Neighbors Abroad of Palo Alto

Last month, Ville d'Albi Mayor Stéphanie Guiraud-Chaumeil and Palo Alto Mayor Greer Stone met in Albi to mark the 30th anniversary of the Sister City relationship. Albi city officials and citizens, along with board members from Neighbors Abroad, were honored to join the mayors over three days of festivities, convivial gatherings (and of course some wine tasting), capped off with a ceremony marking the milestone anniversary.

At the ceremony, Albi unveiled a lovely plaque commemorating the anniversary, which is now on display in Albi’s Parc Rochegude.

Demonstrating typical French hospitality, the Albi team planned a robust schedule of activities to showcase their picturesque, red-brick city. The group made stops at the Sainte-Cecile Cathedral, said to be the largest brick building in the world, as well as the world-famous museum dedicated to Albi native son and world-renowned artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.

In addition to the mayors, participants in the 30th anniversary festivities included Serge Labordere (Chief of Staff for the Mayor of Albi), Jean-Luc Dargein-Vidal (City Counselor for International Affairs), Carole Barbera (Chargée de missions - Cabinet du Maire), Julie-Anne Petrilli (Abi's Hydrogen and New Mobilities Manager), Sarah Burgess (Neighbors Abroad’s President) and her husband Ron Valencia, and Ken and Flor Sanchez (Neighbors Abroad Board Members).

Joyeux anniversaire, Albi et Palo Alto!

The Palo Alto City Council provided a warm welcome at last night’s meeting to a pair of students from two of our Sister Cities. The students - Ariadna Yamile Fourzan Ortiz from Oaxaca and Julien Gandra-Moreno from Albi - were greeted with enthusiasm by the council members, highlighting the city’s commitment to international friendship and understanding.

Special thanks to the Ernest, Bonnard and Stern-Kinsky families for hosting the visiting youth.

Neighbors Abroad is proud to be recognized for its cross-border Essay Contest on moral courage involving students from the City of Palo Alto; Bloomington, Indiana; and Enschede, the Netherlands. Thank you, Sister Cities International!

The Summer edition of our Neighbors Abroad newsletter features all the latest from the City of Palo Alto's Sister, Sibling and Friendship Cities.

What's a Friendship City? Read on to get the scoop on our exciting new pairing with Narok, Kenya!

The Dispatch - News from Neighbors Abroad - Summer 2024 Welcome to The Dispatch, Neighbors Abroad's quarterly roundup of Palo Alto's Sister and Sibling City activities around the world and here at home. You can read our newsletter below or via this link

Our German Sister City, Heidelberg, recently celebrated the final day of City Cycling 2024, a 21-day competition designed to encourage more people to travel by bike. Mayor Eckart Würzner (pictured on the right) welcomed City of Palo Alto councilmember Pat Burt to the festivities. Can you spot our board member Jeannet Susann Kiessling among the riders in the group shot?

Neighbors Abroad members will travel to enchanting Oaxaca, Mexico, this fall to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Sister City relationship between the City of Palo Alto and Oaxaca.

Planned activities include a welcome reception, a walking tour of downtown, and a visit to the neighboring community of Yaxe, where Neighbors Abroad joined other non-profits to establish an award-winning rainwater recapture program.

We hope you can join us in celebrating one of our most enduring Sister City relationships!

Please email [email protected] if you would like more information about this enriching opportunity. (Note: Air travel and accommodations are not arranged by Neighbors Abroad. Each participant is responsible for booking their own reservations.)

We have some wonderful news to share: Neighbors Abroad has won the Sister Cities International 2024 Innovation in Youth and Education Award! The recognition is based on our cross-border Overduin Civil Courage essay contest and the resulting 2023 teen trip to Enschede, the Netherlands. The impactful educational program shined a light on a little known WW II hero from Enschede and brought together teens from three countries and four cities, including the City of Palo Alto's Sibling City, Bloomington, Indiana. What an honor to be recognized by our global umbrella organization for this ambitious project. Many people worked hard for over a year to conceive and roll out the project, including Monica Schreiber, Ed Fike and Jeannet Kiessling in Palo Alto and Bart Molenkamp and Muriel Platenkamp in Enschede. And none of it would have happened if not for Uri Elzur, W***y Berends, Sonna Krom, Bert Wouldstra, and Herbert Zwartz.

Click on the link below for more information on our award-winning program.

Overduin Student Trip In June 2023, the teen winners of the Overduin Civil Courage Essay Contest traveled to Enschede to participate in a week of activities with their Dutch and German essay contest counterparts. During...

Neighbors Abroad members will travel to enchanting Oaxaca, Mexico, this fall (September 18-21) to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Sister City relationship between the City of Palo Alto and Oaxaca. Planned activities include a welcome reception, a walking tour of downtown, and a visit to the neighboring community of Yaxe, where Neighbors Abroad joined other non-profits to establish an award-winning rainwater recapture program.

Oaxaca, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is one of Mexico's cultural and creative centers. Please email [email protected] if you would like more information about this enriching opportunity. (Note: Air travel and accommodations are not arranged by Neighbors Abroad. Each participant is responsible for booking their own reservations.)

We hope you can join us in celebrating one of our most enduring Sister City relationships!

Supporters from the City of Palo Alto and Bloomington, Indiana gathered to commemorate the second anniversary of their pairing as Sibling Cities on Saturday. The event, held concurrently in each location and broadcast via Zoom, featured inspiring testimonials from both cities’ mayors, community leaders and Sibling Cities USA founder Vicki Veenker. Three of the students who represented Palo Alto and Bloomington in last year’s Neighbors Abroad-coordinated trip to Enschede, The Netherlands (PA’s Sister City) recounted their memorable experiences as student ambassadors.

Congratulations to Palo Alto and Bloomington on their second sibling celebration!

Members of Neighbors Abroad, council members from the City of Palo Alto and officials from the Yangpu District of Shanghai, China met last week to pledge continued cooperation between Palo Alto and Yangpu through student and cultural exchange programs. The two municipalities have been Sister Cities since 2018.

Our Linköping Artist-in-Residence is making headlines in our Swedish Sister City.

Delegations from the City of Palo Alto and Enschede, the Netherlands, visited oak trees planted in their honor in a beautiful grove in Linköping, Sweden, yesterday. Enschede and Linköping have formed a close bond after meeting through Palo Alto, which is a Sister City of both municipalities.

̈ping

Innovation in sustainability was the focus of the day as representatives from the City of Palo Alto met with officials from two Sister Cities: Linköping and Enschede. Neighbors Abroad board members Sarah Burgess and Edward Gerard Fike, along with Sarah’s husband Ron, are in Sweden this week to discuss collaborations in culture, business and the environment. The three were in the audience during a seminar on carbon neutrality which featured virtual participation from Mayor Greer Stone, Councilmember Pat Burt and Christine Luong, Sustainability Manager. Following the informative program, Sarah, Ed and Ron attended a special dinner at Linköping’s famed Airforce Museum.

She did it! Neighbors Abroad’s running ambassador, Hanisi Accetta, completed the Lake Kasumigaura Marathon in our Sister City of Tsuchiura, Japan, yesterday. Hanisi drew a huge local cheering section, which included many exchange students who visited Palo Alto last month.

Our Artist-in-Residence, Lorenz Sonneman, has arrived in Linköping and has hit the ground running.

You may recall that our Swedish Sister City created this position for a Palo Alto artist last spring and selected Lorenz, who participated in our Art and Sustainability project, from eight qualified applicants. The position includes free airfare, accommodations in an artist colony, a monetary stipend, and the opportunity for Lorenz to create art and give lectures. He will be in Sweden for six weeks.

Some of Lorenz' exciting assignments include producing a mural in a local shopping mall and live painting a book bus during Linköping's Cultural Festival.

We are grateful to our Linköping friends Elisabeth Asp and Lars-Ove Östensson for creating this incredible opportunity.

Please join us in wishing Hanisi Accetta, Assistant Principal of JLS Middle School, the very best of luck in this Sunday’s Kasumiguara Marathon. The race is held in Tsuchiura, the City of Palo Alto’s Japanese Sister City. Hanisi was chosen by Neighbors Abroad to represent Palo Alto in this years race, which draws 15,000 marathoners each year.

Yesterday, Hanisi and her husband Alex received a warm welcome to Tsuchiura from Mayor Mariko Ando and other city officials. Hanisi will participate in several cultural activities before the race, but she will have plenty of energy to tackle 26.2 miles for the first time. Go, Hanisi!

Neighbors Abroad is currently seeking high school students to serve as Summer Student Ambassadors in beautiful Oaxaca, Mexico. See the image below for more details on this outstanding program which features culturally enriching activities in language, art, politics, and history. This is a superb opportunity for an eager student to build relationships and make memories that will last a lifetime. Please note the 4/19/24 application deadline.

Neighbors Abroad board members and friends gathered last night to enjoy a special performance by the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra while dining al fresco at the incomparable Terun. A lovely time was had by all. Thanks to Monica Hayde Schreiber for organizing the festive outing.

Fourteen junior high students and three chaperones from Tsuchiura, the City of Palo Alto’s Japanese Sister City, enjoyed a memorable visit last week to California. Neighbors Abroad board member Evelyn Shimazaki put together an engrossing itinerary that included visits to Palo Alto City Hall (and a chat with Mayor Greer Stone), local middle schools, the Stanford campus, the Google Visitor Experience Center, San Francisco, and an overnight in Yosemite.

Thanks to all of our members, host families and volunteers who helped to warmly receive our special guests.

This month marks the sixth anniversary of the resolution formalizing Palo Alto’s relationship with the Yangpu District, one of 16 municipal districts in Shanghai. The agreement made Yangpu - home to 1.3 million residents - the City of Palo Alto's eighth Sister City. Neighbors Abroad board members Bob Wenzlau, Bing Wei and Ling Wu were among those who attended the signing ceremony at Palo Alto City Hall.

Our latest newsletter has a little of everything: tropical escapades, a fabulous art exhibition and a brush with royalty. The lively accounts from our Sister City network prompted a longtime member to write these lovely comments to NA president Sarah Burgess: "I just read the newest Neighbors Abroad newsletter that arrived today, and wow! You and your team have been busy—so many meaningful activities with so many Sister Cities and now Friendship Cities. I am in awe of what you are accomplishing with the revitalized Neighbors Abroad."

Read about our latest adventures here: https://preview.mailerlite.com/p6p4n8u9x6

Our Palo, Leyte VP Nodelyn Smith has posted a fascinating account of the recent Neighbors Abroad-led Eco Tour of our Philippine Sister City. Read about the efforts to preserve four distinct ecosystems - and adventures with shaky bamboo bridges, sea cucumbers and karaoke - by clicking on the link below.

EcoTour Philippines As Kermit the frog famously said - ‘It isn’t easy being ‘green.’’This is one of the most important lessons I learned from our pilot EcoTour to the Philippines, a tour intended to explore...

The Neighbors Abroad Team was on hand yesterday to welcome Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel of Sweden to the Green Transition Summit held at the Palo Alto Art Center. City of Palo Alto Mayor Greer Stone, Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis and Nobel Laureate Steven Chu also attended the conference. We were especially pleased that the ceremonial exchange of gifts between the princess and the mayor occurred in front of the sculpture created by Joanne Posluszny-Hoffsten, the artist from our Swedish Sister City of Linkoping. Joanne’s piece is featured in We Are What We Eat, an exhibition exploring the food traditions of our eight Sister Cities.

Several Neighbors Abroad board members - including Nodelyn Smith, Ellen Valentine and Evelyn Shimazaki - recently concluded an Eco tour of Palo, Leyte, our Sister City in the Philippines. The group met with local leaders who are restoring ecosystems such as mangroves, rainforests and small fisheries.

🇵🇭

The City of Palo Alto was honored to welcome the Honorable Mayor of Heidelberg, Germany, Dr. Eckart Würzner, to the Bay Area recently. Neighbors Abroad VP Jeannet Susann Kiessling, a native of Heidelberg, coordinated many of the mayor's activities. Highlights included a photo opp in front of the Sister City sign and dinner at Terun on California Avenue with NA president Sarah Burgess.

Over 150 Neighbors Abroad members and guests enjoyed the February 3rd opening reception of “We Are What We Eat” at the Palo Alto Art Center. The exhibit, which runs through the end of March, features art inspired by the culinary traditions of our eight Sister Cities. Kudos to the fabulous Harriet Stern, who conceived and curated the show.

We were thrilled to welcome Joanne Posluszny-Hoffsten as our special guest. Joanne, an American-born artist who lives in Linköping, Sweden, discussed her whimsical sculpture entitled “Meatballs with Mashed Potatoes, Brown Gravy, Peas and Lingon Jelly” during her remarks at the event.

Many thanks to our generous exhibit sponsors: Graduate Hotel Palo Alto, Hassett Hardware, Taste Restaurant and Wagyu Garden by H, E & C.

They did it! Palo Alto's Swedish Sister City, Linköping, was named the Rising Innovative City at last week's European Capital of Innovation Awards (iCapital). The prize identifies cities connecting citizens with academia, businesses, and the public sector to successfully translate results into improved well-being of society while simultaneously boosting game-changing innovation. Several of the delegates on hand to receive the prize in Marseille, France, visited Palo Alto this past spring. We congratulate all of them on this impressive accolade!

Click on the link below to read our latest newsletter featuring inspiring stories of international friendship and cooperation. We're grateful for the support we receive in Palo Alto and around the world!

https://preview.mailerlite.com/s3h4e9p3c8/2357079307257386452/q1b3/

Neighbors Abroad is currently seeking community members to serve on several of our committees which support Palo Alto’s Sister City network. (Participants need not reside in Palo Alto.) Our Citizen Diplomats build meaningful relationships with fascinating people from around the world. Committees engage in activities focusing on humanitarian outreach, student exchange, commerce and sustainability. Enjoy culturally enriching travel opportunities to diverse cities in Mexico, Europe and Asia. Volunteering with Neighbors Abroad is fulfilling and FUN!

For more information, contact vice president Ed Fike at [email protected]