Friendship Force of Wisconsin

Friendship Force Board Meeting
2022-03-10 12:30 - 14:00 (America/Chicago) | Wisconsin
The FFI Madison Board meets VIRTUALLY on the second Thursday of the month @ 12:30 pm.

LET’S WALK / LET’S HIKE - 5K and 10K
2022-03-05 12:00 - 15:00 | Wisconsin
Our March hike will be the Returned Peace Corps Volunteers Freeze For Food event on March 5th. This event coordinates with our FF initiative to help Refugees as a fundraiser for Open Doors for Refugees.
The event is a 5K or 10K run/walk starting and finishing at the Vilas Park Shelter. (5K at 12pm and 10K at 1pm). The 5K walk goes out and back along Lake Wingra. See: www.rpcvmadison.org/cpages/freeze–for–food.
The donation/cost to sign up is $20 (or more of course). Members can “walk” virtually also, but it would bewonderful to have a group do it together. Members and friends can sign up to participate by going to the website: runsignup.com/Race/WI/Madison/RPCVFreezeForFood.
Contact Maureen Kind to let her know you want to participate with your FFWisconsin–Madison friends:Maureen Kind – dmkind@sbcglobal.net or 608–274–6754

Book Club - "Everything Inside"
2022-02-28 19:00 - 21:00 | Zoom – within your own home!, Madison, WI, 53706, United States
On February 28 at 7:00 pm we will meet on Zoom to discuss “Everything Inside” by Edwidge Danticat.
Published in 2019, it is a collection of eight family stories of people from Haiti and the Caribbean. A Google books review says the book is “a collection of vividly imagined stories about community, family, and love.”
Email Marian Ehrenberg at: marianeh2014@gmail.com by February 24 for the Zoom key.

Second Harvest Food Bank
2022-02-28 12:30 - 15:00 | Second Harvest Food Bank, 2802 Dairy Drive, Madison, Wisconsin, 53718
Welcome in the New Year and join the fun by volunteering with Second Harvest Food Bank, 2802 Dairy Drivein Madison on Thursday February 28. From 12:30 pm to 3:30 pm.
This is a safe working environment with precautions in place. There is a real need for food pantries to provide for folks in our community who are food insecure. Second Harvest really needs volunteers! Please consider giving three hours of your time this month to help others.
Let Lois Schulz know by Tuesday noon, January 4th at 608–243–9761 or loisschulz1942@gmail.com if you want to participate.

International Institute Program
2022-02-12 08:00 - 17:00 | Zoom – within your own home!, Madison, WI, 53706, United States
On Saturday, February 12, Sandi Wysock, leader of our International Institute, and
Sandy Drew will be hosting an American Institute virtual program. The topic will be investigating
and prosecuting human rights violations. Guests are from Burkino Faso, the Czech Republic,
Rawanda, and Tanzania.

Friendship Force Board Meeting
2022-02-10 12:30 - 14:00 | Wisconsin
The FFI Madison Board meets VIRTUALLY on the second Thursday of the month @ 12:30pm

Dining on the 6th - A Chazen Museum Tour!
2022-02-06 14:15 - 16:00 | Chazen Museum of Art, 800 University Ave, Madison, WI, 53706, United States
For February we offer less food and more art and music on the 6th. You are invited to a feast for your eyes and food for your mind and heart when you join us at the Chazen Museum of Art at 2:15 PM on Sunday, February 6th, inside the main entrance lobby at 800 University Ave. Masks are required for entry – but no cloth masks.
Maureen Kind will be our very own guide. She has 20-plus years of experience as a trained docent at the Chazen. She will explain some particulars about the current exhibit – the Audubon prints. We also will walk a short distance to other rooms to admire and learn about the works of the great masters.
If you want to add to your experience, you can arrive shortly after 12:00 noon to listen to a free concert in the Chazen’s Sunday Afternoon Live series. The February 6th concert will feature a rare combination of classical guitarist Dr. Christopher Allen and bassoonist Dr. Juliana Mesa. The program will include Variations on Mozart’s The Magic Flute, pieces by Villa Lobos and Maurice Ravel, and more.

Second Harvest
2022-01-27 12:30 - 15:30 | Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin, 2802 Dairy Drive, Madison, 53719, United States
Help out and have fun with us!

Book Club - My Forbidden Face – Growing Up Under the Taliban
2022-01-24 19:00 - 21:00 | Wisconsin
The next Book Club Meeting is on January 24th at 7:00 pm on ZOOM.
That gives you lots of time to read “My Forbidden Face – Growing Up Under the Taliban” by Latifa.
It is available at the local library or on Amazon if you wish to buy it.
Google says that the book “……. provides a poignant and highly personal account of life under the Taliban regime. With painful honesty and clarity Latifa describes the way she watched her world falling apart, in the name of a fanatical interpretation of a faith that she could not comprehend.”
Email Marian Ehrenberg at: marianeh2014@gmail.com for the Zoom key.

Winter Potluck Party
2022-01-15 11:30 - 15:00 | Fitchburg Public Library, 5530 Lacy Road, Fitchburg, Wisconsin, 53711
Enjoy a winter potluck party with FF Members!
On Saturday January 15, 2022, from 11:30am until 3pm, members will enjoy a winter potluck party at the Fitchburg Library, 5530 Lacy Road.
Social time begins at 11:30, and potluck at noon.
You are asked to contribute a main dish, salad, vegetable, dessert or a favorite specialty.
Mike Lambert of the Programs Committee will offer us an international trivia game program, so be prepared to have fun and test your knowledge.

Friendship Force Board Meeting
2022-01-13 12:30 - 14:00 | Wisconsin
Friendship Force – Wisconsin’s board meets in person or via Zoom!

Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin
2022-01-06 12:30 - 15:30 | Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin, 2802 Dairy Drive, Madison, 53719, United States
Help out and have fun!

Book Club
2026-03-13 18:13 | Wisconsin
Monday, August 18- Hoping for an in person meeting– location and time to be announced
Contemporary insight into our justice system, from a brilliant lawyer who works however he can to make it a better one.
Just Mercy: a story of justice and redemption – Bryan Stevenson (2014), 336 pp. 54 of 60 copies are available.
“Bryan Stevenson was a young lawyer when he founded the Equal Justice Initiative, a legal practice dedicated to defending those most desperate and in need: the poor, the wrongly condemned, and women and children trapped in the farthest reaches of our criminal justice system. One of his first cases was that of Walter McMillian, a young man who was sentenced to die for a notorious murder he insisted he didn’t commit. The case drew Bryan into a tangle of conspiracy, political machination, and legal brinksmanship–and transformed his understanding of mercy and justice forever.
Just Mercy is at once an unforgettable account of an idealistic, gifted young lawyer’s coming of age, a moving window into the lives of those he has defended, and an inspiring argument for compassion in the pursuit of true justice.”

Book Club
2026-03-13 18:13 | Zoom – within your own home!, Madison, WI, 53706, United States
Monday, July 21 — Time and location TBD.. Hoping for a in person meeting location.
A trip to France! If you can’t read the book then see the 2014 movie – or do both! Film also available from the library.
The Hundred-Foot Journey – Richard C. Morais (2008), 245 pp. 10 copies available through the library system.
“A New York Times Bestseller; now a major motion picture starring Helen Mirren and Om Puri. Born above his grandfather’s modest restaurant in Mumbai, Hassan Haji first experienced life through intoxicating whiffs of spicy fish curry, trips to the local markets, and gourmet outings with his mother. Then tragedy pushes the family out of India, they eat their way around the world before settling in a small village in the French Alps. There they open an inexpensive Indian restaurant opposite the esteemed French relais of chef Madame Mallory.”

Adopt a Highway
2026-03-13 18:13 | Intersection of Hwy 51 and Tower Road
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

Book Club
2026-03-13 18:13 | Zoom – within your own home!, Madison, WI, 53706, United States
Finally, we are excited to announce another author conversation in May! Our book will be The Mockingbird Next Door, by Marja Mills, and Ms. Mills has agreed to meet us by zoom on May 19. There will be more information about this in the May newsletter.

Book Club
2026-03-13 18:13 | Wisconsin
October 21 – in person at Stephanie Sorensen, time to be determined
This is Happiness by Niall Williams (2019 – 380 pp)
32 copies in the library system; 13 available
“Change is coming to Faha, a small Irish parish that hasn’t changed in a thousand years. For one thing, the rain is stopping. N

2026-03-13 18:13 | Marshall Park
Our Summer Picnic will be held
Saturday, September 7
at the Marshall Park shelter 2101 Allen Boulevard in Madison

Book Club
2026-03-13 18:13 | Wisconsin
Join us in person. Watch the Mailchimp for location.

We will discuss Cutting for Stone (2009) by Abraham Verghese. This is a long book with 657 pages. There are plenty of copies available through the library system. Location and time TBD
