Friendship Force of Wisconsin

Second Harvest
2025-01-29 12:30 - 15:30, 2025-02-26 12:30 - 15:30 (America/Chicago) | Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin, 2802 Dairy Drive, Madison, 53719, United States
Join us for our monthly service activity. Each month we sort, repackage and in general give our partners at Second Harvest a hand. Second Harvest distributed over 26 million pounds of food to Food Banks across South Central Wisconsin in 2024. The need is greater than ever. If you can help or if you are willing to coordinate our efforts, please contact Gail Holmes.

Dining on the 6th
2025-02-06 12:00 - 14:00 | Liberty Station, 2161 Rimrock Rd, Madison, Wisconsin, 53713
Thursday, February 6, 2025
12:00 noon for lunch
Liberty Station American Tavern & Smokehouse
2161 Rimrock Road, Madison
Join your friends for lunch at Liberty Station, American Tavern and
Smokehouse, a culinary endeavor from Omaha, Nebraska. The menu uses
many locally sourced ingredients, fresh seafood, and high quality meats made
in a custom smoker on the patio.
Please register by Tuesday, February 4, with host Gail Holmes, phone
608 249-1846 or email glholmes@wisc.edu so that we have a place at the
table reserved for you.

Amazonian Brazil with Magdi
2025-02-12 17:30 - 18:30 | Zoom – within your own home!, Madison, WI, 53706, United States
Magdi Sebestyn will share her experiences traveling in the Amazon with another Friendship Force group.

Mission Focused Travel
2025-02-15 10:15 - 12:15 | Fitchburg Public Library, 5530 Lacy Road, Fitchburg, Wisconsin, 53711
Join us for a work shop discussing mission focused travel. This initiative grew out of our strategic planning this spring. Four main priorities were identified to take the organization forward. One of those priorities is developing mission-focused travel and cultural experiences. Snacks and lunch included.

Book Club
2025-02-17 07:00 - 20:30 | Wisconsin
Farm Boy by Tom Miller – Feb 17, unless we choose another date or time. Possibly in person. Tom has offered to do a reading from his book detailing his life growing up on a farm in North Dakota. We are considering an afternoon meeting with Tom presenting. Stay tuned for more or contact Marjie or Marian for more details.

Book Club
2025-03-17 19:00 - 20:30 | Zoom – within your own home!, Madison, WI, 53706, United States
Reading the Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen

Open World- Kosovo
2025-03-28 12:00 - 2025-04-05 12:00 | Wisconsin
Incoming Open World program around the topic of Sustainable Energy. Delegates arrive in Madison March 28.

Welcome for Open World Kosovo Delegation
2025-03-30 17:30 - 19:30 | convenent Presbyterian, 326 S Segoe Rd, Madison
Join us in welcoming our 6 delegates from Kosovo. They will be hosted in our families for 8 days. Our committee has also worked hard to develop the required professional program around the topic of Renewable Energy, Security and Market Stability.
This is a pot luck. Let’s share our best midwestern foods with our guests! YUM.

Adopt A Highway
2025-04-13 14:00 - 16:00 | Intersection of Hwy 51 and Tower Road
The first Adopt-A-Highway clean up for the season will be on Sunday, April 13, We have been assigned a new location just east of Stoughton onHighway 51. Meet at the intersection of Highway 51 and Tower Drive. This is a quieter stretch of Highway. You should be able to park along the roadside. Contact Stephanie Vanden Bush

Annual Membership Meeting
2025-04-26 14:00 - 16:00 | Alicia Ashman Public Library, 733 N High Point Rd, Madison, WI, 53717, United States
Our annual membership meeting will be held on Saturday, April 26 at the Alicia Ashman Branch of Madison Public Library, 733 N High Point Rd, Madison, The meeting will begin at 2:00. The Registration Deadline, is Monday, April 21, 2025. Please join us for this important meeting!

Second Harvest
2025-04-30 12:30 - 15:30 | Second Harvest Food Bank, 2802 Dairy Drive, Madison, Wisconsin, 53718
Join us for our monthly community volunteer event. Second Harvest provides food to food pantries throughout South Central Wisconsin. Since 1986 Second Harvest Foodbank has provided nearly 241 million meals to our neighbors in need in Southern Wisconsin. Friendship Force is one of many volunteer organizations that helps in the preparation and distribution of all this food. We hope to have as many as eight volunteers every last Wednesday of every month from 12:30 to 3:30 at Second Harvest to help out in this effort. Last month volunteers Mary Crave, Gail Holmes and Diane Mertens helped prepare Granny Smith apples for distribution with fellow volunteers from Starion Financial. In addition they prepared and packaged boxes of mixed vegetables. The projects we work on are always varied, and we never know what our tasks will be each time

Dining on the 6th
2025-05-06 12:00 - 13:30 | Taza, 1900 Cayuga St., Middleton, United States
Taza is the place to enjoy authentic foods of the Mediterranean and its many unique cuisines. From Greece and Turkey, around the Fertile Crescent, and all along the southern Mediterranean Sea to Egypt and Morocco, these are the dishes that stir our passion for food! Directions: Recommend anyone coming from Madison to take Highway 12 & 14 and Exit Ramp #251. There are traffic lights on University Ave. Cross University Ave onto Cayuga St. Taza is on the right. They have an extensive lunch menu with appetizers, soups

Spring Tilt
2025-05-13 15:00 - 16:30 | Holy Wisdom Monastary, 4200 County Highway M, Middleton, WI, United States
Volunteer Opportunity Holy Wisdom Monastery Spring Solar Tilt Tuesday, May 13 3:00-4:30 PM This is a hands-on event to help manually hand crank their solar array into a position for maximum efficiency. The time listed is a guideline. The tilt ends when all the panels are tilted! Optional dinner begins at 5:15 PM for a fee of $22. Advance registration for both events are a must https://holywisdommonastery.org/event/spring-solar-tilt-2/

Book Club
2025-05-19 19:00 - 21:00 | Zoom – within your own home!, Madison, WI, 53706, United States
For the month of May, the Book Club will be reading The Mockingbird Next Door, by Marja Mills, and we are delighted to welcome Ms. Mills to our zoom meeting on May 19! Tom Miller has arranged for her participation, and we will have a unique opportunity to learn more about her experience enjoying and documenting her close friendship with Nelle Harper Lee and her sister Alice Lee in their hometown of Monroeville, Alabama, some 160 miles south of Birmingham.
Book Club May 19, 7:00 PM via zoom Special Quest Marja Mills

Adopt A Highway
2025-05-23 10:00 - 12:00 | Intersection of Hwy 51 and Tower Road
Join us in our service activity. The road is quieter and less busy, which is better for chatting while working. There was a lot of garbage when we cleaned on April 13th because the new section hasn’t had a group to clean it up for awhile. We really made a difference! Our next cleanup is Friday May 23, 10am-noon. Meet up on Highway 51. (Parking on Highway 51 at the intersection with Tower Drive – there is a large gravel shoulder to park on. Click on the link to see map. Note, there is a Tower Rd that intersects with Highway 51 near McFarland that could be confused with our location. Another way to find it is to search for “Altemus Corners House Bed and Breakfast” in maps, which is at the same intersection.). https://www.google.com/maps/@42.9186274,- 89.1515839,15z?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDQxMy4wIK XMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D Please contact Stephanie Vanden Bush (sljacobs2@gmail.com

Brazil - Outbound
2025-05-27 08:00 - 2025-06-06 17:00 | Wisconsin
We will travel first to Belo Horizonte, Brazil, from May 27 to May 31, 2025, then on to Belem, Brazil, from May 31 to June 6.— Initial applications due November 3, 2024

Second Harvest
2025-05-28 12:30 - 15:30 | Second Harvest Food Bank, 2802 Dairy Drive, Madison, Wisconsin, 53718
Join us for our monthly service activity. Second Harvest needs our help sorting and dividing donated food items that are distributed to food pantries throughout South Central Wisconsin. The need is greater than ever. If you cannot volunteer, your cash contributions are also appreciated so that they can purchase important perishable items such as milk.

Book Club
2025-06-01 19:00 - 20:30 | Zoom – within your own home!, Madison, WI, 53706, United States
Monday, September 15
And now, a novel set in 1930s Kentucky.
The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek – Kim Michele Richardson (2019), 308 pp. 41 of 55 copies available.
“Cussy Mary Carter is the last of her kind, her skin the color of a blue damselfly in these dusty hills. But that doesn’t mean she’s got nothing to offer. As a member of the Pack Horse Library Project, Cussy delivers books to the hill folk of Troublesome, hoping to spread learning in these desperate times. But not everyone is so keen on Cussy’s family or the Library Project, and the hardscrabble Kentuckians are quick to blame a Blue for any trouble in their small town. The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek is a story of raw courage, fierce strength, and one woman’s determination to bring a little bit of hope to the darkly hollers.”

Dining on the 6th
2025-06-06 11:30 - 13:00 | Green Lantern, 4412 Siggelkow Rd, MdFarland, WI, United States
11:30 AM, Meeting at the Green Lantern in McFarland
If It’s Friday, Then It Must Be Fish Fry in Wisconsin!
A combined biking an lunch event.
For lunch, we will meet at the Green Lantern Restaurant on Lake Waubesa, famous for their Friday Fish Fry. Our club will have a private downstairs room. Most menu items cost about $10.95. There is a 3.5% charge for use of credit card.
You may either cycle or drive to McFarland
CYCLING
People interested in cycling have a long and short option. The long option starts at the parking lot of the Wyndham Garden Hotel 2969 Cahill Main, Fitchburg. Departing at 10:15. The short option is 2.6 miles starting at the west parking lot of the Lussier Family Heritage Center 3101 Lake Farm Road. Be ready to leave by 11:00. For all details, see the newsletter and recent email messages.
DRIVING
From the beltline get onto Stoughton Road/Hwy 51 and go south. Take the first exit just before the bridge on to Terminal Drive. Follow Terminal Drive to Siggelkow Road.
Please contact Vivian Norton by email, vjoan@icloud.com or text 563-508-1323 by Tuesday June 3 if you are interested. Let her know if you are driving or biking and whether you are taking the long biking route or the short route.

Open Doors for Refugees
2025-06-22 12:00 - 16:00 | Olin Park Pavilion
Open Doors for Refugees invites you to their free community picnic. You can join a potluck picnic at the Olin Park Pavilion. This free event will feature family friendly activities, delicious food, Live music and the performance of the Attan, Afghanistan’s national dance.
Read more about what is planned on the Open Doors for Refugees website https://opendoorsforrefugees.org/. More information about ways you can contribute in this month’s newsletter. The newsletter also has information about how you can sign up.

Second Harvest
2025-06-25 12:30 - 15:30 | Second Harvest Food Bank, 2802 Dairy Drive, Madison, Wisconsin, 53718
2802 Dairy Drive, Madison,
Wednesday, June 25, 2025
It’s that time again! Our next Second Harvest Foodbank volunteer day is Wednesday June 25 from 12:30 – 3:30

Book Club
2025-06-28 14:00 - 16:00 | Zoom – within your own home!, Madison, WI, 53706, United States
NOTE____ NOW A ZOOM!!!!!
The Optimist’s Daughter – Eudora Welty (1972), 180 pp. 15 copies in the library system.
The people of Mount Salus Mississippi always felt good about Judge McKelva. He was a quiet solid reassuring figure. The ten years after his first wife’s death he marries the frivolous young Wanda Fay. The book is a reflective, poignant novel of independence and love, for which Eudora Welty, one of American’s greatest contemporary Souther writers, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize.

Dining on the 6th
2025-09-06 12:00 - 13:30 | Cafe Hollander, 701 Hilldale Way, Madison
We are meeting at Cafe Hollander in the Hilldale shopping mall. They have a wide range of food available. We plan to gather in their outside dining area weather permitting. Please RSVP to Gail Holmes by September 4.

Book Club
2025-09-13 16:00 - 17:30 | Maureen Kind, 5901 Mayhill Dr., Madison, WI, United States
After two months of free-range reading (it’s been fun!), we will meet in PERSON.
Maureen Kind’s home
5901 Mayhill Dr. Madison
We look forward to discussing The Hundred-Foot Journey, and
to hearing about everyone’s summer adventures. Autumn
approaches!
The Hundred-Foot Journey –
Richard C. Morais (2008), 245

Second Harvest Food Bank Volunteer Activity
2025-09-24 12:30 - 15:30 | Second Harvest Food Bank, 2802 Dairy Drive, Madison, Wisconsin, 53718
Our volunteer day at Second Harvest Food Bank will be Wednesday, September 24.
Second Harvest provides food support to thousands of families, seniors, and kids across southwestern Wisconsin through a network of 300 partner agencies and programs.

Book Club
2025-10-04 08:00 - 17:00 | TBD
Saturday, October 4 – time, location TBD
Contemporary insight into our justice system, from a brilliant lawyer who works to make it a better one. Just Mercy: a story of justice and redemption Bryan Sevenson (2014) 336 pp. 53 of 60 copies are available in the library

Dining on the 6th
2025-10-06 12:00 - 13:30 | Garver Feed Mill, 3241 Garver Green, Madison
October 6 we will meet at the Garver Feed Mill for an outdoor patio lunch at Ian’s Pizza. Ians’a offers chess or pepperoni slices for $4.50 and signature pizzas for $5.50 a slice. Register with Gail Holmes by October 5th.

Outbound to Birmingham, Alabama
2025-10-19 - 2025-10-24 | Birmingham, Ala
Our club members will be hosted in Birmingham from October 19-October 24. There will be a strong emphasis on civil rights with a possible pre or post tour. Ken & Vicki Warren are coordinators,

Dining on the 6th (Meze Mediterranean Grill)
2026-08-06 12:00 - 13:30 | Wisconsin
Meze Mediterranean Grill, 503 W. Main St, Sun Prairie, WI. Link to view menu: https://www.mezemediterranean.com/menu-lbzsq Contact Patrick Fleming, Tel: (608)249-5992 or email: pfleming@edgewood.edu to reserve a seat.
