The Sister City Program—Building FriendshipsFostering Citizen Diplomacy: One Individual, One Community at a Time

National Friendship Day, early in August each year, encourages people to reconnect to friends or to make new friends. Throughout everyone’s life, friendships evolve with shared experiences, expanding interests, and exposure to new people and places. National Friendship Day was originally founded by Hallmark in 1919 as a day for friends to celebrate their connection by sending each other cards. Over time, the concept of friendship has broadened around the world such that the United Nations officially recognized July 30th as International Friendship Day in 2011. Most countries celebrate on the first Sunday of August.


Beyond the exchange of greeting cards


There is one organization that celebrates friendship every day of the year. Sister Cities International helps to create a more peaceful world through people-to-people exchanges and initiatives. Created at President Eisenhower’s 1956 White House summit on citizen diplomacy, he envisioned “a network that would be a champion for peace and prosperity by fostering bonds between people from different communities around the world” (www.sistercities.org). The mission of the organization is “to promote peace through mutual respect, understanding, and cooperation—one individual, one community at a time.”

The Sister Cities International website shows a wide range of activities that build Sister City relationships.

• In the beginning of June this year, the City of San Antonio, Texas donated $10,000 in to their sister city, Chennai, India for COVID-19 relief.

• Budingen, Germany and Tinley Park, Illinois have maintained a sister-city relationship for more than 30 years. When news broke about the flooding in July in the city of Budingen, the Sister Cities Commission, along with the assistance of the Village of Tinley Park, raised $10,000 in funds for them.

MOTAL also has benefited from the Sister City program. In the spring semester of 2018 at the Doheny Campus of Mount Saint Mary’s University (in Los Angeles) in the J. Thomas McCarthy Library, MOTAL installed the exhibition Two Roads, One Journey: Education in China and the United States. Among the sponsors of this exhibition was the Los Angeles Guangzhou Sister City Association.

Local Citizen Diplomacy


In Fullerton, California, where MOTAL’s office and mini-museum are located, there are trees planted outside of city hall that represent three Sister Cities—a magnolia tree (Morelia, Mexico), a flowering cherry tree (Fukui, Japan), and a black pine tree (Yongin, South Korea). The program was first discussed in 1964 when the Fullerton Chamber of Commerce began to explore the possibility of adopting a Sister City. With strong ties to Mexico in the Fullerton community, the city of Morelia in the state of Michoacán was proposed and visits between the two cities in 1965 marked the beginning of the program and the founding of the Fullerton Sister City Association.

Arbol De La Amistad - Morelia, Mexico

Fukui Friendship Tree - Fukui, Japan

Yongin Friendship Tree - Yongin, Korea​

In 1989 Fullerton reached out to the city of Fukui in the Chūbu region of Japan. Visits between the two cities were arranged, and MOTAL supporter and then Mayor Molly McClanahan signed the official documents. Reflecting the increasing number of Korean residents in Fullerton, a third Sister City was added in 2004, Yongin, South Korea. The city of Tollo, Italy contacted Fullerton to explore a Sister City relationship that will become a reality in September, 2021. An olive tree will be planted to celebrate the newest Sister City in Italy. (The famous baseball pitcher and manager Tommy Lasorda, of Italian American heritage, was a long-time Fullerton resident.)

The Sister City program is known to many of Fullerton’s high school students. Every spring (before 2020), up to 12 students were chosen as “Junior Ambassadors” to travel to one of the three Sister Cities during summer vacation. Students from one Sister City visited Fullerton each year, staying with host families while they explored the town.
Below is a photo of Fullerton high school students who visited Fukui, Japan in 2019.

"I enjoyed my sister city experience and it brings back fond memories. A portion of my high school class traveled to Japan, we all stayed with a host family, and we participated in events with the local high-schoolers. I learned about their fondness for baseball, ate 20 different types of chicken nuggets (my family found out I liked them), and even tried on a Kimono! Since then, I've had the opportunity to go to Japan a couple other times; going there early in my life has made it feel more familiar than any other part of Asia that I have visited. I would love for others to have a similar experience!" --Adam Youngman, 1999 Junior Ambassador.

Fullerton high school students who visited Fukui, Japan in 2019

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Adult trips and multi-cultural events are usually held periodically every year. Visit the Fullerton site for more information and to become a member of the Fullerton Sister City Association. https://www.cityoffullerton.com/government/fullerton-sister-city-association?locale=en


Postscript


By the way, don’t forget to send greeting cards to your friends! The hand-written, touchable, greeting sent through the mail will be appreciated! The Greeting Card Association in September 2020 reported that receiving cards and letters in the mail lifts the spirits of 65% of consumers, and 60% say that receiving cards and letters in the mail “means more to me” than an email.
 
Prepared by
Mary Deming,
Board member and Secretary


Thank you to Minard Duncan, Fullerton Sister City Association Board Member, and to Adam Youngman for their contributions to this article.


Links to Sister City news:
https://www.sistercities.org/2021/06/11/city-of-san-antonio-donates-10k-to-chennai-sister-city-for-covid-relief/


https://www.sistercities.org/2021/07/23/tinley-park-illinois-sends-aid-to-sister-city-in-budingen-germany-after-tragic-flood/


For the history and current facts about greeting cards:
https://www.greetingcard.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Greeting-Card-Facts-2020-v4-2020-0914.pdf


https://www.fastcompany.com/90588450/remember-greeting-cards-theyre-making-a-covid-comeback