club-origins

Dear Members and Friends:

This wonderful club of over 150 women started in my dining room in 1996.

My family and I had returned from five years of living in Tokyo, Japan. As is the case
with many repatriates, the return home was more difficult than the original move. I
longed to speak to people who could really understand some of the wonderful things I
had experienced. I wanted to keep in touch with other internationals but that was hard
to do.

At the time, through my business contacts, I was also hearing from corporate human
resource people that their employees who were moving to the New York metropolitan area
were having a hard time making friends. I wanted to make the move to New Jersey and
New York a pleasant one for all and I wanted to find a network of friends for myself.
Since I couldn't find what I wanted, I decided to create it!

I found the names of two terrific women in a local listing. One of them worked with
Japanese/American relations and one said she had lived overseas. I called up
Kazuko and Diana and said, "Would you like to start a club?" And so we did.
We met in my dining room and formed International Friends.

At our first meeting, held on October 8, 1996, we had a Japanese cooking lesson and
lunch. We were 9 people that day and since then we have grown to over 100. It has been
my supreme pleasure to see this club grow and to feel the warmth and see the real
friendships that have developed over the years.

The club is a welcoming community of women who provide instant friendship to
repatriates and people moving to the New York/New Jersey area from overseas.

Please look at all that we have to offer from large social activities to special
interest groups. We welcome you and hope you will contact us so we can get to know you.

All the best,
Lisa Berg
Founder and President Emeritus