SIsteR

LOCAL NEWS & EVENTS

GANGNEUNG & WUXI: A VIEW FROM “THE TOP” --The annual meeting of Chattanooga Sister Cities will be held at 7:00 PM on Thursday, November 17, at the Jewish Community Center, 5461 N. Terrace Rd. Mayor Ron Littlefield and Councilwoman Sally Robinson will discuss their recent trips to our sister cities Wuxi, China and Gangneung, South Korea. Dessert and coffee will be served following the program.

The meeting is open to Sister Cities members and to anyone else in the community who is interested in the activities and mission of the Sister Cities organization. Please contact Vivian Hershey at (423) 825-1040 if you plan to attend (and for directions to the Jewish Community Center, if you need them) and let her know how many guests you will bring.

GET INVOLVED WITH SISTER CITIES OF CHATTANOOGA THIS YEAR

If you are internationally-minded, Sister Cities can provide an excellent opportunity to visit one of our sister cities or host a guest from one of our sister cities. Other opportunities include involvement in our local activities, such as:

visiting, hosting, planning for or communicating with members of one of our sister cities (see list above)
planning programs for local members
participating in get-togethers with guests from our sister cities
writing the newsletter
writing grants
membership recruitment (corporate and individual)

WE NEED YOUR HELP AND IDEAS!! Contact Bill Prince at Bill-Prince@utc.edu or (423) 886-6780.

NEWS FROM OUR SISTER CITIES

WUXI – From September 7 to 13, 2005, Mayor Ron Littlefield visited Chattanooga’s sister cities of Gangneung, South Korea and Wuxi, China. The mayor was accompanied by his wife, Lanis; City Council Chairwoman Sally Robinson and her husband, Sam; Regional Planning Agency official Yuen Lee; Michelle Michaud, the mayor’s director of initiatives; Trevor Hamilton, Director of Economic Development at the Chamber of Commerce; and Bob Edwards, Coordinator of Wuxi Exchange for Sister Cities of Chattanooga, who served as interpreter for the group in China. The mission had economic, cultural and educational objectives. The delegation visited Wuxi’s Little Swan factory, the largest washing machine manufacturer in China, and attended the Taihu International Business Festival. They met with Wuxi designers to discuss plans for the Chinese garden planned for Coolidge Park. Michelle Michaud took letters, yearbooks, artwork, etc. from two Chattanooga schools—the Center for Creative Arts and Chattanooga School for Arts and Science—which were presented to the Wuxi Foreign Language School (http://wxfls.wxjy.com.cn/). The group also visited the new campus of Jiangnan University. Mayor Littlefield and Councilwoman Robinson will be the featured speakers at the Chattanooga Sister Cities Annual Meeting on November 17, 2005 (see p. 1).

GIVATAYIM – Chaim Charyn, husband of Sister Cities Coordinator Ronni Charyn, will be meeting with Givatayim Mayor Efi Stenzler on November 7^th to discuss a visit by the Mayor in conjunction with a performing youth group.

NIZHNII TAGIL – Sister Cities Coordinator Rob McDonald has been in Russia working on an environmental project. He hopes to obtain matching funds from Chattanooga and Nizhii Tagil to improve environmental conditions there.

GANGNEUNG – On May 11-14, 2005, a 13-member delegation, including Mayor Shim, Kangnung University President Han Song, and City Council Chairman Choi, came to Chattanooga from Gangneung to formalize an exchange agreement between the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and Kangnung University, as well as a detailed city-to-city agreement. Chattanooga Sister Cities hosted a dinner honoring the delegation at the Tennessee Aquarium.

Under the direction of Seong Glickman, Sister Cities Vice-President for Gangneung, twenty-five students who participate in the Choo-Choo Kids and the Dance Repertory Theatre at Chattanooga Center for Creative Arts went to Gangneung on July 26 to perform at the Fourth Annual International Junior Arts Festival. Over 500 students, ages 12 to 20, from Russia, Germany, Mongolia, Japan, the U.S. and Korea took part in the event. The Chattanooga students stayed in dorms at Kwandong University with Karen Wilson, the dance director, and Alan Ledford, the Choo Choo coordinator. The students performed two programs. Bill & Nancy Prince and Karen Claypool had homestays with Gangneung Sister City members. The travelers returned to Chattanooga on August 4^th.

Mayor Littlefield, Trevor Hamilton from the Chamber, former UTC Chancellor Dr. Obear and his wife and the trip coordinator, Seong Glickman, visited Gangneung in late July to celebrate the 50^th anniversary of Gangneung, visit Kangnung University, and discuss import-export possibilities.

In January, 2006, a group of students from Kangnung University will arrive in Chattanooga for a one-month program of intensive English language and culture study at UTC.

The city of Gangneung is planning to send 22 students to Chattanooga next summer to participate in the Riverbend Festival on June 15, 2006. Seong Glickman and Bill Prince are working out the details.

HAMM – We continue to have active student exchanges with our sister city in Germany. Chattanooga students visited Hamm last summer and students from Hamm came to Chattanooga for five weeks. Two students from Hamm are currently attending Chattanooga Center for Creative Arts. A new student group will travel to Hamm next summer on June 18, 2006 for a five-week stay. Lisle Jackson, Hamm Coordinator, is currently looking for families to host Hamm students here in July. If you or someone you know is willing to host a student for five weeks next summer, please contact Lisle at 875-6481.

ANNUAL MEETING OF SISTER CITIES INTERNATIONAL– Three members of Sister Cities of Chattanooga attended the annual meeting held July 26-31, 2005, in Spokane, WA: Peggy Wright, State Coordinator of Sister Cities of Tennessee and her husband, John; and Eleanor Cooper, Chattanooga Sister Cities Association delegate, who also attended the Sino-U.S conference held in conjunction with the International meeting. Eleanor used a PowerPoint slideshow to present the plans for our Wuxi garden, which is being designed with the help of Chinese landscapers for display at the Chattanooga Theatre Centre.

The international meeting focused on economic development, youth involvement, cultural exchanges, and involvement of educational and governmental leaders and organizations. Eleanor reports that Chattanooga, with five active and diverse sister cities, ranks well among other cities.

This year, in preparation for the celebration of the 50^th anniversary of Sister Cities in 2006, local SCI organizations are being urged to host a Summit for Citizen Diplomacy to provide information to local residents on the importance of international education and cooperation on a people-to-people basis.

50^th Anniversary Celebration-- Anyone is welcome to attend annual conferences of Sister Cities International. Plans are being made to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the establishment of the sister city program by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The 2006 conference will be held in Washington, D.C. on July 12-15. Eleanor urges Chattanooga to send more delegates to this anniversary celebration.

CHATTANOOGA CULTUREFEST – On Saturday, August 20, several members of Sister Cities of Chattanooga helped host a booth at Coolidge Park’s annual Culturefest. The Sister Cities information was displayed at one end of a booth provided by the Chinese American Society. Our display included a PowerPoint presentation which ran on a continuing loop, Sister Cities brochures, a map showing the locations of all five of our sister cities, and the flags of our sister cities

GERMAN-AMERICAN CLUB -- Lisa Fischer, member of the German-American Club in Chattanooga, met with the SCC board in August to encourage Sister Cities members to learn more about the group. It meets on the fourth Sunday of the month at the Trinity Lutheran Church, 5001 Hixson Pike (near Northgate) from 2:00 to 4:30 P.M., and is open to anyone with an interest in German culture. The website for the club is http://cetusa.tripod.com/ger-am.

NEW MEMBERSHIP CHAIRS Georgia Eastman (Eastman374@aol.com or 954-1125) and Martin Hershey (825-1040) have agreed to serve as co-chairs of the Chattanooga Sister Cities membership committee.

SISTER CITIES WEBSITE -- For general information on our five sister cities, visit the website www.chattanoogasistercities.org. The site also includes photos of each city.

To include information in the next newsletter and/or to receive this newsletter via e-mail, call Nancy or Tom Bibler at 267-5572 or send e-mail to biblert@bellsouth.net.