New Florida club promotes travel with a purpose

The organization that is promoting a more peaceful world through international citizen homestays, announces the formation of a new club in Boca Raton, Florida.

Friendship Force International Boca club’s first open recruitment meeting will be held Jan. 9, 2019 at 7 p.m. at the Glades of Boca Lago Clubhouse, 21732 Arriba Real, Roca Raton, Fla. 33433. Florida Field Representative Marilyn Whelan will be the featured guest speaker. Board of Directors’ member and Boca resident Stuart May will attend the meeting and serve as a member of the new club. May and his wife Susan have been Friendship Force members for more than 20 years and have traveled on several homestays together.

Friendship Force clubs are the heart of the organization and range in size from small families to networks of 100 people or more. Volunteers from all backgrounds work diligently toward the Friendship Force goal of breaking down barriers between people through activities, homestays and common experiences.

“When my wife and I moved to Boca, we looked to join a FFI club but couldn’t find one in southeast Florida, so we decided to start one,” said May. “We felt we needed to not deprive the people of the world the ability to come to this part of our beautiful state, learn about our way of life, create greater understanding between countries and make new friends.”

Friendship Force was founded in 1977 and introduced to the world in March of that year by President Jimmy Carter at a White House gathering of state governors. President Carter asked each governor to choose a volunteer leader to run the Friendship Force club in his state. First lady Rosalynn Carter served as Honorary Chairperson of the FFI Board of Directors until 2002.