2005 February Newsletter

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Columbia Pacific AFS Hosting 2005************************************************************************2005 Columbia Pacific Hosting Season is upon us. We had a great turn out for our FirsHosting Kick-off and came away with enthusiasm and small tasks we each couldcomplete to reach our hosting goals.

Some of the ideas that were generated: Speak AFS every chance you get; encourageour students to nominate families; distribute AFS flyers everywhere you gobowling,dentist, doctor, library, bookstores, community bulletin boards, social gatherings; callfamilies who have been interested in the past and new families you think might beinterestedneighbors, business associates, church friends.

We would love to encourage you to be part of our Hosting Team this year. Please joinus at the Second Hosting Kick-off Wednesday, March 16th 6:45 to 9:00 PM. Themeeting will be held at West Hills Unitarian Fellowship, 8470 SW Olsen Road(between Garden Home and Hall Blvd on the east side of the road about half-waybetween) Please RSVP by March 13th, to [email protected] we can plan formaterials and refreshments.

This will be a chance for the Portland Metro Volunteers and outer West and SouthwestVolunteers to come together and plot our course for the coming season.

We will be distributing materials; reviewing selection and application process (there aresome new tighter rules regarding paperwork and volunteer registration for liaisons.Well have many more bios available and we will be talking strategy for getting the jobdone by June 16th. Please come share your ideas and enthusiasm!

Our Commitment for this year is: 53 (plus however many teachers we feel we can andwant to support.) We have placed three Winter Arrival students; two YES studentsfrom Malaysia, Nurul and Faiz and a Chilean, Juan Pablo, or "JP." Please welcomethem! That leaves 50 students to find homes for. We can do it!

The selection process for students is the same as it has been for the last two years, witha couple of new rules. New bios are Area Team Assigned on Wednesdays and theNorthwest has decided we will have no Regionally Available students. So the studentsare Area Team Assigned in a round-robin fashion. We have a week to Community orFamily place the students from Area Team Assigned. If you or a designated "chapterHosting coordinator" want to help with reviewing and selection of bios, please let meknow so I can make sure you have the proper access for AFS Online. I need helpchoosing the students who will come to Columbia Pacific!

This year we will need all liaisons assigned and registered and all host family papercomplete, including school guarantee, before the student can be linked to a family.Once the student is linked, it initiates the natural family notification process and wedont want families and students receiving incorrect information.

Wed also like to draw your attention to the Host Family Finding Incentive that theArea Team has implemented. The students have all received nomination forms andhosting brochures with encouragement to nominate families of friends and eventeachers. The students with the most quality leads will receive a monetary reward.

The Field Managers of the West have come up with a Hosting Proposal that we willwork toward implementing. Please see pages 5 & 6.

Columbia Pacific News Letter

February 2005
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


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Student photo Ga llery

Photo Gallery and Hosting News

HOST FAMILY CORNERQ. How often should I allow my

student to call her naturalfamily?

A. AFS recommends that theideal way for your student tobe in touch with her family isto keep in touch weekly bymail and to make calls only onspecial occasions such asbirthdays or special holidayssuch as Christmas. Calls of nomore than once a month ofabout a half hour in lengthwould be the next best choice.Calls that occur morefrequently are in danger ofcausing adaptationdifficulties.

Q. What about use of e-mail andchat lines?

A. AFS recommends thatparticipants send a general e-mail to family and friendsonce a week, making it moresimilar to a letter, and thatthey should limit the amountof time that is spent writing e-mail as wellone and one-half hours once a week at themost should be the limit.Chat lines should be avoided.

TAX TIME $50 DEDUCTION FOR

HOST FAMILIESPublic Law 86-779 of the 86th Congresssection 170(g), permits you to deduct upto $50 a month for the time your AFSparticipant is living with you. Thededuction is considered a charitablecontribution. A copy of a form entitledHost Family Income Tax DeductionForm, which documents yourparticipation in AFS as a host family,should have been mailed to you withyour Welcome Packet. Call your clusterleader if you need a copy of this form.

CONGRATULATIONS

Congratulations to Dan Ward, whobecame a new grandfather on Saturdayafternoon, January 22. His daughter,Chris, gave birth to Shaela Nicole at 1:00p.m. She weighed in at 7 lbs. 8 oz., andwas 19 inches long. Dan, a former hostdad, is a volunteer helper at CampAdams, arrival and departure, andwherever else he is needed. Chris is alsoa volunteer.


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Student News

TIMBERLINE LODGE

The following two articles were submittedby our two Russian FLEX student,Kseniya and Jane. For all of you AFSerswho went on the ski trip and didnt studyup on the history of Timberline, here aretheir reports on Timberline Lodgeshistory.

On June 11, 1936 Timberline Lodge wasbuilt by hand, by unemployed craftspeople, hired by the Federal WorksProjects Administration. The survey wasmade on the site of 14 feet of snow,during the spring of 1936. The conditionswere very hard, but the workers were paidvery well and the morale was high. Thework was done in an amazingly shorttime. The dedication by FranklinRoosevelt was in September, 1937. In1978 Timberline Lodge was declared aNational Historic Landmark. Its evolution

as a site of Northwest Craftmanshipcontinues.

By: Kseniya (Russia)

Construction of Timberline Lodge

On June 11, 1936, there was a projectstarted unique to America. Timberlinelodge was built completely by hand,inside and out, by unemployed craftspeople hired by Federal Works ProjectsAdministration. The building is a tributeto their skills and to the governmentwhich respected not only their physical

needs but also their spirits. The surveywas made on the site of 14 feet of snowduring the spring 1936. For 3 monthsworkers cleared the area under the snow.The conditions were very hard, butworkers were paid well and the food wasgood too, and the morale was high. Theywere able to finish the project duringspring of 1936, which was long and mild,before the worst of the old weather. Mostof the work was done in an amazinglyshort time. From the first drawing made inearly 1936, to the dedication of the

completed lodge by Franklin Roosevelt inSeptember 1937 only 15 months elapsedand there were no major accidents duringthe construction. In 1978, TimberlineLodge was declared a Natural HistoricalLandmark. It was an evolutionencouraged by Friends of Timberline, theUS Forest Service and the hotel and skiarea operators. Northwest artists continueto contribute art and craftwork to thelodge.

By Jane Trachomova

Maria Caicedo Columbia LastJanuary 19, I was part of a play in myschool. I played the character of Ellis,who is the owner of a bar called The AlibiClub. Ellis is a pretty tough girl. Thename of the play was The Course of theStarving Class.

Luis Mesa Venezuela I am applying

for 10 universities. Im also taking 4 APclasses at the same time. I am playingsoccer for the school term and a club teamcalled PCU, which is one of the top teamsin Portland.

Kristine Hommersand Norway Last weekend was Winter Ball at myhigh school, St. Helens High. It wassupposed to be the weekend before, butbecause of the ice storm, it got cancelled.When it got cancelled, I was reallybummed, but luckily, I only had to waitone week because they postponed it, so I

was excited. Another week the WinterBall was perfect. Ive never been to aformal dance before and never had aformal dress on either, but I think I didgood. I had the time of my life, and now Icant wait for prom!

Nurul Fathiah Mohd Aminuddin Malaysia Im Nurul FathiahMohdAminuddin and Im 17 years old. Ivebeen in Portland last week and I do not goto school yet. I am the eldest in mynatural family, but Im the youngest in myhost family. Im from Malaysia which is

in Asia. People in Asia have differentraces and religions, but still they can livein peace and harmony. I love to swim andread novels. When I grow up I want to bea lawyer.

Noemi Serdino sang soprano in theParkrose High School Holiday ChoirConcert on December 13.

Mariana Vargas (Mexico), along withLara G (Iceland), and Mao Oglihara(Japan), volunteered at the Gales CreekCamp Dinner & Auction on November20. Marianas photo appeared twice inthe latest edition ofGreater NorthwestCommunity, a publication of theIndependent Order of Foresters.

YES student Norodin Pangilan Wally(Philippines). Wally received one of thePrincipal's awards for the month ofNovember. His US History teachernominated Wally for the outstandingpresentation to an auditorium of severalclasses and teachers, on the contrasts ofthe Filipino Families and Schools with theUnited States and the tenets of the Muslim

culture and religion. Wally also sang anperformed traditional Filipino dances.Wally helped dispelled some myths abothe Muslim culture and gave somevaluable information about life in thePhilippines.

Noemi, Carolin, and Lucrezia holding platteof lentils and zampone, a traditional dish for

New Years.

Compliments go out to Noemi Serdino,Lucrezia Scattu (Italy), and CarolinAderhold (Germany) for their culinarytalents. Noemi and Lucrezia preparedsome traditional Sardinian dishes andCarolin made two delicious German cakfor a New Years Eve Party held atBernices. The menu included lasagna,ravioli, zampone, special meats fromItaly, and bread with bruschette. Manyhours (3 days) were spent making the

homemade pasta and preparing the mealAndy Falconeri Italy Before thisyear in Tillamook, they didnt have anysoccer activity, but this year in the highschool, we have exchange students whoreally like soccer, so we almost forcedthem to make a soccer club where wepractice (3 days a week), and right nowmore than 30 people are involved and whave a lot of fun!!

Carolins cakes


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Student News

VISIT TO AM NORTHWEST

On December 30, Maggie Frieske and

Claire Floyd took our two FLEX students

and Mariana Vargas to AM Northwest

and tothe Multnomah County CourtHouse where they were joined by BerniceSchuchardt, Lucrezia Scattu and Noemi

Serdino. Judge Jan Wyers, a former

AFSer spent some time visiting with them

in his chambers..

It was a great experience for me. Ialways wanted to be on TV, or see what itis really like. The day before I watchedthis show at home, but it looks and feelsvery different when you are you are partof the audience. It was very interesting tosee all the cameras and lights, and how theanchors behaved during commercialbreaks. It just amazed me how people whowork on TV stations put this all together. Ireally enjoyed being there and I had a lotof fun. For me (girl from a small Russiantown), it was very exciting to be onAmerican TV!!! Thank You.

Kseniya Vizerova, FLEX student fromRussia

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Today, on December 30th, I'm, JaneTrakhomova, FLEX exchange studentshave been at the AM Northwest programprovided by KATU television. That wasmy first time, my first experienceconnected with American television. I was

really excited before probably because ofthat I am going to be showed on TV, butlater I realized that it is just a greatopportunity to be in the studio, to listen tothe speech of real American Anchors. Ikind of enjoyed it, because somemoments were really hilarious but actuallyit looked like it looks on TV for me, it wasdiplomatic, unnatural and kind of fake.Sometimes it seems kind of weird for me,because the anchors, they didn't reallycare what kind of people they're talking toand interrupt somebody at the moment of

breathing but this is their job and Iunderstand it. I mean, it's the same in thecountry I am from and I bet in all othercountries, it's just not the kind job I reallylike but I like the results, the fact that theyare famous and pretty professional in thesphere they work. And they are all funny

guys and it was fun to talk to them and tolisten to them.By: Jane Trachomova, FLEX student

from Russia

THE SKI TRIP AND WE HADSNOW

Thanks goes out to Ron and Myke Jagowfor providing another fun weekend at themountain for 45 students. And thank youto someone up above for providing snow.

A special thanks goes out to our ski tripdrivers! As late as Friday night, our skitrip organizers were in a quandary as towhether they should cancel the ski trip orgo ahead with it as plannedthe decision

was to take a chance and proceed.Saturday afternoon at orientation we gotthe good news that it was snowing atTimberline and that Timberline had 4 newinches. Sunday was a beautiful day on themountain and there was enough snow toski. As usual, Myke and Ron served theirdelicious homemade spaghetti, cookies,and a hearty pancake breakfast. Good job,Greg Kott, for coordinating this outing!CONGRATULATIONS to Greg &Bonnie Kott on the birth of a baby boyon February 9.

ASHLAND TRIP ANUPDATEMay 7, 8 & 9

First of all, we are sorry to say the trip hbeen filled.

Backstage tour tickets are on sale now.The date for the backstage tour is May 8and the tour lasts about 2 hours. Marilysays she has done it and it is quite fun aninteresting. If you want to order thetickets, call 541 482-4331. There are on24 tickets available and the cost is $8.25for adults and $5.50 for youth ages 6-17yrs. You must order these tickets yoursby calling the number listed above.

We also need to sell more candy to makenough to pay for the hotel room. Onlythose who are helping sell candy will ge

to take advantage of the money we earnOtherwise, you must pay your share of thotel, food, etc. If we do not makeenough on the Valentine candy, we mayhave to do Easter candy. Give Bernice call at 503 775-4161 or Ron Combs a caat 503 777-8117.

Narodin (Wally) Pangilan from thePhilippines in his native dress, whilepracticing for his presentation forSkyview High School during InternationEducation Week. Wally sings tenor in tjazz and concert choir at Skyview HighSchool in Vancouver.


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Hosting Information

WESTERN STATES HOSTING PROJECT

Dear Friends,

From visiting with many of you last weekend during our planning session at the Hosting conference and fromwhat we have learned as a staff, we would like you to join us in a pro-active hosting effort. Betsy, Damayonti,and Floyd met and want to collaborate with you on a Western States Hosting Project. We have met with ourfield teams and would like to share with you our ideas. We are also going to ask something of you. We cannotmove on until we have some very important information from you. We feel that if we can do this now we willbe done by June 16. This in no way would replace what you already do as a team. We have set benchmarks asfollows for placement:

April 1: 50% of our students in permanent familiesMay 15: 75% of our students in permanent familiesJune 16: 100% of our students in families

Because our partners are notified directly now when we input any information, we must use real families whoare intending to be a permanent or welcome family. Our goal is to have all students in permanent families withcompleted paperwork by the time they arrive, unless it is for a vacationing permanent family or other suchreasons.

FEBRUARY: Information gathering and targeting those we have in the pipeline. Each coordinator will besending you a complete list of all your Form A's now in the system. We ask that by Feb. 15 you get back toyour coordinator with a status on each Form A and how you want us to deal with it. Some teams do not wantapplications sent directly, others do. As soon as we mark a family as viable they are sent an application and thehosting coordinator gets the volunteer part. Keep in mind that just because a family gets an application does not

mean they will become a host family. They are an "applicant" and not a host family until we have the entireapplication and an assigned registered liaison (which could change later) We will also be sending Form A's tothe hosting coordinators as soon as we receive them . Our IT department is designing an easier way to get themto you without our having to copy all the information and put it into an email.

We will be sending a mailing to each lead we have generated since September 1 whether it has a hosting interestor not. This mailing will be addressed "to the parents of" and include a letter explaining that their child was in aschool presentation, a fake bio sheet, and a Form A with directions to return it to the office. This mailing will goout by Feb. 21, 2005. Each of the managers is taking one part of that mailing. Right now in the Southwest wehave nearly 5000 such leads with more coming.

In order for us to target our calling we need something from you. Attached are WORD and EXCEL documentsthat have tables for school information. Feel free to use either one. We would need this by Feb. 23 so we canbegin to give our info center advisors targeted areas for calling. We are also going to input this information rightinto our new schools module. We realize that for some of you this might seem redundant, but for SH we raninto problems as we did not know which schools were open to us. These documents should be sent to Floydonly as he is coordinating hosting. Please include not only currently hosting schools but any other schools youfeel would host AFS students.

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Hosting Information

By Feb. 28 we will be mailing a nomination letter and forms to every host and natural family from this year,plus our students going abroad in 2005 and our hosted students. We will return these nomination forms to thehosting coordinator in each team. IF your team is already doing this, let Floyd know and we will skip yourteam. By gaining nominations, we have an opening for our initial calls. We want this to be a more formalrequest. One team has been giving tee shirts, another a monetary reward if a hosted student recruits a given

number of host families. Being "nominated" holds a special value and we feel we have not done this in atargeted and consistent manner in the past.

Here is an idea from the Northwest: During their mid-year orientation they will be giving all students "HostFamily Packages" which include hosting brochures, Form As, host family applications etc. The team is holdinga contest with their students where the student who returns the most Form As that convert to host families wins$100. Assuming that the budget allows, or perhaps that you are able to award an equally motivating prize, thiswould be a great way to encourage students to speak about AFS and to recruit families. Hosting truly needs tobe a group effort: one person can only cultivate so many contacts. Potential Host Families must be cultivated bythe whole team.

MARCH: Continuing the process

Cooler emails will be sent to all our school presentation leads by March 28. We are working with marketing tosend targeted PR information to all schools from the list that you have provided us in the Feb. 23 schoolinformation. We feel that targeting schools we know will host our students is a better use of our time. Thedeadline for doing this is March 21. On March 31 we will assess where we are and move forward on somecontingency plans if our benchmark is not met.

With a solid volunteer-staff partnership we know we can meet the goals of the NW and SW by June 16 andreclaim our summer and have some excited families and students (and very happy volunteers and staff). Pleasefeel free to share any other ideas you might have with your coordinator. Floyd will be working with Betsy andDamayonti on a regular memo to report our progress with the project outlined above.

JUNE 16, THAT'S THE DATE WEST HOSTING WILL BE DONE WITH PLACEMENTS FIRST RATE!

Betsy, Damayonti, and FloydField Managers for the West1-800-876-2377

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Misc. News

AFS-USA: Contributing to Tsunami Relief EffortsBy: Alex Plinio/UNY/USA/AFSIP Posted: 01/11/2005

AFS-USA extends its deepest sympathies to the millions of people who have been affected by the tsunami that devastatedSouthern Asia. We have confirmed that all AFS-USA Participants hosted in Thailand are safe. AFS-USA does not have anyparticipants in any other of the countries in the region. At this moment, AFS-USA is not aware of any Thai, Indonesian, orMalaysian participants studying in the United States who have lost members of their immediate families. We offer our thoughts

and prayers to all who had family members or friends affected by this crisis.

The AFS community is making a difference. We are very proud to report that in communities around the country, AFS-USAExchange Students, Host Families, Returnees, Volunteers, and Staff are leading and participating in local activities to raise fundsfor relief efforts. For example, AFS Exchange Students in California who are from Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines haveset a goal to raise $50,000 from their community of Sonoma Valley in one month's time, and are being supported by their highschool and AFS Volunteers. In Wood River Valley, Idaho, AFS Exchange Students, Host Families, and Volunteers spent NewYear's Eve raising more than $6,500 to contribute to relief efforts. These are just two of the many activities around the country thatare happening with the help of people who are connected to AFS.

I know that many of you are wondering where to send the monies you raise or your own personal contribution. In that regard, thefollowing websites may prove helpful. Each site lists reputable organizations that are accepting donations.

- American Institute of Philanthropy (www.charitywatch.org)- Charity Navigator (www.charitynavigator.org)- BBB Wise Giving Alliance (www.give.org)

Good luck with your fund raising efforts!

Sincerely,

Alex J. Plinio, President

Rustam Kocher wished to share this message from Divan Vasudevan, last years AFS/YES student from Malaysia.

Dear all,

As 2004 draws to a close (well, it already has over here ;) I cannot help but reflect on what has been a truly, truly fantastic year forme personally. Getting involved in AFS and being chosen to go to the US and meeting all you wonderful people has been ablessing for me. Sometimes, when I think back to the time when I almost rejected my AFS offer, I thank God (and my mum) forpushing me to accept it, for if I had indeed rejected it, I just.. well.. it's kinda hard to put into words what a loss that would havebeen, which is why now I am so grateful for having been given this once in a lifetime opportunity..

What I really wanted to say is a plain and simple "Thank you". I know it might not sound like much, but it is from the bottom ofmy heart and if not for you guys, my AFS experience would never have been the same. 2004 has been an extremely memorableyear for me and I will never, ever forget this year.

I will always cherish and remember your love and friendship. Thank you once again, for everything, the good and the not so good(but memorable nonetheless ;). The times that I spent with all of you will always remain fresh in my memory.

Here's wishing you all a very happy new year, and may this new year bring with it everything that you wish for. Good luck, and allthe best.

Love always,Divan

ps. Let us do the best we can for the victims of the tsunami tragedy, nomatter how small it may seem.

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http://www.afsonline.org/IntranetMessages.nsf/doc000000-Message?OpenForm&Alex+Pliniohttp://www.charitywatch.org/http://www.charitynavigator.org/http://www.give.org/http://www.give.org/http://www.charitynavigator.org/http://www.charitywatch.org/http://www.afsonline.org/IntranetMessages.nsf/doc000000-Message?OpenForm&Alex+Plinio


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AFSCOLUMBIA

PACIFIC

Bernice Schuchardt4806 SE LongPortland, OR 97206

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Want electronic newsletter?

E-Mail Bernice at [email protected]

Want souvenir/scrapbook hard copy snail mail?

E-Mail Ron Combs at [email protected] us out for more information and the newsletter on the

Columbia-Pacific website:Http://www.afscolpac.org

SAVE THE TREES AND POSTAGE

The Calendar

THE CALENDAR

March 5 Vancouver-Battle Ground fund-raising dinner. Contact: Mary Sisson [email protected]

March 13 IOF Bowling, Four Seasons, Hillsboro. Contacts: Pam Bartel (360) 892-6178; Ron Combs(503) 777-8117; or Bernice Schuchardt (503) 775-4161.

April 1 Newsletter Deadline

April 10 IOF Bowling, Portland. Contacts: Pam Bartel (360) 892-6178; Ron Combs (503) 777-8117; orBernice Schuchardt (503) 775-4161.

May 7, 8, 9 Ashland Trip (Shakespeare).Contact:Marilyn Hays (503) 665-2830 [email protected]

May 14 Orientation - Required Time and location to be announced.

June 4 (Sat.) Starlight Parade, contact Christine Stevens.503-682-3638 More info in next newsletter.

June 5 (Sun.) Portland Zoo, contact Rustam Kocher. 503-356-9308 More info in next newsletter.June 26 Departure Lents Park. Students will receive letter.

HELPWe have 50 boxes of Sees Valentine Candy left. We will sell them at $3a box to cover the cost and still give us $1 profit. (Regular price was $4 a box).Contact Ron Combs, 503 777-8117.
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]

2005 February Newsletter

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