iA


World Festival 2014 Thank You

by Herta Matteson. Average Reading Time: about 2 minutes.

Dear Friends,

Once again we had a wonderful World Festival with many experiences, lots of education, meeting new friends, catching up with old ones and many things for the children to do. The food was excellent, the performances beautiful, some thought provoking. It certainly fit our mission of “international education and exchange” to the T.

The Rochester International Association is a 100% volunteer organization, from the Board of Directors to everybody who participated and helped out. We get no taxpayer money and have no paid staff. This is quite unusual for a festival of this scope. We depend solely on the support of our members and sponsors to defray the cost of school rental, kitchen supervisors, janitorial support and the multitude of other expenses. Without the help of PSAs by KTTC/Fox47 and the monetary and in kind help of our other sponsors, it would not happen. Please thank them all for supporting this great expression of diversity in our community. They also make it possible that nobody has to pay entrance fee for the Saturday event, which specifically benefits families and children.

A big thank you the wonderful people, who are willing to go out there and share their heritage; the groups and individuals teaching children international crafts and games; the organizations with their many international connections and support for international residents in town; to the Board of Directors of RIA and their extra helpers, who work hard all year; the ever supportive Upward Bound students and the Honor Students of JM, who are the backbone of our volunteer force during the event; You all make a great contribution to our City.

Thank you to Mayor Brede, who never fails to lead the Parade of Nations and is available to everybody afterwards, State Senator Carla Nelson and State Representative Tina Liebling for coming and for their interest.

The Rochester International Association is nothing, if not inclusive. Anybody interested in being part of the organization for next year is more than welcome to do so. Please contact us and be part of our Board of Directors and/or the World Festival organizing committee. Especially we welcome people with bright new ideas!

Next year will be the 40th World Festival – an amazing accomplishment. We are looking to make it a very special one. We hope to see you there again and thank you for your support.

Sincerely,
Herta Matteson
President,
Rochester International Association