Dear Friends …

 Here comes another new year, full of hope and high expectations!  As the year goes forward, we hope you will notice some benefits of our club’s experiment with a couple in the role of Co-Presidents.  We’ll give it our best shot!

 Both of us see significant opportunities for Friendship Force of Louisville.  Over the years, our group has grown strong because of our experiences together (here in Louisville and abroad) and our personal friendships.  This is a wonderful asset for which we should all be grateful.  We’ll try to build on this strength.  (By the way, there’s another well-known asset of our membership: we’re all great cooks – and we have marvelous buffets when we get together!) 

We also have a dedicated membership.  Just look at the list of people in this newsletter who have offered to serve on the Board of Directors in various capacities.  Working with them are other helpers, often-unnamed.  These individual efforts make Friendship Force a very special experience for all of us.  You’ll note that we have one vacant position on the committees: a person to take on the communications task of publicity and speakers bureau.  If you would be interested in handling this task, please contact Jeannie or John.  As two former public relations people, we’ll be glad to coach and advise you.  

We have a wonderful website.  Chris Kinberger keeps it full of valuable information.  We ask you to visit this regularly: fflk.home.insightbb.com – and visit the Friendship Force International website for regular updates on their activities and exchanges: www.thefriendshipforce.org 

To be honest, our Board of Directors may face some challenges ahead.  There’s the issue of keeping our club fresh and enthusiastic.  We’d appreciate any ideas you might have about this.  We also need to find new members who share our outlook on making friends around the world.  And there's a major unknown:  the current global financial crisis, which may restrict the Friendship Force’s travel ambitions worldwide.  Even though we don’t know the exact details, we expect to work together to do the best we can and have a strong, interesting, and vibrant Friendship Force group. 

See you all at our first meeting of 2009 … Thursday, January 8 … at Commonwealth Bank … potluck dinner at 6:30 p.m. … meeting at 7:15 p.m.  And bring a prospective new member if you can.