Friendship Families Holiday Host Program
mié, 25 oct
|Gainesville
This program will match our international student with host families during significant US holidays. Many of our international guests feel isolated and abandoned during holidays like thanksgiving, and we want to change that. Sign up to learn more and help make Gainesville more welcoming and loving.
Time & Location
25 oct 2023, 19:00 – 31 dic 2023, 23:50
Gainesville, Gainesville, FL, USA
About the Event
Fall is upon us and the festive season approaches. If you are anything like me, you are sure to be getting excited about all of the children in their scary, playful and fanciful costumes for Halloween. It also means that Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and after that Diwali, Hanukkah, Christmas and Kwanzaa. For many of us, these are times for friends and family, celebration and reflection, and yes, even resolution.
However, for many of our international students, this can be a time of detachment and isolation. As our town shuts down during many of these times, our neighbors visiting from elsewhere have nowhere to go and nothing to do. We are a welcoming community and we want to prove it during these special holiday times. This is why we have partnered with the University of Florida International Center to create the Friendship Families Holiday Host Program.
We are asking you to open up your home to a few (1-4) of our amazing international guests on one of these special days. Invite them over for tea or cocoa, to watch a game, have a drink around the fire pit, have some dessert, or even a full meal. We are not asking you to do anything more or different than you normally would for this occasion. Just welcome them into your home for a bit to share your traditions and love, while opening yourself up to sharing and community-building. It is that easy.
For more information, visit our website at www.gnvic.org. There you will find a simple form to fill out. We will be matching families with neighbors at a special reception in early November so we can make sure our international neighbors have somewhere to go on Thanksgiving Day. You will make a huge impact on a few of our international guests and in doing so, help make Gainesville a more welcoming and peaceful community.
For students looking for a family to spend one of our upcoming holidays with, please fill our this short form to get signed up. Space is limited, so please return your completed form as soon as you are able!