March 27, 2010:

Lion Nadeen Lunde of the Pine Island Lions Club came to speak about Youth Exchange.

The youth exchange is a 4-5 week stay similar to a student exchange program.

The youth does not have to be connected to a Lion by family. They must be sponsored by a Lions Club. Clubs often do fund raisers to sponsor students to be exchanged to another club abroad.

Districts will host a week long camp where the exchange students can get together for that week and network.

This is a cultural exchange program rather than a work exchange or a tourism exchange. The idea of the program is to expose youth to the culture of a particular area.

Typically a youth spends two weeks with a family in a city and then travels to another city to spend time with their host family.

While the program is sponsored by Lions it is not necessary for the host families to be affiliated with a Lions Club.

The host family is responsible for transportation needed to and from the Minneapolis airport and to get the student to Camp Spicer in Mankato for the final week.

This program meshes well with a goal of the Lions...understanding world cultures.

If anyone would be interested in hosting a youth, or knows of a person who would be intersted in participating in the Youth Exchange program, please contact Nadeen Lunde at malunde@pitel.net or 507-356-4504.

A link to find the host family form can be found at: http://ww.lionsclubs.org/EN/common/pdfs/ye1402.pdf

Remember, Our Students are: "Ambassadors of Good Will"