NEWSLETTER. FRIENDSHIP FORCE OF OKLAHOMA July 18, SEMI-ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING AND ELECTION OF OFFICERS - August 7, 2016 OFFICERS & CHAIRPERSONS

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1 NEWSLETTER OFFICERS & CHAIRPERSONS President - Geneva Hancock genhand@swbell.net Vice President -Beth Allen-Eden betheden1898@yahoo.com Secretary - Darlene Browers OKBeam@gmail.com Treasurer - Bob Byrne rjbyrne@yahoo.com Activities: Nelda Paden Communications/Newsletter: Linda Kenney Domestic Exchange Coordinator: Kay Bickham E.D. Selection: Beth Allen-Eden Friendship: Edith Carlstone Gladys Warren Fund:Linda Kenney Historian: Liz King Nominating Committee: Art Black Parliamentarian:Hannelore Chan SEMI-ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING AND ELECTION OF OFFICERS - August 7, 2016 Please plan to attend our very important semi-annual general meeting and election of new officers on Sunday, August 7, 2016, at the UCO International House located at 912 Chowning Avenue, Edmond, OK. (Easiest route is south from Danforth on Chowning). If the parking lot is full in front and back of the building, additional parking is available across the street west. Please bring a finger food to share at 1:00 p.m. followed by the business meeting and election of officers for 2017 at 1:30 p.m FFO ELECTION OF OFFICERS August 7, 2016 A Nominating Committee composed of FFO members Art Black, Chair, Darlene Browers, Ray Doonkeen, Ruth Green and Ron Kenney participated in an vote to select candidates to serve as FFO officers during the year The following members were nominated: Geneva Hancock, President Beth Allen-Eden, Vice President Bob Byrne, Treasurer Darlene Browers, Secretary Each of these members has been contacted by the committee and they agree to serve if elected. In accordance with the Bylaws, the election of officers will take place at the FFO midyear general meeting to be held on August 7, Additional nominations from the floor may be made by an active member provided the consent of the nominee has been secured. Also, as a qualified voter, make sure your dues are paid so your vote counts. Page 1

2 PRESIDENT S LETTER - GENEVA HANCOCK I hope you are having a wonderful summer. I personally am excited that I will be traveling with a group of ten people from FFO on August 19 when we visit the Mid-Willamette Valley Friendship Force. I have not had an opportunity to visit the State of Oregon and look forward to learning about their way of life. Art Black did a great job of putting this exchange together. The exchange will include ten more FF members from clubs in Montana, Florida. Colorado and Tennessee. Today, I would like to focus on Friendship Force International. During their recent Board of Directors meeting, they decided to implement some changes that will affect our club during the next three years. The World Conference for 2017 is already in the planning stage and will be held in Manchester, England on August In the past, we have had an international meeting each year. Following the meeting in Manchester in 2017, the World Conference will be held every other year,; therefore, the next one would be in The meeting schedule for the S.W. Regional Conference will be every other year as well. During the year when there is no World Conference, we will plan a regional conference. In the past, we have scheduled a regional conference each year. The next conference would be in During the year when there is no regional conference, the club presidents from the 10 clubs in the S.W. Region will meet and a different club will host each time as we have done in the past.the next Regional Conference will be in Some other changes approved were an increase in membership dues beginning January 2017 and enrollment in the Delta Airlines SkyBonus Program. Now we can support FFI when booking flights directly through Delta, while also still earning our own SkyMiles rewards as well. Details were mailed to all members recently, but if you have questions please go to friendshipforce.org. and click on SkyBonus FAQ. Please don t forget to attend a very important membership meeting on Sunday, August 7, 1:00 p.m. at the UCO International House. In addition to electing officers for 2017, we will learn about the exchange Liz King is leading to New Zealand. We will also decide the countries we would like to have international exchanges with in SEE YOU THERE! OUTBOUND EXCHANGE - OREGON MID-WILLAMETTE VALLEY - JULY 19-25, 2016 Art Black, Exchange Director We are pleased that 20 ambassadors are going to Oregon. There will be 10 from Oklahoma, 4 from Montana, 2 from Tennessee, 3 from Colorado and one from Florida. All of the fees have been distributed to FFI and the Oregon club and transportation has been provided from Portland by the Oregon club. An overnight stay in Newport, Oregon on the coast has been planned as well as other interesting activities. INBOUND EXCHANGE - COMITAN, MEXICO - AUGUST 2016 Bob Byrne, Exchange Director There are 12 ambassadors from Comitan, Mexico who would like to visit two US clubs in August. Our Page 2

3 Board has approved this incoming exchange and we have been working with FFI to see if this is feasible with both clubs with such short notice. The exact date has not been worked out. SPECIAL REQUEST: If you would be available to home host ambassadors from Mexico, please contact Bob Byrne at TOGETHER THE THIRD TUESDAY LUNCHEON - SEPTEMBER 15, 2016 Our next Together the Third Tuesday luncheon will be held on Tuesday, September 15, 2016 at 11:30 a.m. Location to be announced later. Everyone is welcome, so please invite your friends and neighbors to attend. FFI WORLD CONFERENCES - MARRAKECH, MOROCCO - SEPTEMBER 16-19, 2016 and MANCHESTER, UK - AUGUST 25-27, 2017 FFI s World Conferences will be held in Marrakech, Morocco on September 16-19, 2016 and Manchester, UK on August 25-27, If you are interested in attending, information is available on the FFI website. TOGETHER THE THIRD TUESDAY LUNCHEON - OCTOBER 20, 2016 The Together the Third Tuesday luncheon will be held on Tuesday, October 20, 2016 at 11:30 a.m. Location to be announced later. Everyone is welcome, so please invite your friends and neighbors to attend. OUTBOUND TO CHRISTCHURCH & NAPIER, NEW ZEALAND - NOVEMBER 3-20, 2016 Liz King, Exchange Director Details have been worked out for our exchange to New Zealand on November 3-20, Now, all we need are ambassadors! Please read the flyer at the bottom of the newsletter and contact Liz King if you can go. The club will depart on November 3rd and actually arrive in Christchurch on November 5 th. The club will host us from the 5 th -11 th. The morning of the 11 th we will take the Coastal Pacific scenic train to Picton to connect with the inter-islander ferry for 3.5 hour crossing of Cook Strait to Wellington, the capital city. We will stay in Wellington for 2 nights from 11 th -13 th then take the Intercity Coach line and view the country side of the north island as we approach Napier, New Zealand. We will be picked up by our hosts and will be staying in either Napier or Hastings from the 13 th -20 th. Since we will be getting in late on the 13 th we will have 7 nights there and leave on the 9:30am flight to Auckland on the 20 th and fly back on the afternoon flight to the USA. The New Zealand clubs are very excited about us coming and they are willing to accept 20 ambassadors from Oklahoma. Please contact me at for additional information. This is a great opportunity! NOTICE OF BOARD MEETINGS AND GENERAL MEETINGS - DATES TO REMEMBER Semi-Annual General Meeting & Election of Officers: Date: August 7, 2016 at 1:00 p.m. Please bring a finger food to share. Page 3

4 Location: UCO International House, 912 Chowning Avenue, Edmond, OK Time: Visit with friends at 1:00 p.m. followed by the business meeting and election of officers for Board Meeting: Date: October 15, 2016 at 10:00 a.m. Location - Communications Fed. CU, Edmond, OK ANNOUNCEMENT OF EXCHANGE DIRECTOR OPPORTUNITIES FFO will be hosting two domestic exchanges in The San Francisco club will visit in the fall and Baton Rouge in the spring. Please consider being an ED, especially if you have never tried this office. A domestic exchange has more ease of communication and coordination with the visiting clubs. Training and mentorship are available along with committee members to assist with the planning. Contact Beth Allen-Eden for an application. MEET OUR NEW MEMBERS Rose Schultz, 1010 West 84th Pl South, Tulsa, OK Rose is a long-time FFI member who has relocated to Tulsa, OK and is the Exchange Director for an exchange to Guadeloupe Islands on October 22-29, Monique Laughlin, N. Pennsylvania, #3204, Oklahoma City, OK Monique lives in Oklahoma City and will be joining the FFO exchange to Oregon on July 19-25, Mary Anne Taylor, 2945 N.W. 160th, Edmond, OK Mary Anne is a retired educator and still works with her photographer daughter. Her parents, Norma and Leon Hutcheson of Tipton, OK were pioneer members of Friendship Force Oklahoma. WELCOME NEW MEMBERS! REPORTS FROM COMMITTEE CHAIRPERSONS: MEMBERSHIP : Membership directory issued July 2016 reflects a total of 56 members; 36 single and 10 family. Recently joined members are Rose Schultz, Monique Laughlin and Mary Anne Taylor. Page 4

5 ACTIVITIES : Our Together the Third Thursday luncheons moved to Tuesdays to see if we could have better attendance. The May 17th luncheon was held at Let s Do Greek and the June 21st luncheon was held at On the Border. Our next luncheon will be September 15th and notice will be sent out ahead of time regarding the location. I hope you will consider joining us for the remaining luncheons on September 15th and October 15th. We have had wonderful speakers at some of the luncheons and this is a good time to meet our members for fellowship. Watch our upcoming newsletter and for information about our Christmas social in December. Our Board discussed World Friendship Day 2017 which is usually held in March and will mark the 40th Anniversary, so something special is being planned. COMMUNICATIONS: Our next newsletter will be published in October. Please like us on Facebook so we can get the word out about our great organization. Our followers are increasing and we welcome new members. E.D. SELECTION: At the August 7th general membership meeting, we will be soliciting applications for Exchange Director for our 2017 inbound exchanges from San Francisco and Baton Rouge. HISTORIAN: Liz King is collecting pictures for our 2016 scrapbook if you have any to share. The scrapbook is available for viewing. DOMESTIC: Our outbound domestic exchange to Oregon Mid-Willamette Valley will be July 19-25, We have two inbound domestic exchanges in 2017 from San Francisco and Baton Rouge. We are looking for an outbound domestic exchange in GLADYS WARREN FUND: The Gladys Warren Fund was discussed at the Board of Directors meeting on July 9th. NOMINATING: The Nominating committee members are Art Black, Chairman, Darlene Bowers, Ruth Green, Ray Doonkeen, and Ron Kenney. The Nominating Committee submits the following names for officers for the 2017 year for our club. All names have been contacted and agreed to serve if elected. Geneva Hancock, President Beth Allen-Eden, Vice President Bob Byrne, Treasurer Darlene Browers, Secretary Page 5

6 FRIENDSHIP: Get well cards were sent to Jasmine Bogard, Bob Byrne, Darlene Browers and Paula Davis. If you know of someone that we need to send a get well card or sympathy card to, contact Edith Carlstone at edithcarlstone@aol.com. PARLIAMENTARIAN: Hannelore Chan will serve as Parliamentarian for 2016 and will be available for any parliamentarian questions. SPEAKER S ROSTER We are seeking your assistance in furnishing us with the names of churches, social organizations, etc., that you belong to or know of that might be willing to allow us a brief time to share the good news about Friendship Force. It would also help if you make the arrangements or provide the contact telephone number. Our speakers are prepared with short programs, literature and brochures that just need an audience. If you can help, call Linda Kenney at rl3641@gmail.com. WHAT OUR MEMBERS HAVE BEEN UP TO: DICK EDEN - Dick s grandson Erich Eden was inducted as a plebe into the US Naval Academy June 30,2016. Dick, in full uniform as USAF Colonel (Ret.) was part of the induction ceremony. Pictures are in Annapolis just after ceremony. FLORECE ROWLAND - Florece and Bud Rowland recently celebrated their 62nd wedding anniversary. Congratulations Florece and Bud! Page 6

7 KEN AND DARLENE COY - Ken retired on June 30th from his very busy profession as Professor, Dental Surgeon and Psychologist and plans to travel among other things. He will join a FF exchange in September. Darlene is still working. JASMIN BOGARD - Our new member, Jasmin, serves in the USAF as part of the AWAC s command platform and will be on duty for the next six months. MEMBER NEWS AND UPDATES from Jeremi Snook, FFI Support FFI by Flying Delta with SkyBonus Program Friendship Force has enrolled in Delta Airlines SkyBonus program. Now, you can support FFI when booking flights directly through Delta, while still earning your own SkyMiles rewards! To use this option, simply enter FFI s account number US in the SkyBonus ID field in the Passenger Information section on the Review and Purchase page. SkyBonus points can not be earned on tickets booked through discount travel websites to include, but not limited to: Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity, or any tour wholesaler/consolidator, such as Delta Vacations. FFI will earn SkyBonus points when our members fly on Delta, Air France, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Alitalia, or any of their participating codeshare partner airlines. Meanwhile, you will still continue to earn miles in the SkyMiles program. Have questions? Read more on the SkyBonus FAQ here. This Newsletter, and more information about our club, may be found on our website: or on our Facebook page. Contact us at: president@friendshipforceoklahoma.com on our web page. Page 7

8 Napier and Christchurch, New Zealand November 3 to 20, 2016 Liz King FF Oklahoma rose_73118@yahoo.com Spaces Available Napier and Christchurch, New Zealand This exchange starts off with a homestay in Christchurch, New Zealand. The most English of all New Zealand cities, and the country s second largest city, Christchurch will give you the opportunity to enjoy friendly people, open spaces, and a relaxed lifestyle. You will delve into the Art Deco flavor, history, and architecture of Napier City created after the devastating 1931 earthquake. During this exchange you will enjoy the beauty of the rural countryside where orchards, market gardens, and wineries abound. You will have an opportunity to taste the fresh produce and fantastic wines of the area. You ll get to travel overland in air-conditioned 4 wheel drive bus to the Gannet Colony while enjoying magnificent views across Hawkes Bay. And, of course, it wouldn t be a Friendship Force exchange without being able to enjoy the hospitality and friendship of our club. Provided by the Friendship Force clubs of Christchurch and Napier. Christchurch: Try local favorites including Pavlova and hokey pokey ice cream. Page 8

9 Admire the landscape variety of this small country, and see the tranquil open green spaces. Be welcomed with a warm civic reception. Napier: Though we are known as the Napier Club, our hosts are spread between two small cities and a village: Napier, Hastings and Havelock North. With 19 kilometres between us and with urban, rural, and seaside areas around us, we have easy access to a wide variety of scenery and activities and a wide knowledge of the various areas by those who live there. Christchurch: Wildlife Centre and cultural show Antarctic Centre Earthquake Rebuild tour: witness the effects of the earthquakes on the city and see how the city is reconstructing Akaroa nature cruise and garden of mosaics Wine-tasting Botanic Gardens You might get to visit the 9/11 Firemen s Memorial Christchurch is the only place outside the USA with remnants of the Twin Towers Napier: The concentration of Art Deco Architecture caused by the rebuild after a massive earthquake in There is so much to view in such a small area, the availability of information and the enthusiasm of the people for the style and feel of the Art Deco era. The Gannet Colony on spectacular cliffs is of great interest geologically, as well as being the largest most accessible gannet colony in the world. $1500 USD Price Includes: FFI fees and host fees, trains, ferry, airfare from Wellington to Napier and Napier to Auckland, and cab to and from hotel in Wellington. Domestic airfare subject to change until reservations are made. Does not include the hotel or international airfare. Page 9