December 3 - 4th Quarter General Meeting - Holiday Party
Officers & Board Members Installed for 2025 - l to r: Past President Jiji Jonas, Members-at-Large Guy Luno and Jimmy Mire, Treasurer Morris Welch, President Trudy Ivy, Vice-President Art Vingiello, and Member-at-Large LaDeta Crawley. Not pictured: Secretary Sherry Dodson
Past FFBR Presidents Who Were Present: l to r, JiJi Jonas 2023/2024, Larry Jonas 2022, Lin Ashton 2019, Karen Vingiello 2017, Vicki Vance 2000, Barbara Wittkopf 2013, Sheila Melancon 2016, Thornton Cofield 2014, Trudy Ivy 2018/2020/2021/2025, Bob Duncan 2008, and Gayle Duncan 2012
FFBR celebrated the holidays as 34 members and guests gathered for a festive dinner and great fellowship at Duke's Seafood and Steakhouse in Denham Springs. In addition to a voluntary gift exchange, almost everyone in attendance received a donated door prize. In the business part of the meeting, we recognized the past presidents who were in attendance, thanked the 2024 officers and Board members, introduced the 2025 officers and Board members, and adopted a budget for 2025 recommended by the Board. Serving for 2025 are President Trudy Ivy, Vice-President Art Vingiello, Secretary Sherry Dodson, Treasurer Morris Welch, Past President JiJi Jonas, and Board Members-at-Large LaDeta Crawley, Guy Luno, and James Mire. Briefly reviewed were the journeys planned for 2025 including inbound from San Diego (April 8-14) and Milwaukee (October) and outbound to Alajuela, Costa Rica (February 4-12) and Northern Colorado (August 19-25). The party concluded with our traditional friendship circle and singing "Let Their Be Peace on Earth" using adjusted wording that we had learned from the group from Long Island, NY that we hosted this past October.
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November 21 - Meet & Greet - Thai Kitchen
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October 19 - Celebration of FFBR's 40th Anniversary (1984-2024)
FFBR celebrated its 40th anniversary in Baton Rouge with a special dinner at LSU's Hilltop Arboretum with 34 members and guests. After a social time with beverages and appetizers with music by a piano and flute duo and a slide show of past FFBR journeys assembled by Thornton Cofield, President JiJi Jonas gave a brief welcome and long-time member Bob Duncan gave an invocation and led the pledge of allegiance. Marvin Broome, husband of Baton Rouge Mayor/President Sharon Broome, offered comments and presented a certificate of commendation, followed by brief remarks from Kathy Coleman, President-Elect of the Inter-Civic Council of Greater Baton Rouge (ICC-GBR) and Jan Risher, a columnist for The Advocate newspaper, and video comments from Jeremi Snook, CEO of Friendship Force International.
In tribute to our mission to promote educational and cultural knowledge and understanding through visiting and hosting other Friendship Force clubs around the world, a variety of ethnic foods were prepared and donated by several local restaurants and some of our members.
Ethic foods provided by local restaurants
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Music on piano and flute
during social time and dinner
The Dessert Table
The Buffet Line
Members loading their plates
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After dinner, we recognized long-time members who are still active including Darwin and Linda Knochenmus (40 years as charter members in 1984), Diana and Carroll Harris (38 years since 1986), Margaret Moore (36 years since 1988), Doug and Vicki Vance (27 years since 1997), Morena Cazedessus and Bob and Gayle Duncan (20 years since 2004), and Guy Luno (19 years since 2005). Also recognized were past FFBR presidents. Charter member Linda Knochenmus then gave a moving and humorous talk with various bits of history and reflections followed by memorable anecdotes from past journeys by Bob Duncan, Diana Harris, Sheila Melancon, Trudy Ivy, and others. The event ended with a champagne toast by Bob Duncan followed by forming a circle and singing our traditional theme song "Let There Be Peace On Earth" led by Sheila Melancon and Margaret Moore.
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September 29 - 3rd Quarter General Meeting - Octoberfest Theme
The food tables
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Cornhole champions???
Some members played Rumikin, a game similar to rummy but played with numbered tiles instead of cards
Others relaxed and socialized
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Our 3rd general meeting drew 25 members and a couple of guests on a Sunday afternoon at the home of Joy Rich. After games, socializing, and potluck food, we reviewed plans for our 40th anniversary on Oct 19 at the LSU Hilltop Arboretum and the incoming journey of 11 ambassadors from Long Island. NY, on Oct 26-31. Preliminary planning for 2025 includes outbound journeys to Alajuela, Costa Rica, in February and Northern Colorado in August and inbound journeys from San Diego in April or May and Greater Milwaukee in October. We also discussed options for our Holiday Party in December and conducted our annual officer elections.
Congratulations to Officers and Board for 2025: President Trudy Ivy, Vice-President Art Vingiello,
Secretary Sherry Dodson, Treasurer Morris Welch, Past President JiJi Jonas,
and At-Large members LaDeta Crawley, Guy Luno, and Jimmy Mire.
Secretary Sherry Dodson, Treasurer Morris Welch, Past President JiJi Jonas,
and At-Large members LaDeta Crawley, Guy Luno, and Jimmy Mire.
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September 19 - Meet & Greet - Southern Pearl Oyster House
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September 14 - Table at Men's Health Summit
Vera Ricard, Karen Vingiello, and Sherry Dodson at the Friendship Force table
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Margaret Moore, LaDeta Crawley, and Sherry Dodson at the FFBR table with other exhibitors in the background
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On Saturday, September 10, from 7 am to 1 pm, Karen Vingiello coordinated several FFBR members who manned a table at the Men's Health Summit held at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center and helped to spread the word about Friendship Force. Others included Thornton Cofield, LaDeta Crawley, Sherry Dodson, Bob Duncan, Margaret Moore, and Vera Ricard.
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August 21, 22, & 29 - Volunteering at Food Bank
Above: Sherry and Tony Dodson display FFBR logo on the blackboard. Right: First photo shows Thornton Cofield explaining FFBR to other volunteer groups while other photos show FFBR folks at work.
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Our annual project of volunteering at the Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank drew 12 FFBR members this year. Tony & Sherry Dodson worked on August 21, Joy Rich went solo on August 22, and the August 29 group included Thornton Cofield, Tony Dodson (again), Trudy Ivy, JiJi Jonas, Art & Karen Vingiello, Morris Welch, Barbara Wittkopf, and Mike Wyble.
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July 18 - Meet & Greet - Bullfish Bistro - Caribbean Cuisine
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June 20 - Meet & Greet - Los Reyes Mexican Restaurant
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June 13 - 2nd Quarter General Meeting
The dessert table
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From left: Mike Wyble and Art Vingiello welcome new members Tony and Sherry Dodson
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Our second general membership meeting of 2024 was held once again at the Williamsburg Senior Living Center with 28 members present. We first got an update on our outgoing journey of 9 of our members to Milwaukee, WI, on August 10-17 coordinated by Art Vingiello and incoming journey from Long Island, NY, on October 26-31 coordinated by Lynn Robbins. We also reviewed plans for FFBR's 40th anniversary celebration at the Hilltop Arboretum on October 19 and our third quarterly general meeting on Sunday afternoon, September 29, at Joy Rich's house with outdoor games in addition to food and business. Vice-President Joy Rich then narrated an entertaining slide show of her trip to Dubrovnik, Croatia, for FFI's international conference. A three-page handout of a possible revamp of our club's leadership structure into four committees compiled by Past President Larry Jonas was distributed. If adopted in some fashion, the idea would be to reduce workloads of the President and Vice-President, reduce dependence on informal delegation of tasks, and get more members involved in planning and implementing our activities. There was not time for significant discussion at this meeting, but every member was encouraged to review the outline carefully and to send observations, suggestions, and opinions to Larry.
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May 25 & 26 - Serving Drinks at Gonzales Jambalaya Festival
Food and Drink Tent
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Our President JiJi hard at work
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May 16 - Meet & Greet - Turkish & Greek Cafe
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May 2 - Presenting Donation to Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank
At the end of their April visit to Baton Rouge, the Friendship Force of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, gave a $100 bill as a "thank you" gift to our group. The FFBR Board subsequently voted to donate that gift to the Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank as our charity of choice. Shown (above center) is Lin Ashton, our host Journey Coordinator for the Edmonton visit, presenting our check to two Food Bank staff (left). On the right are FFBR Board member James Mire, FFBR President JiJi Jonas, and FFBR Treasurer, Morris Welch. We have also volunteered at the Food Bank from time to time, most recently in August 2024 (look higher up on this page) and August 2023 (see pics about halfway down the page of the Club Activity Highlights for 2023).
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April 18 - Meet & Greet - LSU Nelson Memorial Building
For the second year in a row, our April "Meet & Greet" lunch was held at the Nelson Memorial Building on the LSU campus in support of the 36th Annual Cajun Jambalaya fundraiser sponsored by the Kiwanis Club of LSU. Unfortunately, like our lunch in February, we were so busy eating and visiting that we forgot to get a picture. Also, we may have been a bit dazed since our incoming journey ambassadors from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and Seaside, Oregon had just left that morning after a week's visit.
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March 21 - Meet & Greet - Rouj Creole
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March 14 - 1st Quarter General Meeting - St. Patrick's Day Theme
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Our first general membership meeting of 2024 was held in the dining room of the Williamsburg Senior Living Center with 28 members present. In tribute to St. Patrick, the entree' was three different pots of Irish stew accompanied by a variety of appetizers, salads, veggies, and desserts. We first reviewed our incoming journeys (Edmonton Alberta, Canada and Seaside, Oregon, April 11-18) and Long Island, NY, late October) and outgoing journeys (Mexico City & Tuxtla Gutierrez, June 8-17) and Milwaukee, WI, August 10-17). In lieu of a speaker, Larry Jonas then led us in a discussion and some exercises on ideas to recruit more leaders as journey coordinators and officers, possible ways to distribute presidential and other major tasks, and how to recruit somewhat younger members to supplement our aging membership.
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February 15 - Meet & Greet - Mike Anderson's, Prairieville
Sixteen of us met for a lively lunch at the newer location of Mike Anderson's seafood restaurant
in Prairieville just south of Baton Rouge. Unfortunately, we forgot to take any pictures this time.
in Prairieville just south of Baton Rouge. Unfortunately, we forgot to take any pictures this time.
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January 25 -Meet & Greet - Goodwood Library
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We did something a bit different for our monthly meet & greet lunch for January. We ordered box lunches from Jason's Deli in advance and then met in a room at the main East Baton Rouge Public Library on Goodwood Boulevard. John Pomfret, who is a member of our club but actually lives on the west bank in New Orleans, gave a presentation and discussion on "Navigating Your Third Thirty." What should or can we do in ages 60 to 90 or beyond, particularly after retirement, to keep ourselves fit and active? He recommended seven categories of activities that we could pursue: physical fitness, mental fitness, spouse/family/friends, volunteering/giving back, hobbies/interests, house-related tasks, and spiritual development. It is helpful to develop a balance by pursuing activities and tasks in many, if not all, of these categories. It was also noted that many things we undertake often provide benefits in multiple categories. As a self test, you might actually create a chart in which you list various things you are doing in each of these areas. Keeping active in a variety of interests and activities are significant factors in relieving any boredom after retirement and in reducing the slope of any decline that we may encounter in our "third thirty" or even longer.