then asking questions to fill in important information.

Donald Winspear gave a preview of the Arts District of Dallas, which will be one of the largest concentrations of visual and performing arts organizations in the country. 

Guest speakers Michael Colatrella (left) and Donald Winspear (right)

Club presidents:

SW Regional rep Jim Young 

           Teresa Wilkin wins a raffle prize.

Thanks to Mary Latham, edward perez and Ken Walker for lots of great photos.

     

President Wendy Whaley

(with John) presides.                                                  FFDallas Conference Attendees  

Workshops on a range of topics were presented. Many were lead by FFDallas members sharing their knowledge and experience. After an elegant dinner at the hotel, those attending were treated to a performance by the Tap Dazzlers, who proved that age has nothing to do with how high you can kick. At the end of the day the torch was passed to Rio Grand Valley president Wanda Boush, who is hopeful that she will get a little help from her friends in Dallas in putting together next year’s conference.

Check out the SW Conf 09 page for a link to Ken Walker’s slide show of the SW Regional Conference. Also available are handouts from the conference and a link to the Performing Arts video shown by Donald Winspear. 

Inbound Exchange - San Francisco

Our inbound ambassadors from San Francisco will be with us from April 25 – 30, 2009, and we will be looking forward to having our own members spend the week with us meeting our new friends. We have enough home hosts and some day hosts and small dinner hosts but we are needing more. If you would like the help in that capacity, contact Dale Klosterman, ED,  Georgia Sigalos - home hosts, Ruth Barrow - day hosts, Brud Kisner - small group dinners, or one of the event hosts listed below.

See schedule with more specifics. A flyer will be coming to members to sign up for these events. Ambassador's fees are paid by the club.

Saturday, April 25
Visitors Arrive in the morning (Actual time to be determined).
8:00 PM - Rodeo (Ed Edgren) Real Texas Festival, Mesquite, TX. Many activities going on this day

     outside the arena. Cost $10 

Sunday, April 26 (Pam)
10:00 AM - Tour of Mandolyn Arabian Hill Ranch (Arabian horse farm), Aubrey, TX 
1:00 PM - BBQ lunch a Clark’s Outpost, Tioga, TX. Cost $15
6:00 PM - Welcome Pot Luck Dinner for visitors and all club members at home of Ed and Dora Stahl

     Cost $5 and pot luck

Monday, April 27 (Paula Rose)
10:00 AM - Dallas Arboretum.  Cost: $8 senior, $5 per car without membership. Free admission and

     free car admission for two with Arboretum membership.  Let us know if you have a membership. 
12:00 PM - Bring picnic lunch
6:00 PM - Small group dinners at members’ homes (TBA) 

Tuesday, April 28 Dallas Day (Jim Bourn)
9:30 AM - Tour of Dallas including Dallas’ new Performing Arts district; meet at Union Station.

11:00 AM - Sixth Floor (Kennedy) Museum. Adults $13.50. Seniors $12.50 - includes audio guide (or

     2/1 tickets with KERA member card). Let us know if you have KERA membership.

1:00 PM - Lunch at Cadillac Bar (West End). Cost $10
2:00 PM - walk to Fountain Place and Dallas Museum of Art
 
Wednesday, April 29
Free day for shopping or activities with home hosts or day hosts 
7:00 PM - Farewell Party (Sandy Kaiser). Cost $10 (southern cuisine) at the home of Roger & Sandy

      Kaiser, McKinney, TX

Thursday, April 30 

Visitors leave. Final farewell at the airport (Love Field).

We will continue to have updates regarding the above events, etc. Names in parentheses will be in charge of events.

Outbound Exchanges

See more details on our Exchanges page.

Sibiu, Romania exchange and tour

May 13-26. Our club exchange to Romania is almost filled at 12-14. In addition to a 7-day home stay at Sibiu, Romania our group will visit Bucharest, Sinai and Brasov for 2 days. The weather should be very good as we visit 13-14th century churches, country lanes and small villages in our dedicated small bus. Teresa Wilkin has assumed the ED role from Ed Edgren. To find out more information about this opportunity please contact Teresa at teresawilkin@yahoo.com.

Sacramento inter-club exchange
The Sacramento exchange arranged for August 3-8 is a GO with 12 ambassadors signed up so far. The Sacramento club can take up to 20 people, so if you want to go, contact Mary Williams ASAP at txtravel@flash.net. Cost is $135 plus your transportation to get there. The group is looking forward to sightseeing in this historic area and meeting new friends. See the flyer here and request an application form from Mary.

Spanish Language School and homestay in Bogota, Columbia

July 11-18, 2009. Ray Enstam is exchange director for a combined Exchange and Spanish Language School offered by Friendship Force International. The event will include one week of homestay combined with a total immersion Spanish language school offered by professional instructors. Participants will attend classes in the mornings and participate in excursions and events in the afternoons and evenings with the Friendship Force of Bogotá host club, in addition to practicing Spanish with their home hosts. This is part of a new series of exchanges to be offered by Friendship Force International and several groups have already traveled from Germany to study English in the US. This will be the first outbound language exchange offered to Americans. Classes will be offered on an intermediate and advanced level and the cost is $440 plus travel. Anyone wanting more information about this unique opportunity should contact Ray Enstam at enstam@sbcglobal.net.

Dreaming of Australia?
The San Antonio club is inviting other clubs to help fill its exchange with two clubs on the Gold Coast of Australia. They have two options available: the two week exchange ($2,498*) or the two week exchange plus a three day tour in Sydney ($3,077*). Travel times are August 18-September 1, or August 8-September 4 if taking the three day optional tour of Sydney. Contact Donna or Hayden Stewart at haydendonna@sbcglobal.net for more information. Price includes trip cost, FF fee and air fare.

Discover China 

September 14-October 1 (or return Oct 5 with extension). Friendship Force Int’l invites you to join in reaching out to the citizens of China to create a new bond for our two countries. Trip fee is $2,859 + airfare. Experience a one-night home stay with families in Nanjing, China. Tours include the Yangtze River Cruise, the Terra Cotta Warriors in Xi’an, the Great Wall and the Forbidden City in Beijing. An extension to celebrate  the national holiday is available.  Contact Teresa Wilkin for more information. 

UPDATE: This change has been canceled.

Exchanges for 2010
Ray Enstam, the International Exchange Coordinator, announced that the Dallas Club has received our proposed exchanges for 2010. We have been offered an inbound from Haliburton Highlands, Canada (in Ontario) for April 2010. As an outbound we have been offered Izmir, Turkey in October 2010. Izmir is on the Aegean coast and is the third largest city in Turkey. In classical times it was known as Smyrna. Its history goes back 5,000 years to 3,000 BC. It is near the ancient sites of Ephesus and Troy, and not very far from Istanbul. This is a popular exchange destination and there are almost 5 requests to go there for every available exchange. Both exchanges are subject to acceptance by the other club, but we keep our fingers crossed. 

Send your news and articles to our new Newsletter Editor: John Whaley - jwhaley@mail.smu.edu. 

The newsletter is published every other month. Deadlines are:  Feb 20, April 20, June 20, Aug 20, Oct 20 and Dec 20.

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