by Kate B.

As the new FAWCO Rep, I first want to thank Beth Molnar for doing such a great job! I know that she inspired many of us to get involved and to get excited about all that FAWCO can and does do for us. Second, I am very much looking forward to bringing new activities into the AWCH and to represent us at FAWCO events.

Beth conducted a survey at the AGM and I would like to share the results with you.

* The goal of the four-year FAWCO Target program is to create a strategy for education and fundraising in regards to a global issue. Applications and proposals will be submitted in the fall and the final choice of the focus will be announced at the 2010 conference in Boston. Our main areas of interest for the Target program include: the environment, education of women and children, ending violence against women and children, and health issues.

* 14 members volunteer locally - perhaps we can nominate one or two of the charities for a FAWCO grant.

* Many of you would be interested in attending a lecture on topics such as human rights, food security, climate change and many more.

* Several of you have already shown interest in joining a FAWCO committee. Please look for meeting announcements in Currents and via email loops. Congratulations to Cat Connor who is already involved as the new chair of the FAWCO Technical Advisory Group (TAG)!

Some of my ideas for this year include:

o Fundraising for the FAWCO Foundation: a wine tasting in September and potentially a larger event such as a casino night in the spring.

o Clubs in Motion – are you part of a walking group or do you bike or run? Count up the kilometers that you do each week and we can include our sum in the quest to beat the 2008-2009 FAWCO total of 12,036km!

o Helping club members with Development Grants/Educational Grants.

o Figuring out other projects that we can get involved in as individuals and as a club.

Our main event this year is the FAWCO and FUN Regional Meeting which our club is sponsoring! The Region 5 meeting will be held from November 6 to 8 in Aachen.

Frauke Rademacher-Heidemann, our Region 5 Coordinator, would like to add the following information:

“Members of our neighbor regions 2, 3, 4, and 6 have been invited to join us. During our 2008 meeting held in Lüneburg near Hamburg, we decided to hold this year‘s meeting in a more central location with easy access for all and with special attractions for the FUN part.

So, besides our serious and catching FAWCO work, we will have ample chances to exercise our feet by walking to the key attractions of ‘the Kaiser-Stadt’ Aachen with the Dom constructed from 790–800 under the Emperor Charlemagne (or, as the German speaking world prefers: Kaiser Karl der Große), the Rathaus/City Hall and the historical old town. The FAWCO and the FUN programs are being worked on. More information, including registration, will be passed on as soon as it is available. One point is quite urgent: all hotels in Aachen are already booked for this time frame. Our conference hotel is the Aquis Grana City Hotel, a four-star hotel in the center of town. There are only 23 rooms left (20 double for Euro 100 and 3 single rooms for Euro 85).They are reserved for FAWCO until July 15. Please make your reservations ASAP directly with the hotel under the code name FAWCO. Tel. +49 (0) 241-4430 or email info@hotelaquisgrana. com. Latecomers need to find an alternative hotel nearby. See the internet www.hotel-aquisgrana.com or www.aachen-tourist.de”.

If you are interested in learning more about FAWCO or
would like to get involved please contact me at fawcorep@
awchamburg.org.

originally published in Currents Aug/Sep 2009