Sister Cities

Idaho Falls Sister Cities Youth Meeting January 16, 2017 Attendees: Candice Aicher Melinda Cebull Kylie Eaton Teddy Matranga Laurie Retallic Cameron Archer Peter Cebull Mario Estrada 1 Gabe Padron Jacobi Retallic David Archer Kohan Davis Victoria Estrada Kendra Peck Whitney St. Michel Max Benjamin Katie Eaton Karen Finnigan Nathan Peck Ian St. Michel Nicholas Cebull David Eaton David Matranga Dallin Peck Anna St.Michel Ness Villasenor Business Section of the Meeting *Action items are in red. Minutes: The January 3rd meeting minutes were provided to the group by email. Kendra motioned to approve the meeting minutes and Victoria seconded her motion. Japanese Exchange The following students and chaperons were selected to go to Japan. Students: Cameron Archer Nicholas Cebull Mario Estrada Dallin Peck Ian St. Michel Max Benjamin Tate Corbridge David Matranga Nathan Peck Anna St.Michel Elliot Boring Kylie Eaton Gabe Padron Jacobi Retallic Ness Villasenor Chaperons: David Eaton Kendra Peck Whitney St. Michel David Eaton asked students and parents to let him know if they are going to Japan. If you are going to Japan here are some important items.  $100 deposit is due to Peter (pcebull@gmail.com or 208-529-6685) by January 29th.  Passport – Get this early from the court house before 2 p.m. or possibly the Shelly post office. Go to travel.state.gov to get the paperwork to fill out in advance. Bring a passport picture and a birth certificate (not a copy). Whitney will need a copy of your passport before the trip.  Need to have proof of international insurance along with a copy of your insurance card and medical forms.  Final payment is due June 1st.  You can change the name on the ticket until 2 days before the trip.  For spending money families sent between $200 and $300. Some sent more. It really depends on the student. The only expense in the past was food at Disney Sea. It is nice for the students to be able to purchase souvenirs.  Wells Fargo and Zion are banks in town who will exchange dollars for yen.  Packing lists will be provided.  We can go over Japanese money at a future meeting. Whitney provided information about flights and the trip to Japan which is provided at the end of the minutes. Please review the information provided. New Year’s Party The city building is not available. We will have the party at Hope Lutheran at 7 p.m. on Feb 7th. Kendra is working with Lora from JACL to get instructors for sushi making. Gretchen O’Bleness will teach students to make okonomiyaki. Other New Year’s activities will take place at another meeting. Paramount Discount Card Fundraiser Paramount discount cards sales will be on January 19th and 20th. The following people have signed up to help. Friday 1/19 6:15 p.m. – 7:15 p.m. Teddy Matranga David Matranga 8:15 p.m. – 9:45 p.m. Candice Aicher Kohan Davis Saturday 1/20 1:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. Melinda Cebull Nicholas Cebull 3:45 p.m. – 4:45 p.m. Kendra Peck Dallin Peck Nathan Peck 6:15 p.m. – 7:15 p.m. Victoria Estrada Mario Estrada 8:15 p.m. – 9:45 p.m. David Archer Cameron Archer Gabe Padron Cherry Blossom Raffle/Dinner Fundraiser The fundraiser will take place on April 26th at Snow Eagle. All of the profits for the day will be given to the group. Please encourage people to attend. Administrative Assistance Day is that week. Consider having your group take your administrative assistant to lunch on the 26th. The following people volunteered to help.  Coordinate the fundraiser: Katie (& David) Eaton  Raffle Baskets Assembly – Mario 1 and Victoria Estrada  Advertising – Email was sent to Misty Benjamin to see if she is willing to do this.  Website Updates – Mario 2  Ticket Sales, Raffle Items Delivery, and Thank you notes: Rebecca Smith will do this or she is willing to train a new member.  Update the DVD with pictures from 2015 - 2017: No volunteer  Raffle donations – Each family is expected to provide a donation worth > $100. A family can provide additional items, but will only receive a point for each student in the family.  If a family sells raffle tickets in advance, one point will be given for every $80 in pre-sale raffle tickets. Student Meeting The student meeting provided the following options for the students.  Chopsticks game to learn how to use chopsticks.  Hiragana practice.  Origami folding. Motion to adjourn was made by Victoria and seconded by Teddy.  2018 Japanese Exchange July 25th – August 6th We will travel Delta. Cost as of now is $1,487.81/person (base fee - $1,296, surcharges/taxes/ fees - $191.81). Up to April 26th, cost could potentially go down. If they go up, we are locked in at current price. Travelers’ to Tokai this year:  Accept invitation. A $100 deposit is required (due to Delta January 29th). Please accept/ decline as soon as possible so that alternates can be notified.  Get a passport. Applications can be found at travel.state.gov . It steps you through the process.  Last day to change without penalty is April 26th. After April 26th, lose $100 deposit unless an alternate youth can go.  June 25th is final ticketing – after this tickets are non-refundable. If an alternate can go, name can be changed on a purchased ticket up to 2 days before. Otherwise ticket is yours. You can pay a change fee to use the ticket at another time. More to come! Itinerary (airlines can always tweak, but this will be close): DL / 4307 25JUL2018 IDA 630A SLC 730A DEPART: ( IDA ) Idaho Falls Id ARRIVE: ( SLC ) Salt Lake City Ut DL / 2189 25JUL2018 SLC 845A PDX 937A DEPART: ( SLC ) Salt Lake City Ut ARRIVE: ( PDX ) Portland Or DL / 69 25JUL2018 PDX1204P NRT 240P DEPART: ( PDX ) Portland Or ARRIVE: ( NRT ) Narita Arpt Jp DL / 68 06AUG2018 NRT 420P PDX 936A DEPART: ( NRT ) Narita Arpt Jp ARRIVE: ( PDX ) Portland Or DL / 1741 06AUG2018 PDX 115P SLC 406P DEPART: ( PDX ) Portland Or ARRIVE: ( SLC ) Salt Lake City Ut DL / 4531 06AUG2018 SLC 805P IDA 859P DEPART: ( SLC ) Salt Lake City Ut ARRIVE: ( IDA ) Idaho Falls Id