FFBR Monthly Bulletin: December, 2013
President's Message: Barbara Wittkopf
What a wonderful year this has been for our club! Since our last news bulletin
we hosted 26 ambassadors on a Mississippi Global Exchange, participated as the
host club for the FF International (FFI) Conference in New Orleans, hosted 17
more ambassadors for a post conference Thanksgiving home hosting experience
- including a Welcome Party for all FFBR members at St. Paul - and held our
annual Christmas party where we installed our new President, Thornton Cofield
as well as Bob Duncan, Secretary, and Frances Bennett, Member at Large.
A special thanks to outgoing Past President Gayle Duncan, Secretary, Karen
Pharis, and Member at Large, Rose Wooden. Continuing on the Board are
Treasurer, Lynn Robbins; Members at Large Morena Cazedessus and Vera Martin
and Past President, Barbara Wittkopf. The club presented $25 to Barbara in
recognition of her year's service as President. She subsequently made a donation
to the FFI Legacy Fund for that amount.
Darwin Knochenmus continues as Membership Chair, Frances and Charles
Bennett as Publicity Co-chairs, Diana Harris as Friendship Chair and Linda
Knochenmus as Historian.
This year we hosted a variety of activities for club members. These included
our annual service project for war veterans in Jackson, Louisiana; an annual
recruitment program during Women's Week; and our observance of World
Friendship Day hosting Louisiana State University students at the International
Cultural Center on campus.
We held our quarterly business meetings at Hunan's Restaurant, at Morena
Cazedessus' home to hear about the New Zealand exchange, at Gayle and Bob
Duncan's home for Hot August Night, and at the Christmas party at Barbara
Wittkopf's home. A special meeting to pass our revised By Laws and elect our
new officers was held at DeAngelo's Restaurant on Bluebonnet.
FFBR members went on an outgoing exchange to FF clubs in Auckland and
South Taranaki on New Zealand's North Island and also toured Rotorua (North
Island) and the South Island on a post exchange tour. They were also hosted for
dinner by the Christchurch FF club their last evening. Before the trip all FFBR
members were invited to see the "Hobbit" movie and have dinner at the California
Pizza Kitchen. The ambassadors also watched the movie "Whale Rider" before
leaving which introduced them to the Maori culture.
Several members participated in a domestic exchange in Sacramento along
with Brazilian ambassadors.
The club created a new website: www.friendshipforcebatonrouge.org in
October 2012. Thornton is the Webmaster. It has been enhanced throughout the
year with 8,700+ visits. It now has a 'members only' page where the recently
updated/revised By Laws will be posted as well as our "Compendium," a manual
of our best practices. We also created a page on Facebook currently maintained
by Bob Duncan. Monthly news bulletins were distributed. In a post conference
memo, FFI included a link to our webpage for members throughout the world to
view coverage of the conference.
One new member orientation was held. Now new incoming Exchange
Directors (EDs) or new EDs for domestic exchanges are working with experienced
EDs. Our club policy requires an outgoing international ED to have first been an
incoming international ED. We are planning for our outgoing exchange to
Bergen, Norway, August 4-11, with Bob Duncan as ED and our incoming
exchange from Ottawa, Canada, April 23-30, 2014 with Karen Vingiello as ED.
We have accepted Mid-Willamette Valley, Oregon's invitation to visit them for
a domestic exchange July 8-14 next year also. Sheila Melancon is the ED. We
have also accepted an invitation to visit Charlotte, North Carolina, in 2015, and
recently extended an invitation for the club in Reno to visit us in 2014. Niagara,
Canada, has applied to FFI to host us in 2015 and we have likewise requested the
visit from FFI and are anticipating a 'match.' EDs for these exchanges will be
appointed in the coming year.
Our Board recently voted to increase our dues commensurate with the increased
FFI fee assessment. We have been very fortunate to have received $1,000 in grant
monies this year from retired members of ExxonMobil: Frances and Charles
Bennett, Keith Corkern, and Jean and Howard Merrill. A couple of other grants
are also in the works. Many thanks!!!
Several members received significant honors in FF and our community. Bob
Duncan who chaired our local arrangements committee for the New Orleans
conference, was appointed to the FFI Board of Directors for a 4 year term! The
Golden Deeds Award that recognizes the most outstanding volunteer in the Greater
Baton Rouge area went to one of our current Board members, Vera Martin!
Two members, Elizabeth Dent and Lynn Robbins, received the Silver
Magnolia award that recognizes women over 70 who have made contributions to
the community. The YMCA Volunteer of the Year award went to Donni Shields.
The Legion of Merit Award for the Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank and the Home
Instead "Salute to Seniors" Award went to Charles Bennett.
Last month we listed all the hosts for the ambassadors who visited us in
November. We owe special thanks to Bob Duncan for coordinating the Global
Exchange and to Gayle and Bob for hosting a brunch at their home for the
ambassadors and their hosts the last morning of their visit.
Bob also chaired our Local Arrangements Committee for the FFI conference
and made the necessary arrangements for a Second Line, with police escort, out of
the Astor Crowne Plaza Hotel, down Bourbon Street, to Canal, led by Darwin
Knochenmus, and he secured several entertainers for the gala buffet dinner,
including our own member, Donni Shields as a clown along with her friend Dona
Brand.
Bob gave a greeting to the 700 attendees at the opening session and Barbara
Wittkopf accepted the Friendship Force cup from Japan's Field Representative.
Linda and Darwin Knochenmus were responsible for obtaining the Heritage
Choir for the Conference. Vicki Vance brought in Professor Edward Petersen and
musician Don Vappie for the closing program and Frances and Charles Bennett
arranged for Les Danseurs de Capitale de Baton Rouge to conduct a session on
Cajun dancing. Vicki's company did the art work for the conference logo that also
appeared on the aprons for conferees who participated in the two Cajun cooking
classes that were offered at our club's initiative and for the t-shirts FFBR members
sold as a fundraiser during the conference. Karen Vingiello's company did the art
work for the pins that were also sold. Each shirt was tied in a ribbon color coded
by size, courtesy of Gayle Duncan.
Many members helped distribute conference bags and water bottles, sold the
shirts, pins, and some art work donated by Vera Martin and assisted in preparing
the place settings in the ballrooms for the Mardi Gras themed gala. Two hundred
water bottles were obtained from Coca Cola by Frances and Charles. Helpers
included: Morena Cazeddessus, Thornton Cofield, Gayle and Bob Duncan,
Corinne Formeller, Linda and Darwin Knochenmus, Marilyn Mansur, John and
Sheila Melancon, Karen Pharis, Lynn Robbins, Donni and Cala Shields, Karen
Vingiello, JoAnn Wall, Barbara Wittkopf, and Rose Wooden.
The Southwest Regional Conference social was held in Gayle's and Bob's
suite attended by 80 conferees. The Bennetts obtained a grant to support the
reception .
Karen Pharis did an outstanding job of coordinating the post conference home
hosting. Many thanks! Thornton transported the 15 conferees by van from the
hotel to BR, stopping for lunch at the B&C restaurant in Vacherie and for a tour of
Oak Alley en route. Gayle and Bob transported the luggage in a U-haul. Joanne
and Al Schuetz from Knoxville drove their car and were home hosted by the
Knochenmus when the Adams had to cancel. Additionally, another couple, Cecile
and Helmut Bouchet from Belgium who were unable to reach their destination in
St. Louis, were home hosted by the Duncans. A wonderful time was held at a
welcome party at St. Paul. The Bennetts arranged for the Gonzales Jambalaya
Association to provide jambalaya and the Cajun dancers to entertain.
Special thanks to Mary Tharp for chairing the Christmas party committee and
serving as sous chef with Bob Duncan for grilling the 4 beef tenderloins. Serving
with them were: Thornton Cofield, Gayle Duncan, Linda Pace, Karen Pharis, Nina
Russell, JoAnn Wall, Barbara Wittkopf, and Rose Wooden. Gayle and Bob
magically transformed Barbara's house to look like Santa land and arranged seating
for the 46 members and friends who attended.
Dues are due by the end of the year to Lynn Robbins, 4008 Poplar Ridge
Court, BR, LA 70816. (Families, $58; individuals $35) Please submit the checks
payable to FFBR with the application form (even for renewals) that can be found
under "Forms" on our club's webpage (see above for the address). Also indicate if
you would like to have your cell phone listed and distributed to members only with
your landline number.
We hope everyone has a wonderful holiday and a happy, healthy New Year.