Friendship Force of the Florida Suncoast
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Recent Photos
Recent Photos
To South Africa 2010 with nine laptops for a needy school
To South Africa 2010 with nine laptops for a needy school
Photo by Michael Manning
St. Petersburg International Folk Fair - Travel the World in One Day!
St. Petersburg International Folk Fair - Travel the World in One Day!
Many of our members participate in this annual international fair: ethnic foods, cultural exhibits, continuous entertainment, displays of student activities. Thousands of local school children enjoy it.
Open World
Open World
Our governance program for Ukranian delegates was June 1 - 9, 2013. See Photo page.
To Turkey March 2011
To Turkey March 2011
Included a 3-day sailboat excursion around the coast.
Who We Are
The Florida Suncoast Club includes the former Florida Nature Coast Club. We are on the west coast of Florida in the Tampa Bay area, with lovely beaches, many activities and some good wildlife.
Photo by Bobby Beckles: Clearwater Harbor - inbound Open World Exchange from Ukraine 2013
In fact, our Clearwater Beach was voted Best Florida Beach for 2013 (USA TODAY), and our Caladesi Island was voted No.1 as the best beach in the USA for 2008.
Our members come from many different parts of the USA and of the world.
We aim to organize one outbound international exchange, one domestic exchange, and one inbound international exchange each year. Our members can also take part of any of the exchanges organized by other Friendship Force clubs. This includes visits with a special purpose, such as humanitarian or educational exchanges.
Photo by Oma Pantridge
Our 2011 outbound exchange was to Cankaya, Turkey, and our 2010 international exchange outbound was to the Mispah club, Cape Town, South
Africa, Most of our hosting is from October to May, as these are the best months in our climate. We can host 20 guests for an inbound exchange.
From time to time we host a group of young adults from all parts of Russia and Ukraine. We arrange a worthwhile program for them, on behalf of the Library of Congress and US State Department. The participants are carefully chosen as being potential leaders in their field. Each of these groups has a particular interest. The most recent group in 2013 were young local government officers, and before that we hosted a group of young Russian lawyers. In April 2011 we hosted 21 young visitors from a High School in Jakarta, Indonesia.
In 2011 we also hosted members of the Vietnam-USA club. Many of our members volunteer to help overseas students at two local colleges.
In exchange for modest annual dues, all members get the opportunity to be part of various club functions, exchanges, gatherings, conferences, and festivals.
Visit the Calendar on this website to see forthcoming activities. The web-pages here show Exchanges organized by our club and also other Friendship Force clubs, in which our members can participate. Go to the JOIN tab above for a printable form to join. A membership book with photos and brief descriptions is available to all members.
Our club newsletters are included in this website under the tab Newsletters, shown above
(After viewing one of these, click on the left arrow on the top of your screen to exit and return to this webpage.)