President’s Corner
”Life is like a box of chocolates…you never know what you’re gonna get.”
–from the movie Forrest Gump

The same can be said about email. If you’ve ever decided to clean out your emails, you probably know what I mean. As my one and only New Year’s resolution, I vowed to spend one hour a week deleting old emails. At the time, I had 547 and they were weighing heavy on my mind. Now I have 752! So I decided it was time to knuckle down and get serious about it. I began to scroll backwards, randomly stopping on one, reading it, and then agonizing for a few minutes about whether or not to delete it. Talk about a time consuming task! There were invites to events that have long since come and gone. Delete. There were some from the other board members back when we first met. We were so excited, bursting with ideas and energy! Save. So on and so forth.

After a few more like this, I happened on one with the subject “groovy girls’ clip.” I didn’t recognize it so I opened it to see what it was. Wow. I’d never seen this one. Somehow, I had completely overlooked it. It was a short video of a “groovy girls’ night” at Treva’s house from August of 2006. A group of us gals had gotten together for an evening in which we tried to remember what life was like “BC”—before children. After watching a movie and being quizzed on it, we were in a great mood, laughing and singing (yes, alcohol was involved), when someone came up with the great idea to video it! It should have been fun to watch—after all, we’d had a great time that night! But, like the saying goes, you never know what you’re gonna get. There we were: Treva, Heather, Sherry, me, Sheryn, and Jill, doing our best to make a video keepsake of the night; something to remember when we’re old. We were smiling and joking around. Little did we know that, one year later, Jill would die unexpectedly of a heart attack. Or that Sheryn’s husband would pass away. Watching that video of us all in happier times was heartwrenching. Even more so because I’d just been reading Ann Marie’s article dedicated to the ladies she grew up with (see next page), and there’s Jill’s name; some of the other ladies from that night are on the list, too. After reading the article and watching that video clip, I couldn’t stop thinking about friendship and how my life has been touched by so many friends over the years. And whether they’re still part of my life or are only fond memories, their friendship has become a part of me, giving me strength and comfort.

So what had started out as a mission to erase emails ended up as a journey to remember friends. My attempt to keep a New Year’s resolution had become so much more and I’m thankful for it. And as for my email? It’s now at 761. The good news is that almost all of them are from friends. - Linda K.

Board Notes:
Upcoming Club Elections
AWC Elections will be held at the April 10th meeting. A quorum (one-fifth of our membership) must be present for valid elections. PLEASE ATTEND! The new board will be installed at the May meeting.
A big thank you to our nominating committee, Erika H., Cheryl R. and Piko S., for assembling the officer slate for next year. Another big thanks to the women who have volunteered to serve on the board.

FAWCO
The AWC Seoul and the 2008 Conference planners hosted an amazing conference March 5–9, 2008. You can take a tour of the conference online at http://www.fawco.org. There are photos, PowerPoint slide shows, videos and articles covering the panel discussions, speaker presentations and officer reports at the conference. We had been asked to host a conference soon, but it seems that we have missed out for now as Vilnius, Lithuania has been chosen for the site in 2009 and Boston in 2010. At least we should be able to send a representative to these cities.

The FAWCO Foundation awarded $28,000 in grants to development projects in Casablanca, Kenya, Shanghai, Florence, to AIDS grandmothers at the BibiJann Project in Tanzania and to Refugee families in Athens. Other recipients include projects in the Philippines and Genoa. All of these projects were sponsored by member clubs. More information about all these projects is available on the website, and you can make your own donation to the FAWCO Foundation there.
The School Supplies for the Congo project has been cancelled as our contacts are no longer in the Congo. Stay tuned for information on future school supply projects. Happy spring!

Visit our FAWCO representative Marlene Broemer's corner at the April meeting. See her beautiful slide show and hear about the wonderful development of the Bibijan Project. The BibiJann Project was started by Jann Mitchell of AWC Stockholm along with her husband, a medical doctor. They are helping Grandmothers (Bibis in Swahili) of AIDS orphans. Many of them do not have shelter or enough money for school supplies for the children. The FAWCO Foundation has now given them a Development Grant, as they are trying to build houses for the Grandmas and their grandchildren in Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. - Marlene B., FAWCO Representative

For more information about FAWCO, check the FAWCO website.
(username and password provided in the AWC newsletter each month)

Charity Fundraising Event
BRING AND BUY at the April meeting

The AWC will make our yearly donations to the two Finnish charities we support, Rajaseutuliitto and ALLA: Leisuretime Activities for the Mentally Handicapped. To raise money, we are arranging a “Bring and Buy” to be held at our April meeting.

We are asking members to make donations to the sale by bringing quality items in good condition to be sold and to consider purchasing something from the sale. Ideal items would be books, music, DVD/video, glassware, home decorative items, children’s toys, small kitchen/household appliances, etc.

Please put a price on your sale item. If your item(s) doesn’t sell, please remember to take it with you when you leave as we cannot leave the items at Norra Svenska Församling. Let’s come together to raise money for a good cause!

Newsletter Admissions
Each newsletter deadline for submitting items is the 15th of the previous month. No exceptions— anything received later than this date will be placed in the next newsletter. Feel free to submit tales, announcements, or other interesting information. It is also possible to place paid advertisements in the newsletter. Send all newsletter details to Julie U.

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For AWC member announcements (apartments for sale/rent, used items, jobs, etc.) please see the Bulletin Board section (password protected). Passwords are provided in the AWC newsletters or by contacting Anna B.