Atlanta Memories Since 1970
By Ashleigh Woody
The Friendship Force is a nonprofit international cultural exchange organization promoting friendship and goodwill since 1977, the year I started my business. Relationships, friendly and professional, are made through a program of homestay exchanges between U.S. families and those in cities across the world,
I had never heard of the Friendship Force, only news of it forming. I remember when Helen Naismith, a friend from the Atlanta Press club, called me with a compelling proposition. Eager to visit England, Naismith needed a willing participant to reciprocate back home. Even though I lived in an apartment at the time, I hosted someone from Newcastle upon Tyne, England; and Helen went on the inaugural trip there.
Pauline Staff was my visitor from Newcastle, and she quickly noticed my Southern hospitality. Alternatively from the British, we entertain in the home. I took comfort in the living room while Staff slept in my bedroom. Even the Friendship Force parties were hosted inside private homes.
Staff and I shared some interesting experiences together. Among them were several Atlanta Press Club and client meetings. In one of the meetings, we met a PR person from the military base married to a Vietnamese women. This was especially a new experience for my British guest. They invited us to join them for a drive to visit their son in Cherokee, North Carolina, where he was attending college.
Not only did we see their son, but we also stopped by the Cherokee Village. Staff had read about Native Americans before, but she never experienced the culture. The things we saw and experienced there made an definite impression on her. Two years later, Staff hosted my visit to Newcastle.
Parties I later attended in Newcastle were not as intimate as the ones we attended in Atlanta. They had lavish events in the Mayor’s palace with buffets and white linen. I enjoyed myself very much, but the parties lacked that downhome Atlanta hospitality.
Also a member of the Atlanta Sister Cities Commission, I represented the city of Atlanta presenting a Sister Cities plaque to the 79 year old Mayor of Newcastle, which was quite a personal milestone.
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