A BIT OF LOCAL HISTORY

In 1977, organizers Eleanor Van Tilburg and Maryjane Brown of Vancouver, Washington, with hundreds of potential members, began exchanges. Under the name "Southwest Washington Friendship Force Club", they became one of the first Friendship Force Clubs in the world. In 1982 the club received one of the first charters granted to Friendship Force Clubs. Soon smaller groups of the original potential members, being from other cities in Washington and Oregon, began to seek assistance to form more clubs in the Pacific Northwest. Friendship Force Olympia, Sea-Tac, Whidbey Island, and Lower Columbia in Washington plus Mid-Willamette and Southern Oregon in Oregon emerged through the 1980s and 1990s. By 1988, when more members from Oregon joined SWWA, the club name was changed to The Friendship Force of Columbia Cascade. The name is derived from the Columbia River which flows between Washington state and Oregon and the Cascade mountain range which is situated along the eastern sides of the two states.

From THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN, BRIDGING THE GREAT DIVIDES by Charlene Terrell

If you have not read Charlene Terrell’s book The Other Side of the Mountain about the history of Friendship Force, you might want to borrow a copy from our club. It is a fascinating look at how our organization began back in the 1970's.