1. Pen Friends
2. River Festival Entry Information
8. News From the World Trade Center
9. Website News
10. From Tlalnepantla, Mexico to Ottawa, Canada
11. Thank You
We still have seventeen letters from students in Kaifeng who wish to have a pen friend. Twenty five letters were recently mailed to Scotland, which means that of the 111 letters brought back from Kaifeng, 69 students received a pen friend from the Wichita area. If you know of anyone who might be interested in having a pen friend in Kaifeng, please contact Peggy at rbennett4@cox.net.
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Want to revisit yesteryear? Remember those crisp Fall days you spent with your friends planning and building the Homecoming Float?!! Well, you can relive them again this Spring by helping with the Sister Cities Float for the River Festival Parade. We need help with the planning and building. If you would like to volunteer contact Mary Sciortino either by phone (733-5192) or e-mail (msciortino@cox.net). You are guaranteed to have fun. You might even get to ride on the Float. Sign up now!!
The theme this is year is “Rollin’ on The River”, so be creative. Our entry application and $100 is due April 1. Please contact me now.
I understand there has been some question about the financing for the Chinese acrobats that performed at Century II in Sept. 2004.
Ideally, if everyone in attendance the night of the performance would have donated a dollar, we could have collected about $1,000. However, that was not the case. Please refer to the year-end report from the past Treasurer, which may be obtained from the Office of the Mayor.
To my knowledge, no written requests for reimbursement have been received. Unless a request for reimbursement is given it is presumed that the money given was a donation.
For those of you who desire a reimbursement, you should have and may still request a refund, by sending a handwritten request to:
Carla Shull
Office of the Mayor
455 N. Main – First Floor
Wichita, KS 67202
I would like to take this time to thank all of those who opened their home and shared their lives with our Chinese guests. It is only due to your generosity and kindness that we can continue to do what we do. We appreciate your help in maintaining our relationship with the Henan Province of China.
Thanks,
Peggy
At the board meeting on Feb. 17, financial concerns were discussed about reoccurring problems with RSVPs to events over the past several years. When you call in a reservation, food is purchased or a service is secured. When you do not show and do not pay, Sister Cities has to pay the difference. This diverts our resources from accomplishing our goals. So, the board is implementing a new policy—a reservation is a commitment to pay and failure to do so will result in a friendly reminder in the mail, asking for your remittance. This is being done to stop our losses. Thanks for helping us preserve our limited funds.
We welcome our new Treasurer, Eunice Ellis who was involved in Sister Cities years ago. Her renewed involvement is most certainly appreciated.
And we welcome our most recent new member; Emily Johnson. You may recall that Emily is one of “Jerry’s kids” who visited Cancun and conceptualized our newest strength building effort with them, by collecting hundreds of pounds of school supplies, clothing and toys for the children in a very low income area on the very borders of Cancun.
We are elated to have both of you as members of our program. Thank you for all that you have done already!
I would like to thank our past Treasurer, Dana Gsell for her many years of dedicated service to our board. She has performed an exemplary job even during her chaotic schedule. She will tell you that she feels as though she hasn’t done a very good job for us. However, as Past President I can attest to the fact that she has dedicated many volunteer hours to Wichita Area Sister Cities which have gone unnoticed. I just want to say, “thanks Dana, we sincerely appreciate all that you have done.” - Peggy Bennett
For a great meal, French camaraderie & conversation, join us for the 1st "Entre Nous" Hosted by Sister Cities French Committee, Thursday March 10th at 6:00 p.m. at the Olive Tree Restaurant, 2929 N. Rock Road. $15 at the door or $7 for students. Price includes 2 make-your-own crepes & 2 drink tickets for wine by the glass, Kronenbourg biere or sodas. After the meal we will be treated to the Award-winning movie "Amelie" (with English subtitles) starring Audrey Tatou; and a spirited discussion on its cinematography by Dr. Wilson Baldridge of WSU. Bring a pillow or blanket to sit on.
This is the perfect outing for the whole family! An evening "Entre Nous".
RSVP with: Kelly Harper - 634-2290 or kelly-harper@cox.net - or -
Rachel Priest-O'Hara - 461-3035 or chezohara@cox.net
Watch for the next "Entre Nous" in May! Would you like to volunteer? We'd love to have your help
News from the Kansas World Trade Council
We are pleased to announce a day seminar will be held March 17th on Export Documentation and Logistics. The day seminar begins at 9:45 a.m. and ends at 4:30 p.m.
Our March 17th evening program, “Doing Business with Taiwan” will begin with a hosted reception at 6:00 p.m., Banquet & Wine at 7 p.m. and Keynote and Featured addresses at 8:00 p.m.
Reservations are required for the day Seminar and also the evening program. You may contact the WTC office at 978-3176, respond on our Web site, www.wtc.wichita.edu or FAX your reservations to 978-3698.
Please contact us if you have any questions. We look forward to seeing you on March 17th.
Sherryl Hubble, WTC Staff
I’m pleased to report that our site is doing very well. On Feb. 22, I sent an email to Carla to inform her that we had a record 91 visitors that day. However, the following day we had 103 visitors, who viewed 218 pages and 851 files, which means 1,172 hits for that day. We are now averaging 46 visitors per day, with 1,105 from Feb. 1 to 25. Of those 1,105 visitors; 39 are from a link on the website for the city of Wichita, and 5 are from Sister Cities International. Again, our site is being viewed in many countries.
From
Tlalnepantla, Mexico to Ottawa, Canada—on bikes
For the 4th year in a row, we will receive a group of six bicyclists from our Sister City of Tlalnepantla. This year their goal is to ride up into Ottawa, Canada. They are being sponsored by UNAM, Universidad Autonoma de Mexico , who will have a web site for everyone to follow the progress of the bikers.
At this writing, it is not yet certain how long they will be in Wichita, but we do know they are in need of host families. If you would like to host please contact our Mexico Committee Chairperson, Gilda Waren at 253-0670.
The group is looking for anyone from the Wichita area to join them on any leg of their journey. Historian, Reed Bennett, plans to meet them at the Oklahoma/Kansas border and ride into Wichita with them. If you, or anyone you know, would like to be part of this journey, please contact Reed at rbennett4@cox.net.
Dear Sister Cities Board Members,
Thank-you so much for giving me a scholarship towards a plane ticket to return to Cancun! The idea of returning and distributing everything seemed impossible- thank-you for changing that! Depending on whether La Salle can hold on to everything for awhile, I am hoping to travel in June once I am finished with school. By going then, I can also enlist the help of this year's exchange program participants to distribute the donations. I think it would be wonderful for them to see this project (it may even prompt one of them to do something similar...). If June is not possible, I will go sometime in March or April. I cannot wait to see the faces of my students and their families when they receive everything! I think it will be one of the most fulfilling moments of my life, and I am extremely grateful that you have given me this opportunity.
I would also like to provide a brief update on my project. To date, I have shipped approximately 1000 pounds of donations to Mexico. Most of this has been clothing, but some boxes held toiletries, school supplies, and toys. I still have about 300 pounds in my basement, and several people whose donations I have not yet collected. The enormity of this project just amazes me, but I have been extremely privileged to have so many wonderful people around who have helped. With the exception of a few shipping problems, everything is progressing perfectly. I just wish to thank everyone who has helped me with this endeavor- without my volunteers and their time; this project would not have been possible.
Thank-you again for your generosity!
Emily Johnson
And Hereeeeee’s Gilda!
Thank you for electing me Chairperson for the Mexico committee. I would like to introduce myself to everyone, as many of you may not know me. I first came to Wichita as an exchange student from Cancun in 1987. Thanks to our wonderful friend Jerry Smartt, I was offered a few scholarships to come back a year later to pursue a degree at Friends University. One of them was the Eisenhower Scholarship through Sister Cities. I was lucky to be one of only 6 students in the nation to receive the grant. 18 years later here I am, with a bachelors degree in Mass Communications, a wonderful husband I met in college, and two beautiful children that take by breath away.
Besides becoming the Mexico committee chairperson this past year, there has been a lot of changes in my life as well. On my son’s first birthday, we bought a new home in northwest Wichita and my husband acquired his optometry business named “Waren Optometry.” He’s also asked me to help him with his business, so while I take care of the house, our kids, and a few errands, I file insurance claims. It’s a good thing that our home is only a few miles from the practice. Also, my daughter Ana started kindergarten, is taking ballet and tap classes, piano lessons, and plays soccer. Now I know what “soccer mom” means!
My life has been blessed in many, many ways. I would have never guessed 18 years ago that I would be a part of this community, this country. Sister Cities has played a big roll in my life to make my dreams come true. I was able to get an education, get to know a different culture, meet new friends and much more. I want to thank Sister Cities and everyone that helped make these things happen. Thanks to Jerry Smartt for her faith in me, the Howdeshells for making me a part of their family, and everyone else that has been there for me unconditionally. Thanks for believing in me. Thanks for electing me Mexico Committee’s Chairperson.
Muchas Gracias!
Gilda Waren
721-9522- home
253-0670- cell
729-8600- office
See Calendar of Events for more information