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Our club has been active since 1984, hosting other clubs and visiting international Friendship Force clubs. Here is a brief history of these exciting and friendship-building events.
1984
The Friendship Force of Austin, Texas, had its genesis in April, 1984 when ten families joined the Houston chapter in hosting an exchange from West Berlin, Germany. In August, our chapter was formally organized as the Friendship Force of Central Texas.
1985
Our first outgoing exchange consisted of 25 ambassadors to Bangkok, Thailand.
1986
Ambassadors from the Adelaide, South Australia, suburb of Blackwood, came to Austin for our first incoming exchange. In November, we visited Adelaide for a week and spent a second week in Alice Springs and Cairns.
1987
12 Austin ambassadors went to Mullingar, Ireland, on an outgoing exchange.
1988
Former First Lady Rosalyn Carter met with officers and other members of our club. Forty-one "Brits" from Manchester and County Durham, England, visited us for a week in October, and 27 ambassadors from West Berlin spent six days with us in December.
1989
13 ambassadors from Tuxtla-Gutierez, Chiapas, Mexico, enjoyed six days of our Texas hospitality in August. Our club made an outbound exchange to Plymouth, New Zealand, where we were hosted by the Friendship Force of South Taramake in October.
1990
In March, ten ambassadors from Tokyo, Japan, spent five days with us. Our club went to Chiapas, Mexico, for one week, followed by a second week in beautful San Crisobal de las Casas in November.
1991
The Austin club spent one week each in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, Brazil, in May. We hosted 25 ambassadors from the Tokai club from the Nagoya area in Japan for three days in October. We hosted another group of ambassadors from the Norderstedt- Homburg area of Germany in November.
The club changed its name in September 1991 from Friendship Force of Central Texas to Friendship Force of Austin, Texas.
1992
Our club joined more than 400 ambassadors from across the U.S.A. during May Day in Moscow for a week of home-hosting.. Over the following several months, some of our Russian hosts made individual trips to the U.S., including to Austin, to visit their newly acquired American friends. In September, Austin ambassadors spent one week each in the Flanders region of Belgium and in Arnem, the Netherlands. Ambassadors from the Pisa and Livorno area of Italy spent a week with our club in October.
1993
In April, we welcomed the "Geordies" from the Tyneside (i.e., the Newcastle-Upon-Tyne area) Club of England. Members of our club joined with other ambassadors from across the USA for weeks of home-hosting in St. Petersburg, Russia, to toast the midnight sun in June. Later in November, our club had an outbound two-week exchange to Chile, one week each in Santiago and Vina del Mar.
1994
Our club participated in the "Carnival in Rio" festival in Brazil with ambassadors from all over the USA in February, followed by five days of home-hosting in the Sao Paulo area with visits to Manaus and Iguassi Falls. In March, we hosted 19 ambassadors from Minneapolis for two days to participate with the San Antonio club in one of the first U.S. domestic Friendship Force exchanges. Later that month, we hosted the San Jose, Costa Rica, club for a week. Shortly thereafter, we hosted the Kaohsiung, Taiwan, club for two days in May. We then joined the San Antonio club for five days of home-hosting in Minneapolis. Our next outgoing exchange was in October to Australia, spending one week each in Castorton, Victoria, and Hobart, Tasmania. Many of our group remained in the country for a third week to visit Ayers Rock, Cairns, and Sydney.
1995
In late February and early March, we hosted 21 ambassadors from Lubeck, Germany, for a week. Our club made a two-week visit to Costa Rica in early May. The first week was home-hosted in San Jose, and the second week was spent touring the entire country and its fascinating diversity of ecological systems.
1996
Our inbound exchange was from Tasmania, Australia, in October, and our outbound exchange was to Northumbria, England, and Bockhorn, Germany.
1997
We had inbound exchanges from Irkutsh, Russia, in February and Arnhem, Holland, in October. Our outbond exchange was to Lima, Peru, in April.
1998
We enjoyed inbound exchanges from Bockhorn, Germany, in April and Lima & Trujillo, Peru, in September. Our outbound exchange was to Kyoto/Fukuchiyama and Sapporo, Japan, in October.
1999
Members of the Memphis, TN, club visited us in February. The Horowhenua, New Zealand club visited us in May. We traveled to Chang Mai and Phrae, Thailand.
2000
Our outbound exhange was to Brasilia & Sao Jose Dos Compose, Brazil, in April. Our inbound exchange was from Sapporo, Japan, in September.
2001
Our outbound exchange to W. Bay of Plenty, Horowehenua, New Zealand. Ambassadors had a wonderful time with hosts and a great South Island tour.
2002
Our inbound exchange from Herne, Germany, was in September. Our outbound exchange was in March for a week in Prague, Czech Republic. After our wonderful home-stay, we enjoyed a bus tour of Bratislava, Slovak Republic; Vienna, Austria; Budapest, Hungary; Krakow and Warsaw, Poland.
2003
Our outbound exchange was to be China in March. With the news of the SARS outbreak, it was for the best that this trip did not go. Our inbound exchange was from Peru in August. We greatly enjoyed our guests from La Libertad Club of Trujillo, Peru, and the weather was very cooperative. On November 11th, we hosted seven guests from the Des Moines, Iowa, Friendship Force club. This was our first domestic exchange in several years, and we greatly enjoyed their visit and showing them Central Texas!
2004
Outgoing exchange to Cornwall, Great Britain was 10-17 June. Everyone made his own travel arrangements and took various tours before or after the exchange. It was a terrific visit with the congenial folks of Cornwall. We expect Adelaide, Australia to viist in October. A possible outgoing exchange is planned to Des Moines, Iowa in September.
2005
Outgoing exchange to Libertad/Trujillo, Peru. No inbound exchange this year.
2006
Inbound exchange from Waikato, New Zealand. Outbound to Mt. Barker & Newcastle, Australia
2007
Inbound from Merseburg, Germany. Outbound to Louisville, Kentucky
2008
Hosted Ambassadors from Louisville, KY Club coinciding with the Texas Book Festival. Our Guests attended Seminars, Panels and Book Signings of their choice. This was a followup Exchange to a Louisville visit, September 2007. Also an inbound from North Bay, Canada. Outbound was a joint exchange with the Dallas FF club to Turrialba, Costa Rica.
2009
Hosted Ambassadors from Australia taking a grand tour of the city and San Antonio. Outbound 14 Austin FF members were hosted at Krems, Austria in September with tours down the Danube, Train Trips to quaint mountain villages, and Luncheon with the Govenors office.
2010
Inbound Burlington, Ontario will arrive February 28-March 5. We have great plans to show off our city and make our visitors feel welcome.
2012
Outward bound for New Zealand, North and South Island. 19 days including week-long stay in Dunedin and Hamilton, plus on your own in Welllington and Auckland. The hosts were great and everyone had a wonderful time.
2013
Our inbound trip was an open Birding theme exchange hosting 16 birders from around the country to bird Central Texas. We also hosted Calgary, Ontario. Our outward bound trip was to Russia and the Ukraine.
2014
Our International outbound trip was to Calgary in September. We hosted Minneapolis and County Durham, UK.
2015
The domestic outbound is to Minneapolis and Des Moines, The international outbound to Brazil. We hosted Napa/Sonoma and Aukland, New Zealand.
2016
Domestic inbound from San Diego,domestic outbound to Reno and Lake Tahoe, We visited three clubs in Australia (thanks to Dorrie Schueler) Perth, Adelaide and Sunshine Coast.
2017
In February Karsyaka Bay Club, Turkey came to Austin along with San Antonio. This was the first time our two clubs did a joint journey. In May we were off to Manchester, England with a follow on UK extension. In August we went to San Diego to visit our old friends from last year.
2018
We hosted Reno/Lake Tahoe in March. In August we went to Upper Colombia River (5 days)and Olympia (5 days) in Washington. We went internationa to Bogota, Colombia.
2019
Inbound Journeys are for Nebraska and Sunshine Coast Australia and two Outbound to Izmir, Turkey and Alajuela, Costa Rica.
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