The History of Friendship Force International
The History of Friendship Force Santa Barbara
2024 - FFSB introduced a new board of directors: Bonnie Dutton ( president), position open (vice president), Jan Inouye (secretary) and Karolyn Hanna and Dave Jones (co-treasurers).
2023 - FFSB introduced a new board of directors: Bill Boyd ( president), Bonnie Dutton (vice president), Jan Inouye (secretary) and Karolyn Hanna and Dave Jones (co-treasurers).
2022 - FFSB introduced a new board of directors: Bill Boyd ( president),Pam Vestal (vice president), Terry Behrens (secretary) and Lori Lofstrom & Dave Jones (co-treasurers). The newsletter will be discontinued until we find a newsletter editor. Dee Wilkerson will be taking over the directory for 2022 from Paula Gregoire-Jones.
2021 - This was a challenging year due to the COVID epidemic. FFSB membership dropped, and all of our meetings went online. All inbound and outbound journeys were put on hold or canceled. We did manage to have a few in person social events mostly outside, except for our Holiday party at the Timbers in December.
2020 - FFSB introduced a new board of directors: Bonnie Dutton (president), Bill Boyd (vice president), Jan Inouye (secretary) and Karolyn Hanna and Dave Jones (co-treasurer).
2019 - Our current board members continued this year. Thank you very much for all your efforts last year. The newsletter team will now be Dawn Mc Grew (publisher) and Dee Wilkerson (editor) Thank you to Paula Gregoire-Jones (4 years) and Joyce Falk (2 years) for their dedicated work on our newsletter.
2018 - FFSB introduced a new board of directors: Linda Williams( president), Bonnie Dutton (vice president), Anne Gray (secretary) and Dave Jones (treasurer).
In September we hosted a group from Heisenborg, Sweden and in November we hosted the Milwaukee, WI club. We really enjoyed our Sweden ambassadors and hope to journey there in the future. Our international journey to Australia was canceled to due a lack of members in March, but later in the year 4 club members joined the Nelson, New Zealand club for a journey to Blue Mountains and Moreton Bay area.
Social Events included: In February we had the opportunity to attend a CPR training event hosted by Pat Burkard and Marion Cozort. In April nearly 30 of our members met at Moby Dick Restaurant for fellowship and good food following an afternoon movie. The Polo match organized by Terry and Roberta at the Carpinteria Polo Grounds in August was well attended by over 20 members and a good day was had by all. In September we attended a Farwell dinner for the club from Sweden. We ended the year with our annual Holiday Party at Mulligans.
Program meeting Presentations: In January Bill Dutton gave an overview of the work of Rotary Club and Unity Church in support of the non-profit NGO Mayan Families organization in Guatemala that quite a few of our members are involved with, in March we learned about the our club's Journey to Japan presented by Paula Gregoire-Jones and Japan Ambassadors. Our May program meeting featured a video on the work of the Mayan Families NGO in Guatemala and a personal presentation by Rosa Coj Bocel, a young Mayan woman who has become a voice for women’s rights and a force for community development. and in July Mike Wolf shared his experience with the Kinder transport during WWII. In September we learned about each others Ancestry, this was hosted by Bill and Bonnie Dutton. In November, LInda Williams told us what we can do to prepare our homes to be able to "Age in Place"
2017 - Rickey Farbman continued as our president for a second year.
We hosted groups from Salt Lake City in January, and from Tuxtla-Guiterrez, Mexico in July. The group from Mexico was unusual as we hosted several families with children from ages 12 to their 20's. Santa Barbara FF also hosted the West Coast Region Presidents' Conference in May.
In March, 2017 longtime member Silvio di Loreto passed away.
Social Events included:, the June Tea & Tequila Party, Lunch and Polo match in August, October featured Western BBQ. We ended the year with our annual Holiday Party which included show by magician, Gene Urban. We also welcomed our new FFSB directors: Linda Williams( president), Bonnie Dutton (vice president), Anne Gray (secretary) and Dave Jones (treasurer).
Program presentations included: a representative from the UNA explained their program, a presentation on Vistas, a non-profit lifelong learning organization by the president, Ted Anagnoson; World Dance for Humanity by Janet Reineck; a Camino Santiago Bike Adventure by Rick Scholl; a presentation of a global journey to France by Ron Hartley. the year concluded with a presentation by Sandy Grasso-Boyd and Bill Boyd on their "uncruise" to Panama and Costa Rica.
In late October and November we journeyed to Japan, hosted for a week each by the Kumamoto and the Ehime clubs. Ten of us continued on to Kyoto and Tokyo for a post-journey tour while others toured on their own. A wonderful time was had by all. See pictures of our journey here
2016 - We started the year by welcoming our new president, Rickey Farbman.
We hosted a clubs from Minneapolis, MN and Twin Cities in January and North Bay, Canada in October. Unfortunately, the outbound journey to Belem and Fortaleza schedule in June was canceled due to not enough participants. In September, we traveled to Minneapolis, MN and Madison, WI.
In November, 2017 longtime member Gladys Robinson passed away.
Social Events included:, Chinese New Year celebration in February, an International Potluck in April, a Summer Solstice BBQ at Manning Park in June, in October we joined the ambassadors from North Bay, Canada for a potluck to celebrate Oktoberfest; and our annual Holiday dinner in December
Program presentations included: a presentation about "Paws to Read", China, Learned how SCORE volunteers help new businesses grow and thrive, reviewed memories of our exchange to Charlottesville, VA, and Neal Graffy spoke on Santa Barbara, Then and Now.
2015 - Barbara Rose started her third year as Club President.
Our club traveled to Cape of Good Hope to visit our friends in Cape town, While in South Africa we also went on a safari in Kruger National Park and to Zimbabwe to see Victoria Falls. We also journeyed to Charlottesville, Virginia in October. We hosted our Kaohsiung, Taiwan friends, in August 2015 .In April we hosted the club from Sarasota, Florida, and in August our friends from Taiwan visited us. We also hosted a club from Western Kentucky in November.
Social Events included: a movie and happy hour in February, the Farewell potluck for the Friendship Force of Sarasota, FL in April, in June we visited Seaside Gardens in Carpinteria, dinner at El Capitan along with the ambassadors from Kaohsiung, Taiwan in August, a Halloween party in October and our annual Holiday dinner in December.
Program presentations included: presentation by Mark Gallo of Circa Terra Travel Outfitters, highlights of our fabulous exchange
to South Africa and Victoria Falls, the Art and Architecture themed exchange, a slideshow on Jay Farbman's travels to Bhutan, and in December Dr. Joe White, from the SBCC Philosophy Department, presented an interesting discussion on “A Year without War.”
2014 - Barbara Rose started her second year as club president.
We were visited by a group from Quad Cities in February and in September we hosted the Inbound Exchange from Southern Australia and a group from Connecticut in November
In April we had an outbound Exchange to Memphis, TN and Western Kentucky.in April. Our international outbound was a trip to Hamburg, Germany and Riga Latvia in June.
Social events included the Farewell dinner for Quad Cities in February, an April Fool's party on April 1 (no kidding), a car rally in June, Solvang Theater fest in August, Welcome and Farwell dinner with Sydney Australia in September, and our annual Holiday dinner in December.
Program meeting topics included a presentation by Erin Graffy about our Irish sister city, the club's trip to Memphis & Nashville, Tennessee,
and the trip to Hamburg and Lativa. We also learned about the Direct Relief organization.
We also lost our beloved newsletter publisher, Camille Sellenbinder in October. The newsletter for November/December was taken on by Marry Orr and Paula Gregoire-Jones.
2013 - Barbara Rose started the year as our 2013 president.
The Pikes Peak, Colorado club visited us in January, and in April we hosted a group from Ottawa, Canada. In September we traveled to Stratford/St. Mary's, Canada.
Social events included the Farwell Party with the Pike's Peak club in February, and the Farewell dinner with the Ottawa, Canada club in April, the Summer Solstice celebration in June, a BBQ and concert at El Capitan Ranch in August, Comedy Club night at Pretini's restaurant in October and our annual Holiday dinner in December.
Presentations during Program meetings included Barbara Gregoire's trip to India and Nepal,
2012 - Jack and Mary Orr continued as co-presidents for their 2nd year.
In 2012 we welcomed a FF group from Memphis, Tennessee in April and a in June we hosted a wonderful group from Cape of Good Hope, South Africa. In September our a group from Aichi, Japan visited us. .
In October, SBFF journeyed to Taipei and Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
Presentations during out Program Meetings for the year included: Peterson's talk on their native county of Latvia, Paula Gregoire-Jones' presentation of the previous years exchange to New Zealand, and informative talks about the Project LIGHT Rwanda and Sahara Nomad Foundation. Paul Coyne shared the history of the Santa Barbara Presidion with us.
Social events included the Red, White & Blue celebration, a Party with the Memphis, TN club, in June we attended the Circle Bar Ranch theater, Luau at Goleta Beach in August, the famous Hat Party in October and concluded with the annual Holiday Party in December.
This year also included the addition of the new updated FFSB website - www.friendshipforcesantabarbara.org - by Paula Gregoire-Jones
2011-Exchanges in 2011 afforded us an opportunity to welcome new and old friends from Colorado, return the visit to Colorado, and explore New Zealand and its friendly "kiwis". In 2011 we had co-presidents for the first time—Jack and Mary Orr. With fellow officers Sheryl Barnard, Barbara Rose and Harv
Turner, they soon had us outfitted with FFSB club shirts, club pins, and new business cards.
Several new social events were introduced by Pam Vestal. A very colorful Mardi Gras Party in February featured outrageous costumes and celebrity chefs doing Cajun food.
August found us at EI Capitan Canyon enjoying live rock music and a barbecue feast. In October we met for happy hour at the El Paseo Restaurant before getting our cultural fix at First Thursday.
Our exchanges kept us busy preparing to host or packing to leave.
In late March we said "howdy" to the ambassadors from the FF of Greater Denver with EDs Ken and Francie Jewweson. June, 15 of us visited both Denver and Colorado Springs with ED Sandy Hartley. We loved the historic mansions, Rocky Mountain National Park and Pikes Peak.
Our 16 international ambassadors came from Piracicaba, Brazil in September and enveloped us with their Portuguese, their lively music and many gifts. New activities planned by EDs Sheryl Barnard, Karolyn Hanna and Mary Orr included an outdoor welcome party at the Van Burens, several tours given in Portuguese, a pizza party at the Botanic Garden and three casual backyard dinners.
In October, 19 club members, led by ED Barbara Gregoire, went "Down Under" to visit clubs in Hamilton, Nelson and Christchurch, New Zealand. It was particularly nice to visit friends from Christchurch who came to Santa Barbara in 2010, but so sad to see the damage from the February 22 earthquake.
We gifted the club with three beautiful handmade quilts and a generous check for their relief efforts.
Among the most interesting program meetings of the year were Yama Niazi of the Islamic Association and Susan Forkush, who spoke about the Peace Corps, along with four of our members who served.
Our year ended with a lively Christmas party at Mulligans where we Christmas caroled along with Agris Petersons, and made a donation to the Food Bank via the mystery-bag auction. Stan Scrivner starred as Santa and Terry Scrivner co-stared as Mrs. Claus.
2010 - Barbara Gregoire's second year as President took off with the March celebration of Friendship Force International's thirty-third birthday as we
welcomed the Houston, Texas Exchange which was skillfully directed by Barbara Rose.In July, twenty-one lively, friendly "kiwis" arrived from Christchurch,
New Zealand and were treated to a week of new, unusual, and untried experiences under the expert direction of Sheryl Barnard.
Thanks to Jo Magistad's persistent and untiring efforts to arrange Theater Time events for us, we ate a lot at the Circle Bar B Ranch and laughed a lot at their
live-on-stage production of Precious Nonsense—a hilarious rearrangement of "The Pirates of Penzance."
President Barbara attended two conferences: The 2010 Western Region Leadership Conference and the Friendship Force International Conference
in Washington, D.C., which was attended by 489 delegates from 30 countries.
Eight FFSB members (with Co-ED Barbara Gutmann) joined nineteen from the San Diego club—which comprised the Brazil Exchange. The Calders
returned with an abundance of photos taken in Campinas, Jundiai, Belo Horizonte, and Rio de Janeiro, and we all enjoyed front row seats at Joan Calder's
presentation.
We enjoyed a wonderful Christmas Dinner Party at the Pastavino Restaurant. With Jack Orr as auctioneer, we set a record in proceeds from the fun-filled Mystery-Bag Auction as a staggering $450 was donated to the Food Bank.
2009 - Barbara Gregoire's first year as president produced three exchanges within the first half of 2009: Montana in January with EDs Francie and Ken
Jewesson; Hamburg, Germany in April with ED Dorothy Smith; and North Carolina in June with ED Sandy Hartley.
With seasonal restrictions, Theater Time moved up to February and became "The Theater of Mother Nature" with an Eagle Cruise on Cachuma Lake.
The March Program meeting was celebrated with a Pot Luck at President Barbara's home, featuring Regional Director Mike Gittleman's informative overview of the FFI agenda.
With an attempt at getting our busylives back to normal, Jo Magistad arranged another Theater Time in July with the most delightful "Musical Comedy Murders of 1940.”
In August, the Hartleys and several other couples joined the outbound Budapest, Hungary Exchange. Following that, we did a rerun of the ever popular
Oktoberfest. This year, our traditional Christmas Dinner Party included a celebration of Camille Seelenbinder's 90th Birthday.
We are pleased to report the successful transition of our newsletter from hard copy to e-mail.
2008 - Sandy Hartley's second year as President became a banner year for new members due to the efforts of the Membership Committee chaired by Barbara Gutmann. The year got off to a very good start with FFI Regional Director Mike Gittleman's talk at our first Program Meeting.
In February, we launched a brand new social event, "Soup and Salad Dinner" and we made a donation to the FFI Legacy Fund.
The theme for this year's Western Regional Conference held in San Diego was "Peace Building Is Everyone's Responsibility." Our representatives to the event came home with a wealth of knowledge on recruiting, publicity, motivation, and exchanges.
Also in March, we enjoyed an informative program on Germany by Michael Piela. April extended our world travels with an Asian Pot Luck Dinner, followed in May by Mary Racich's account of Japanese Culture and Customs. Theater Time in June took us to the Circle Bar B Ranch for the comedy, "Who's in Bed with the Butler" again arranged by Jo Magistad.
We hosted a wonderful Exchange from Mie, Japan, while Santa Barbara was enveloped in smoke and ash from the Gap Fire.
A repeat of our ever popular "Oktoberfest" was followed by another traditional social gathering, "The Christmas Dinner Party," with our gift of food collected
for The Community Kitchen.
2007 was Sandy Hartley's first year as president and our bimonthly events took off in February with an International Pot Luck. In March, FFI celebrated 30
years of friend-making and peace-building with Sandy Hartley representing Friendship Force of Santa Barbara at the conference in Atlanta, GA. Over 500
participants from 27 countries heard President George Brown speak on the global state of Friendship Force and the Legacy Campaign.
April's social event took us to the Elks Lodge for Dinner and Dancing. Then in May, Lou Smitheram led our Outbound Exchange to Altotonga, Mexico with a most interesting and informative extension to Mexico City and to Five Colonial Cities. Ken and Francie Jewesson and President Sandy attended the Western Region Conference in Las Vegas in June. Also in June, we drove to the Circle-Bar-B-Ranch for dinner and the Live-on-Stage hilarious comedy "Don't Mention My Name" which was arranged by Jo Magistad.
September brought us an Inbound Exchange from South Sidney, Australia. One event was a barbeque and tour of the Nichols' Ranch in Carpinteria.
We had a rerun of the annual Italian Dinner and Game Night in October and a new Program, arranged by Gail Gillies, featuring a liaison with the United Nations and Unesco. Speakers were Catherine Dishion, President of the Santa Barbara County Chapter of the UN; Douglas Gillies, Documentary Filmmaker;
and the famous Robert Muller, former Assistant Secretary General to the United Nations.
This eventful year ended with our annual Christmas Dinner Party, highlighted by a collection of food items donated by our members. The donations
were delivered to the Unity Shoppe for distribution.
2006 - During 2006, Ken Jewesson's second year, FFSB was involved in several "first time" events that are noteworthy. In January, Jaclie Van Spanckeren and Jo Magistad presented "The Friendship Story" at an International Relations Luncheon sponsored by the Santa Maria branch of AAUW with Claire Magee as chairperson.Considerable interest about FFSB was generated through the viewing of our new display board created by Camille Seelenbinder with assistance of Jackie Van Spanckeren, Karolyn Hanna, and Barbara Gutmann.
In March, our club celebrated FFI World Friendship Day with an "Ice Cream Social" and we raised $400 for the FFI Legacy Fund. Two hundred and three FF clubs from around the world participated, beginning with New Zealand and ending in Hawaii.
At another successful outreach effort much later in the year, FFSB was represented at the Annual United Nations Day held at Santa Barbara City College.
We had one international inbound exchange from Rostov-on-Don, Russia and one domestic inbound exchange from Lake Hartwell, Georgia. ED Mary Racich introduced two new interesting day trips: "A Sailboat Adventure" and "A SB Home Tour".
Ken Jewesson successfully led our outbound exchange to Mie and Sendai, Japan. Immediately we learned how generous and caring the Japanese members of both clubs are. The Mie Club did an outstanding job with public relations, doing interviews with TV stations and local newspapers concerning Friendship Force and our visit to their city. Several of our members joined outbound exchanges to Slovenia and Tanzania arranged by other FF Clubs.
2005 - In 2005, with Ken Jewesson as president, our club has had many memorable moments. In January, we reported on a very successful exchange lead by the Gutmanns to La Serena, Chile, and Peru. This was followed by our "FFSB Birthday Bash" and "FFI World Friendship Day." In March, we had the honor of hosting the Western Region Conference with special guest George Brown, President of FFI, as the keynote speaker. Twelve of the fifteen Western Region clubs were represented at the Conference. All attendees had a choice to attend three (of eight) workshops, two of which were presented by our club members, Karolyn Hanna and Barbara Gutmann. Lunch and snacks were outstanding. Each attendee received a personalized folder filled with pertinent Conference information. Dinner at Moby Dick's restaurant was a lovely finale.April brought St. Petersburg and Novgorod, Russia to Santa Barbara for a cultural exchange, and we treated them to a special "Southwestern Party" with all the fixings. In May, our club learned about our sea-faring history with a talk by the director of the Maritime Museum.
Seventeen women from Santiago, Chile arrived in June, allowing us to renew friendships from our earlier trip to Santiago. We celebrated their visit with a "Potato Party" from which nobody left hungry. The Land Shark has proven to be very popular with ambassadors, but most popular has been the "Wine and Hors d'oeuvres Party" at Annette Carrel's lovely home.
A report on Santa Barbara's sister city Dingle, Ireland was our program for July, given by Grenda Moran, a friend of FFSB. In August, we picnicked in Solvang, followed by the PCPA production of "Brigadoon.""Contemporary China" was the subject of a slide show in September by Ken and Francie Jewesson.
"Octoberfest" followed with a hardy German dinner. Then in November, we viewed an FFI trip to Vietnam and Cambodia, presented by the Gutmanns, and finally concluded the year with our annual Christmas extravaganza in December.
2004 - FFSB was even more involved with FF business during Barbara Gutmann’s second year as president. In March 2004, six members joined the FFI National Exchange to Western Bay of Plenty, New Zealand and Tasmania. For three people this was a first experience. It was a great success!In the spring, six members attended the Western Regional Conference hosted by FF of San Francisco which was held in Newark, CA.
In June, twenty members of FF of Karslyaka Bay, Turkey visited for a week. This Exchange included five young people, ages twelve to twenty.
In July, ten members enjoyed a memorable Domestic Exchange hosted by the members of FF of Lincoln, Nebraska.
In September/October, eleven of our members plus seven FF members from four states led by Barbara Gutmann participated in an Outbound Exchange to FF of La Serena, Chile. Tours were done in Santiago and the Lake District in Chile and also in Cusco, Machu Picchu, and Lake Titicaca, Peru.
November 4-7, four members participated in the FFI Conference in Los Angles. Jo Magistad and Francie Jewesson served as Exchange Directors for the twenty-three Inbound FF Ambassadors who came to Santa Barbara following the FFI Conference. All of the 2004 FFSB events were enthusiastically attended.
They included the Chinese New Year Dinner, the theater matinee in Santa Maria, the Hawaiian Dinner, the Fiesta Party where we raised $550.00 to benefit a
new medical clinic in Ghana promoted locally by the Catholic Archbishop Gregory E. Kpiebaya from Ghana, the Italian Dinner Party, and the annual Christmas Dinner Party.
2003 - With Barbara Gutmann as president, 2003 had a busy calendar with six bimonthly Program Meetings, six bimonthly Business Meetings and six bimonthly Club Events or Socials to which members were encouraged to invite prospective members as guests. With several State Department warnings concerning travel in SE Asia and, specifically, Thailand our Outbound Exchange was canceled due to lack of participants. Six members attended the Western Regional Conference in Sacramento in March. In April, twenty ambassadors from FF of Niagara, Canada visited us for a busy, fun week. FF of Romania canceled their Inbound Exchange in June, but ten ambassadors from Manchester, England visited for a week in September. Claire Magee was our club representative at the FFI Conference in Budapest. During the fall, we held monthly Recruitment Saturday Breakfasts at IHOP gaining one new member. FFSB donated $300.00 to FFI to help alleviate the financial crisis being experienced this year.
2002 - In April 2002, Dottie Iverson and Lou Smitheram directed a domestic exchange to San Antonio, and in August, during Fiesta, they directed an incoming exchange from San Antonio. Also in April 2002, Jackie Van Spanckeren, Eugenee Ward, and Barbara and Jim Gutmann attended the Western Regional Conference in Phoenix, where they were home hosted by local members.
Because our outgoing exchange to Thailand was delayed into 2003, in June four of our members joined FFLA on their exchange to Meresberg and Kiel, Germany with and add-on trip to Copenhagen. Joining other FF club exchanges is always a possibility for any member. In September, Dorothy Smith and Francie Jewesson co-directed the incoming exchange from Wessex and Hampshire, England.
2001 - At the Christmas party, Jackie Van Spanckeren became the president for the year 2001. The calendar of meetings every other month was adjusted to
include a special event on the intervening month, such as a “Dinner—Fun—and—Games” night and an “International Night”. In March, we welcomed
a group of eleven ambassadors from Hungary for a busy, fun time. In June, eleven of our members, arranging their own transportation for the first time, traveled to Niagara, Canada to visit a very new, very hospitable, and very enthusiastic FF Club. They did a few things that one of our members who is a native of that area has never experienced, turning on the lights to illuminate the Falls at night. Also during June, three of our members joined a Friendship Force International Exchange of 37 ambassadors on a 22 day tour of China. Close friendships were established both with the Chinese and with other FF members.
There was no domestic exchange in 2001. In November, Claire and Richard Magee attended the FFI conference in Thailand and later presented a report of their experience and of the business discussed at a FFSB meeting.
2000 - The year 2000 offered us two wonderful groups of ambassadors—one from Pusan, Korea in March—and another from La Serena, Chile in September. These friends will long be remembered for their singing, dancing, sensitivity, and good fun. In October, with Jackie Van Spanckeren as Exchange Director fifteen members flew to England. They visited London, toured Stonehenge, and spent a memorable week with the Devon club in southwest England before boarding a bus for a two day trip through Wales. The Fast Ferry transported the group from
Hollyhead, Wales to Dublin where a week’s tour of Ireland commenced. There was no domestic exchange that year.
1999 - The following year was just as busy when Lou Smitheram assumed leadership. In February 1999, some hardy travelers from Lincoln, Nebraska spent
a week with us. The next month was a rainy March, but the people whom we had visited in Halle, Germany were undeterred by cloudy or wet skies when they came to see us. In May, the club had a wonderful time in Louisville, Kentucky. In September, Friendship Force members spent a week in Olsztyn, Poland and a week in Szekesfehervar, Hungary, arriving home just in time to host friends from Lubeck, Germany early in October. Late the same month, a group from Kiev, Ukraine visited us. Then, in November, Jay Torrey led an exchange to Brisbane and the Gold Coast in Australia with an added extension week. This made an extraordinary number of three outgoing and four incoming exchanges in one year!
1998 - In Jay’s second year as president [1998], incoming exchanges arrived from Charlottesville, Virginia in February; Louisville, Kentucky in April; and
from Alajuela, Costa Rica in May. In August 1998, we were outbound to Lubeck and Halle, Germany with an extension in Berlin and Prague. In October, we
visited Charlottesville with an extension to Washington, D.C. A visit from the St. Petersburg, Russia group in November ended a very busy 1998.
1997 - In April 1997, during Jay Torrey’s first term as president, some of our group spent a wonderful weekend with families in Bakersfield. A group from
Devon, England arrived in June. In September of that year we hosted a group from Poland.
1996 - A group of Brazilians spent a week here in January 1996 teaching everyone how to do the samba double-quick time. In April, Russians visiting Los Angeles spent a day here. They loved the beach! At Fiesta time, the Bakersfield group arrived as our first domestic exchange. Egypt visited us in August 1996 and in November of that year the second outbound exchange went to New Zealand.
1995 - Dottie Iverson became the first president of the Santa Barbara Friendship Force club. In July of 1995, we welcomed our first inbound exchange from
Herne, Germany for a week’s visit.
1994 - The Santa Barbara Friendship Force club was established through the assistance of Pete Bull of Friendship Force San Francisco. She was invited by friends, Cay and Joe Yuncker, to describe Friendship Force at a local presentation held at the Faulkner Gallery in June 1994 as advertised in the
Santa Barbara News Press. Sixteen people attended. Among them were the Yunckers, the Jewessons, and Dottie Iverson, most are participating members
today. Soon after that meeting, Sterling and Dottie Iverson, Jack and Jackie Van Spanckeren, and Barbara Mete joined the FF Los Angeles club on an exchange to Brazil.
2019 - Our current board members continued this year. Thank you very much for all your efforts last year. The newsletter team will now be Dawn Mc Grew (publisher) and Dee Wilkerson (editor) Thank you to Paula Gregoire-Jones (4 years) and Joyce Falk (2 years) for their dedicated work on our newsletter.
2018 - FFSB introduced a new board of directors: Linda Williams( president), Bonnie Dutton (vice president), Anne Gray (secretary) and Dave Jones (treasurer).
In September we hosted a group from Heisenborg, Sweden and in November we hosted the Milwaukee, WI club. We really enjoyed our Sweden ambassadors and hope to journey there in the future. Our international journey to Australia was canceled to due a lack of members in March, but later in the year 4 club members joined the Nelson, New Zealand club for a journey to Blue Mountains and Moreton Bay area.
Social Events included: In February we had the opportunity to attend a CPR training event hosted by Pat Burkard and Marion Cozort. In April nearly 30 of our members met at Moby Dick Restaurant for fellowship and good food following an afternoon movie. The Polo match organized by Terry and Roberta at the Carpinteria Polo Grounds in August was well attended by over 20 members and a good day was had by all. In September we attended a Farwell dinner for the club from Sweden. We ended the year with our annual Holiday Party at Mulligans.
Program meeting Presentations: In January Bill Dutton gave an overview of the work of Rotary Club and Unity Church in support of the non-profit NGO Mayan Families organization in Guatemala that quite a few of our members are involved with, in March we learned about the our club's Journey to Japan presented by Paula Gregoire-Jones and Japan Ambassadors. Our May program meeting featured a video on the work of the Mayan Families NGO in Guatemala and a personal presentation by Rosa Coj Bocel, a young Mayan woman who has become a voice for women’s rights and a force for community development. and in July Mike Wolf shared his experience with the Kinder transport during WWII. In September we learned about each others Ancestry, this was hosted by Bill and Bonnie Dutton. In November, LInda Williams told us what we can do to prepare our homes to be able to "Age in Place"
2017 - Rickey Farbman continued as our president for a second year.
We hosted groups from Salt Lake City in January, and from Tuxtla-Guiterrez, Mexico in July. The group from Mexico was unusual as we hosted several families with children from ages 12 to their 20's. Santa Barbara FF also hosted the West Coast Region Presidents' Conference in May.
In March, 2017 longtime member Silvio di Loreto passed away.
Social Events included:, the June Tea & Tequila Party, Lunch and Polo match in August, October featured Western BBQ. We ended the year with our annual Holiday Party which included show by magician, Gene Urban. We also welcomed our new FFSB directors: Linda Williams( president), Bonnie Dutton (vice president), Anne Gray (secretary) and Dave Jones (treasurer).
Program presentations included: a representative from the UNA explained their program, a presentation on Vistas, a non-profit lifelong learning organization by the president, Ted Anagnoson; World Dance for Humanity by Janet Reineck; a Camino Santiago Bike Adventure by Rick Scholl; a presentation of a global journey to France by Ron Hartley. the year concluded with a presentation by Sandy Grasso-Boyd and Bill Boyd on their "uncruise" to Panama and Costa Rica.
In late October and November we journeyed to Japan, hosted for a week each by the Kumamoto and the Ehime clubs. Ten of us continued on to Kyoto and Tokyo for a post-journey tour while others toured on their own. A wonderful time was had by all. See pictures of our journey here
2016 - We started the year by welcoming our new president, Rickey Farbman.
We hosted a clubs from Minneapolis, MN and Twin Cities in January and North Bay, Canada in October. Unfortunately, the outbound journey to Belem and Fortaleza schedule in June was canceled due to not enough participants. In September, we traveled to Minneapolis, MN and Madison, WI.
In November, 2017 longtime member Gladys Robinson passed away.
Social Events included:, Chinese New Year celebration in February, an International Potluck in April, a Summer Solstice BBQ at Manning Park in June, in October we joined the ambassadors from North Bay, Canada for a potluck to celebrate Oktoberfest; and our annual Holiday dinner in December
Program presentations included: a presentation about "Paws to Read", China, Learned how SCORE volunteers help new businesses grow and thrive, reviewed memories of our exchange to Charlottesville, VA, and Neal Graffy spoke on Santa Barbara, Then and Now.
2015 - Barbara Rose started her third year as Club President.
Our club traveled to Cape of Good Hope to visit our friends in Cape town, While in South Africa we also went on a safari in Kruger National Park and to Zimbabwe to see Victoria Falls. We also journeyed to Charlottesville, Virginia in October. We hosted our Kaohsiung, Taiwan friends, in August 2015 .In April we hosted the club from Sarasota, Florida, and in August our friends from Taiwan visited us. We also hosted a club from Western Kentucky in November.
Social Events included: a movie and happy hour in February, the Farewell potluck for the Friendship Force of Sarasota, FL in April, in June we visited Seaside Gardens in Carpinteria, dinner at El Capitan along with the ambassadors from Kaohsiung, Taiwan in August, a Halloween party in October and our annual Holiday dinner in December.
Program presentations included: presentation by Mark Gallo of Circa Terra Travel Outfitters, highlights of our fabulous exchange
to South Africa and Victoria Falls, the Art and Architecture themed exchange, a slideshow on Jay Farbman's travels to Bhutan, and in December Dr. Joe White, from the SBCC Philosophy Department, presented an interesting discussion on “A Year without War.”
2014 - Barbara Rose started her second year as club president.
We were visited by a group from Quad Cities in February and in September we hosted the Inbound Exchange from Southern Australia and a group from Connecticut in November
In April we had an outbound Exchange to Memphis, TN and Western Kentucky.in April. Our international outbound was a trip to Hamburg, Germany and Riga Latvia in June.
Social events included the Farewell dinner for Quad Cities in February, an April Fool's party on April 1 (no kidding), a car rally in June, Solvang Theater fest in August, Welcome and Farwell dinner with Sydney Australia in September, and our annual Holiday dinner in December.
Program meeting topics included a presentation by Erin Graffy about our Irish sister city, the club's trip to Memphis & Nashville, Tennessee,
and the trip to Hamburg and Lativa. We also learned about the Direct Relief organization.
We also lost our beloved newsletter publisher, Camille Sellenbinder in October. The newsletter for November/December was taken on by Marry Orr and Paula Gregoire-Jones.
2013 - Barbara Rose started the year as our 2013 president.
The Pikes Peak, Colorado club visited us in January, and in April we hosted a group from Ottawa, Canada. In September we traveled to Stratford/St. Mary's, Canada.
Social events included the Farwell Party with the Pike's Peak club in February, and the Farewell dinner with the Ottawa, Canada club in April, the Summer Solstice celebration in June, a BBQ and concert at El Capitan Ranch in August, Comedy Club night at Pretini's restaurant in October and our annual Holiday dinner in December.
Presentations during Program meetings included Barbara Gregoire's trip to India and Nepal,
2012 - Jack and Mary Orr continued as co-presidents for their 2nd year.
In 2012 we welcomed a FF group from Memphis, Tennessee in April and a in June we hosted a wonderful group from Cape of Good Hope, South Africa. In September our a group from Aichi, Japan visited us. .
In October, SBFF journeyed to Taipei and Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
Presentations during out Program Meetings for the year included: Peterson's talk on their native county of Latvia, Paula Gregoire-Jones' presentation of the previous years exchange to New Zealand, and informative talks about the Project LIGHT Rwanda and Sahara Nomad Foundation. Paul Coyne shared the history of the Santa Barbara Presidion with us.
Social events included the Red, White & Blue celebration, a Party with the Memphis, TN club, in June we attended the Circle Bar Ranch theater, Luau at Goleta Beach in August, the famous Hat Party in October and concluded with the annual Holiday Party in December.
This year also included the addition of the new updated FFSB website - www.friendshipforcesantabarbara.org - by Paula Gregoire-Jones
2011-Exchanges in 2011 afforded us an opportunity to welcome new and old friends from Colorado, return the visit to Colorado, and explore New Zealand and its friendly "kiwis". In 2011 we had co-presidents for the first time—Jack and Mary Orr. With fellow officers Sheryl Barnard, Barbara Rose and Harv
Turner, they soon had us outfitted with FFSB club shirts, club pins, and new business cards.
Several new social events were introduced by Pam Vestal. A very colorful Mardi Gras Party in February featured outrageous costumes and celebrity chefs doing Cajun food.
August found us at EI Capitan Canyon enjoying live rock music and a barbecue feast. In October we met for happy hour at the El Paseo Restaurant before getting our cultural fix at First Thursday.
Our exchanges kept us busy preparing to host or packing to leave.
In late March we said "howdy" to the ambassadors from the FF of Greater Denver with EDs Ken and Francie Jewweson. June, 15 of us visited both Denver and Colorado Springs with ED Sandy Hartley. We loved the historic mansions, Rocky Mountain National Park and Pikes Peak.
Our 16 international ambassadors came from Piracicaba, Brazil in September and enveloped us with their Portuguese, their lively music and many gifts. New activities planned by EDs Sheryl Barnard, Karolyn Hanna and Mary Orr included an outdoor welcome party at the Van Burens, several tours given in Portuguese, a pizza party at the Botanic Garden and three casual backyard dinners.
In October, 19 club members, led by ED Barbara Gregoire, went "Down Under" to visit clubs in Hamilton, Nelson and Christchurch, New Zealand. It was particularly nice to visit friends from Christchurch who came to Santa Barbara in 2010, but so sad to see the damage from the February 22 earthquake.
We gifted the club with three beautiful handmade quilts and a generous check for their relief efforts.
Among the most interesting program meetings of the year were Yama Niazi of the Islamic Association and Susan Forkush, who spoke about the Peace Corps, along with four of our members who served.
Our year ended with a lively Christmas party at Mulligans where we Christmas caroled along with Agris Petersons, and made a donation to the Food Bank via the mystery-bag auction. Stan Scrivner starred as Santa and Terry Scrivner co-stared as Mrs. Claus.
2010 - Barbara Gregoire's second year as President took off with the March celebration of Friendship Force International's thirty-third birthday as we
welcomed the Houston, Texas Exchange which was skillfully directed by Barbara Rose.In July, twenty-one lively, friendly "kiwis" arrived from Christchurch,
New Zealand and were treated to a week of new, unusual, and untried experiences under the expert direction of Sheryl Barnard.
Thanks to Jo Magistad's persistent and untiring efforts to arrange Theater Time events for us, we ate a lot at the Circle Bar B Ranch and laughed a lot at their
live-on-stage production of Precious Nonsense—a hilarious rearrangement of "The Pirates of Penzance."
President Barbara attended two conferences: The 2010 Western Region Leadership Conference and the Friendship Force International Conference
in Washington, D.C., which was attended by 489 delegates from 30 countries.
Eight FFSB members (with Co-ED Barbara Gutmann) joined nineteen from the San Diego club—which comprised the Brazil Exchange. The Calders
returned with an abundance of photos taken in Campinas, Jundiai, Belo Horizonte, and Rio de Janeiro, and we all enjoyed front row seats at Joan Calder's
presentation.
We enjoyed a wonderful Christmas Dinner Party at the Pastavino Restaurant. With Jack Orr as auctioneer, we set a record in proceeds from the fun-filled Mystery-Bag Auction as a staggering $450 was donated to the Food Bank.
2009 - Barbara Gregoire's first year as president produced three exchanges within the first half of 2009: Montana in January with EDs Francie and Ken
Jewesson; Hamburg, Germany in April with ED Dorothy Smith; and North Carolina in June with ED Sandy Hartley.
With seasonal restrictions, Theater Time moved up to February and became "The Theater of Mother Nature" with an Eagle Cruise on Cachuma Lake.
The March Program meeting was celebrated with a Pot Luck at President Barbara's home, featuring Regional Director Mike Gittleman's informative overview of the FFI agenda.
With an attempt at getting our busylives back to normal, Jo Magistad arranged another Theater Time in July with the most delightful "Musical Comedy Murders of 1940.”
In August, the Hartleys and several other couples joined the outbound Budapest, Hungary Exchange. Following that, we did a rerun of the ever popular
Oktoberfest. This year, our traditional Christmas Dinner Party included a celebration of Camille Seelenbinder's 90th Birthday.
We are pleased to report the successful transition of our newsletter from hard copy to e-mail.
2008 - Sandy Hartley's second year as President became a banner year for new members due to the efforts of the Membership Committee chaired by Barbara Gutmann. The year got off to a very good start with FFI Regional Director Mike Gittleman's talk at our first Program Meeting.
In February, we launched a brand new social event, "Soup and Salad Dinner" and we made a donation to the FFI Legacy Fund.
The theme for this year's Western Regional Conference held in San Diego was "Peace Building Is Everyone's Responsibility." Our representatives to the event came home with a wealth of knowledge on recruiting, publicity, motivation, and exchanges.
Also in March, we enjoyed an informative program on Germany by Michael Piela. April extended our world travels with an Asian Pot Luck Dinner, followed in May by Mary Racich's account of Japanese Culture and Customs. Theater Time in June took us to the Circle Bar B Ranch for the comedy, "Who's in Bed with the Butler" again arranged by Jo Magistad.
We hosted a wonderful Exchange from Mie, Japan, while Santa Barbara was enveloped in smoke and ash from the Gap Fire.
A repeat of our ever popular "Oktoberfest" was followed by another traditional social gathering, "The Christmas Dinner Party," with our gift of food collected
for The Community Kitchen.
2007 was Sandy Hartley's first year as president and our bimonthly events took off in February with an International Pot Luck. In March, FFI celebrated 30
years of friend-making and peace-building with Sandy Hartley representing Friendship Force of Santa Barbara at the conference in Atlanta, GA. Over 500
participants from 27 countries heard President George Brown speak on the global state of Friendship Force and the Legacy Campaign.
April's social event took us to the Elks Lodge for Dinner and Dancing. Then in May, Lou Smitheram led our Outbound Exchange to Altotonga, Mexico with a most interesting and informative extension to Mexico City and to Five Colonial Cities. Ken and Francie Jewesson and President Sandy attended the Western Region Conference in Las Vegas in June. Also in June, we drove to the Circle-Bar-B-Ranch for dinner and the Live-on-Stage hilarious comedy "Don't Mention My Name" which was arranged by Jo Magistad.
September brought us an Inbound Exchange from South Sidney, Australia. One event was a barbeque and tour of the Nichols' Ranch in Carpinteria.
We had a rerun of the annual Italian Dinner and Game Night in October and a new Program, arranged by Gail Gillies, featuring a liaison with the United Nations and Unesco. Speakers were Catherine Dishion, President of the Santa Barbara County Chapter of the UN; Douglas Gillies, Documentary Filmmaker;
and the famous Robert Muller, former Assistant Secretary General to the United Nations.
This eventful year ended with our annual Christmas Dinner Party, highlighted by a collection of food items donated by our members. The donations
were delivered to the Unity Shoppe for distribution.
2006 - During 2006, Ken Jewesson's second year, FFSB was involved in several "first time" events that are noteworthy. In January, Jaclie Van Spanckeren and Jo Magistad presented "The Friendship Story" at an International Relations Luncheon sponsored by the Santa Maria branch of AAUW with Claire Magee as chairperson.Considerable interest about FFSB was generated through the viewing of our new display board created by Camille Seelenbinder with assistance of Jackie Van Spanckeren, Karolyn Hanna, and Barbara Gutmann.
In March, our club celebrated FFI World Friendship Day with an "Ice Cream Social" and we raised $400 for the FFI Legacy Fund. Two hundred and three FF clubs from around the world participated, beginning with New Zealand and ending in Hawaii.
At another successful outreach effort much later in the year, FFSB was represented at the Annual United Nations Day held at Santa Barbara City College.
We had one international inbound exchange from Rostov-on-Don, Russia and one domestic inbound exchange from Lake Hartwell, Georgia. ED Mary Racich introduced two new interesting day trips: "A Sailboat Adventure" and "A SB Home Tour".
Ken Jewesson successfully led our outbound exchange to Mie and Sendai, Japan. Immediately we learned how generous and caring the Japanese members of both clubs are. The Mie Club did an outstanding job with public relations, doing interviews with TV stations and local newspapers concerning Friendship Force and our visit to their city. Several of our members joined outbound exchanges to Slovenia and Tanzania arranged by other FF Clubs.
2005 - In 2005, with Ken Jewesson as president, our club has had many memorable moments. In January, we reported on a very successful exchange lead by the Gutmanns to La Serena, Chile, and Peru. This was followed by our "FFSB Birthday Bash" and "FFI World Friendship Day." In March, we had the honor of hosting the Western Region Conference with special guest George Brown, President of FFI, as the keynote speaker. Twelve of the fifteen Western Region clubs were represented at the Conference. All attendees had a choice to attend three (of eight) workshops, two of which were presented by our club members, Karolyn Hanna and Barbara Gutmann. Lunch and snacks were outstanding. Each attendee received a personalized folder filled with pertinent Conference information. Dinner at Moby Dick's restaurant was a lovely finale.April brought St. Petersburg and Novgorod, Russia to Santa Barbara for a cultural exchange, and we treated them to a special "Southwestern Party" with all the fixings. In May, our club learned about our sea-faring history with a talk by the director of the Maritime Museum.
Seventeen women from Santiago, Chile arrived in June, allowing us to renew friendships from our earlier trip to Santiago. We celebrated their visit with a "Potato Party" from which nobody left hungry. The Land Shark has proven to be very popular with ambassadors, but most popular has been the "Wine and Hors d'oeuvres Party" at Annette Carrel's lovely home.
A report on Santa Barbara's sister city Dingle, Ireland was our program for July, given by Grenda Moran, a friend of FFSB. In August, we picnicked in Solvang, followed by the PCPA production of "Brigadoon.""Contemporary China" was the subject of a slide show in September by Ken and Francie Jewesson.
"Octoberfest" followed with a hardy German dinner. Then in November, we viewed an FFI trip to Vietnam and Cambodia, presented by the Gutmanns, and finally concluded the year with our annual Christmas extravaganza in December.
2004 - FFSB was even more involved with FF business during Barbara Gutmann’s second year as president. In March 2004, six members joined the FFI National Exchange to Western Bay of Plenty, New Zealand and Tasmania. For three people this was a first experience. It was a great success!In the spring, six members attended the Western Regional Conference hosted by FF of San Francisco which was held in Newark, CA.
In June, twenty members of FF of Karslyaka Bay, Turkey visited for a week. This Exchange included five young people, ages twelve to twenty.
In July, ten members enjoyed a memorable Domestic Exchange hosted by the members of FF of Lincoln, Nebraska.
In September/October, eleven of our members plus seven FF members from four states led by Barbara Gutmann participated in an Outbound Exchange to FF of La Serena, Chile. Tours were done in Santiago and the Lake District in Chile and also in Cusco, Machu Picchu, and Lake Titicaca, Peru.
November 4-7, four members participated in the FFI Conference in Los Angles. Jo Magistad and Francie Jewesson served as Exchange Directors for the twenty-three Inbound FF Ambassadors who came to Santa Barbara following the FFI Conference. All of the 2004 FFSB events were enthusiastically attended.
They included the Chinese New Year Dinner, the theater matinee in Santa Maria, the Hawaiian Dinner, the Fiesta Party where we raised $550.00 to benefit a
new medical clinic in Ghana promoted locally by the Catholic Archbishop Gregory E. Kpiebaya from Ghana, the Italian Dinner Party, and the annual Christmas Dinner Party.
2003 - With Barbara Gutmann as president, 2003 had a busy calendar with six bimonthly Program Meetings, six bimonthly Business Meetings and six bimonthly Club Events or Socials to which members were encouraged to invite prospective members as guests. With several State Department warnings concerning travel in SE Asia and, specifically, Thailand our Outbound Exchange was canceled due to lack of participants. Six members attended the Western Regional Conference in Sacramento in March. In April, twenty ambassadors from FF of Niagara, Canada visited us for a busy, fun week. FF of Romania canceled their Inbound Exchange in June, but ten ambassadors from Manchester, England visited for a week in September. Claire Magee was our club representative at the FFI Conference in Budapest. During the fall, we held monthly Recruitment Saturday Breakfasts at IHOP gaining one new member. FFSB donated $300.00 to FFI to help alleviate the financial crisis being experienced this year.
2002 - In April 2002, Dottie Iverson and Lou Smitheram directed a domestic exchange to San Antonio, and in August, during Fiesta, they directed an incoming exchange from San Antonio. Also in April 2002, Jackie Van Spanckeren, Eugenee Ward, and Barbara and Jim Gutmann attended the Western Regional Conference in Phoenix, where they were home hosted by local members.
Because our outgoing exchange to Thailand was delayed into 2003, in June four of our members joined FFLA on their exchange to Meresberg and Kiel, Germany with and add-on trip to Copenhagen. Joining other FF club exchanges is always a possibility for any member. In September, Dorothy Smith and Francie Jewesson co-directed the incoming exchange from Wessex and Hampshire, England.
2001 - At the Christmas party, Jackie Van Spanckeren became the president for the year 2001. The calendar of meetings every other month was adjusted to
include a special event on the intervening month, such as a “Dinner—Fun—and—Games” night and an “International Night”. In March, we welcomed
a group of eleven ambassadors from Hungary for a busy, fun time. In June, eleven of our members, arranging their own transportation for the first time, traveled to Niagara, Canada to visit a very new, very hospitable, and very enthusiastic FF Club. They did a few things that one of our members who is a native of that area has never experienced, turning on the lights to illuminate the Falls at night. Also during June, three of our members joined a Friendship Force International Exchange of 37 ambassadors on a 22 day tour of China. Close friendships were established both with the Chinese and with other FF members.
There was no domestic exchange in 2001. In November, Claire and Richard Magee attended the FFI conference in Thailand and later presented a report of their experience and of the business discussed at a FFSB meeting.
2000 - The year 2000 offered us two wonderful groups of ambassadors—one from Pusan, Korea in March—and another from La Serena, Chile in September. These friends will long be remembered for their singing, dancing, sensitivity, and good fun. In October, with Jackie Van Spanckeren as Exchange Director fifteen members flew to England. They visited London, toured Stonehenge, and spent a memorable week with the Devon club in southwest England before boarding a bus for a two day trip through Wales. The Fast Ferry transported the group from
Hollyhead, Wales to Dublin where a week’s tour of Ireland commenced. There was no domestic exchange that year.
1999 - The following year was just as busy when Lou Smitheram assumed leadership. In February 1999, some hardy travelers from Lincoln, Nebraska spent
a week with us. The next month was a rainy March, but the people whom we had visited in Halle, Germany were undeterred by cloudy or wet skies when they came to see us. In May, the club had a wonderful time in Louisville, Kentucky. In September, Friendship Force members spent a week in Olsztyn, Poland and a week in Szekesfehervar, Hungary, arriving home just in time to host friends from Lubeck, Germany early in October. Late the same month, a group from Kiev, Ukraine visited us. Then, in November, Jay Torrey led an exchange to Brisbane and the Gold Coast in Australia with an added extension week. This made an extraordinary number of three outgoing and four incoming exchanges in one year!
1998 - In Jay’s second year as president [1998], incoming exchanges arrived from Charlottesville, Virginia in February; Louisville, Kentucky in April; and
from Alajuela, Costa Rica in May. In August 1998, we were outbound to Lubeck and Halle, Germany with an extension in Berlin and Prague. In October, we
visited Charlottesville with an extension to Washington, D.C. A visit from the St. Petersburg, Russia group in November ended a very busy 1998.
1997 - In April 1997, during Jay Torrey’s first term as president, some of our group spent a wonderful weekend with families in Bakersfield. A group from
Devon, England arrived in June. In September of that year we hosted a group from Poland.
1996 - A group of Brazilians spent a week here in January 1996 teaching everyone how to do the samba double-quick time. In April, Russians visiting Los Angeles spent a day here. They loved the beach! At Fiesta time, the Bakersfield group arrived as our first domestic exchange. Egypt visited us in August 1996 and in November of that year the second outbound exchange went to New Zealand.
1995 - Dottie Iverson became the first president of the Santa Barbara Friendship Force club. In July of 1995, we welcomed our first inbound exchange from
Herne, Germany for a week’s visit.
1994 - The Santa Barbara Friendship Force club was established through the assistance of Pete Bull of Friendship Force San Francisco. She was invited by friends, Cay and Joe Yuncker, to describe Friendship Force at a local presentation held at the Faulkner Gallery in June 1994 as advertised in the
Santa Barbara News Press. Sixteen people attended. Among them were the Yunckers, the Jewessons, and Dottie Iverson, most are participating members
today. Soon after that meeting, Sterling and Dottie Iverson, Jack and Jackie Van Spanckeren, and Barbara Mete joined the FF Los Angeles club on an exchange to Brazil.