Friendship Force giving Ontario visitors an Alberta experience

By Justin Seward - Lethbridge Herald on August 31, 2024.

Submitted photo - Visitors get a tour of the Jumbo Valley Hutterite Colony, as the Lethbridge Friendship Force Club hostede fellow club members from Ontario this week.

The Lethbridge Friendship Force Club is hosting fellow club members from Ontario this week to show them what the region has to offer.

The LFFC is under the umbrella of Friendship Force International which has more than 300 clubs around the world.

“The purpose is to make friends, get to know each other, get to understand other cultures and support world peace,” said Barbara Clarke, LFFC president.

“But by making friends and understanding culture, we understand that we have many, many things which are similar to each other and our differences are really quite small.”

The Ontarians are from Stratford and St. Mary’s and their program will include a home stay hospitality while taking in some key attractions around the area including Head Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, Jumbo Valley Hutterite Colony, Waterton Lakes National Park, City Hall, a Warner-area ranch, the Kasko Feedlot and the Birds of Prey Centre in Coaldale.

There will be a little extra focus on agricultural experiences.

“When they accepted the opportunity to come visit us, we thought OK these are agriculture people,” said Clarke.

“We’re taking them to a number of different events here that are agriculture oriented. Everything from opportunities to visit a ranch, visit a feedlot, some of our people are connected to rodeo, so we’re going to have a little roping event.”

LFFC members did the Ontario trip in 2022.

“We were able to incorporate a play at Stratford, so we went to see Chicago,” said Clarke.

“Many of the people that were hosting us there were either actively or somehow connected to agriculture. We saw dairy farms, we saw pig farms, we saw all kinds of other things as we toured around in their area and what a beautiful area it is. Certainly smaller farms than what we have here.”

LFFC simply wants members to make new friendships.

“We want them to experience the economy and the geography of southern Alberta,” said Clarke.

The Ontario club members are being hosted by five Lethbridge and area families.

The Lethbridge home stay runs all this week.

LFFC recently hosted Australian club members in June, while seven members will visit a Japan club this fall.

LFFC was the first club of its kind in Canada as it was started in 1995.