KEEPING
C U R R E N T
A NOTE FROM THE PRESIDENT
Hi AWCH friends , What a year it ’ s been ! My first year as president has been exciting and fulfilling , and I thank you all for the wonderful things we have accomplished . Working with so many incredible volunteers , members , and community partners keeps me motivated to ensure next year is even better .
First , let ’ s look back at some of the big things 2023 brought to the AWCH :
• A new logo ! We rolled out the cheerful anchor , with a design by Julia Neubauer and implementation by Amanda Hoefling , to give our club a fresh welcoming look .
• A new website ! Cat Connor and Jordan Wagner hammered out the final leg of this huge project that had been in the works for years . It ’ s such a beautiful improvement .
• 200 members ! We were thrilled to reach this milestone in December . Welcome to all of the new members , and thank you to those of you who continue to renew year after year . I am happy you are here !
• Welcoming an honorary president : A huge thanks to Abigail Greenwald , who generously accepted the board ’ s invitation to fill the role of AWCH honorary president . Abigail is the deputy US consul general for our area and was assigned here in 2023 . She said she is happy to be in Hamburg with her young daughter and German spouse . I hope you have the opportunity to meet her at club events this year .
• Women ’ s History Month : We had a big public turnout for this year ’ s event . It featured author Alisa Holland , who traveled from England to read from her book On This Day She and participate in a discussion facilitated by Merike Blofield . This was a great partnership with the Amerikazentrum Hamburg .
• Day of German Unity : We partnered with the US consul general ’ s office to host a booth at this national celebration in October . Sara Naumann and Carol Harbers pulled it all together perfectly . Our volunteers spoke with hundreds of people and raised more than € 500 for Hanseatic Help . Frances Livings gave a stunning live performance as the day ’ s grand finale .
• FAWCO Region 5 Meeting : This threeday event in November took a ton of planning and effort all year by our committee , board , volunteers , and presenters . It was a huge success , and we were happy to share Hamburg and the AWCH with visitors from around the world .
• Holidays : As always , many of our members celebrated the holidays together , including Fourth of July on a riverboat and a big festive Thanksgiving dinner . We had to skip this year ’ s Halloween party , because it conflicted with the October Schulferien and the FAWCO meeting , but we hope to have a big bash again this year for the schoolage kids !
6 KEEPING CURRENT