Sister Cities

Idaho Falls Sister Cities Youth Meeting May 2, 2018 Attendees: Cameron Archer Nicholas Cebull Kylie Eaton Nathan Peck Whitney St. Michel David Archer Peter Cebull Victoria Estrada Dallin Peck Ian St. Michel Max Benjamin Tate Corbridge Mario Estrada Laurie Retallic Ness Villassenor Wendy Boring Brennan Corbridge Delsina Matranga Jacobi Retallic *Action items in red Maggie Boring David Eaton David Matranga Michelle Retallic Melinda Cebull Katie Eaton Kendra Peck Jacki Sugai Business Section of the Meeting Minutes: The April 16th meeting minutes were provided to the group by email. Victoria motioned to approve the meeting minutes and Ness seconded her motion. Japan Exchange: Whitney provided information Tokai for students who may not know about our Sister City Tokai. She mentioned much of the information is on the website. The information provided was:  Map with the location of Tokai.  Sister Cities Relationship. Similarities between the cities are: o Cities both have nuclear research facilities o Both have potatoes as an agricultural product. Tokai – sweet potatoes, Idaho Falls – russet potatoes. o The populations of the cities are similar.  Provided information about Japanese money. (on website) The group discussed exchanging money for the students going to Japan. There may be a better exchange rate at the airport in Japan. It is convenient for the chaperones to have the money exchanged in advance. The group could also exchange money in Seattle if the exchange rate is better. If the group exchanges money in Japan, they will need to let the Japanese group know so they will not have to wait for them. Whitney offered to exchange money in Idaho Falls for anyone who wanted her to. If you decide to use a credit or debit cards in Japan, it is a good idea to let your bank know you will be travelling to Japan. Some banks will refuse payment if they see a credit card used in a different country. There will be speeches given in Japan. The following people volunteered to give speeches: Speech Chaperone Student Welcome Whitney Nicholas Mayor (none) Mario Farewell Kendra Jacobi Impromptu Dave Speeches are due by the second meeting in June. The group takes gifts to the mayor and the Sister Cities house. Whitney asked people to think of ideas for these gifts. At the next meeting she would like the student who have went in the past to provide ideas for host family gifts. The full price of the ticket ($1487.81) is due at the June 6th meeting. Cherry Blossom Raffle/Dinner Fundraiser: The cherry blossom fundraiser was well attended. The restaurant was full of diners from around 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. and the lunch was better attended than last year. Jerry said it was much busier than his normal crowd. The group made $1494 from raffle ticket sales. Dave will check with Jerry on the amount made from the dinner. Town & Country Fundraiser: The fundraiser involves selling gift cards. For each gift card sold the group pays 80% of the price of the card to Town & Country and keeps 20%. David Eaton has some cards available to purchase and is willing to get more if needed. Contact Dave for gift cards. Garage Sale: The garage sale will be at the same time as the Shamrock Park, Cedar Ridge, and Stonebrook garage sales. The date for this sale is May 19th. People should start collecting items for the garage sale. Kendra Peck has volunteered to coordinate the fundraiser. She will bring sign-up sheets to the next meeting. Setup will be on May 18th probably at 4 or 5 p.m. Kendra lives at 961 Pescadaro and is willing to take donations early if needed. Dinner for Adult Group: Dave talked to the adult group and they are tentatively think we will provide dinner for the adult Japanese exchange on Monday October 8th. They will give us more information as the day gets closer. Student Meeting Thank you notes for raffle donations were signed by students. Kendra talked with students to see what they had ready for the Skype section. A motion to adjourn was made by Victoria and seconded by Teddy.