Sister Cities hosts Sock Hop

BELVIDERE – Sister Cities of Belvidere will host the Taste of Sister Cities Sock Hop on Saturday, June 18. The event will take place at the Boone County Community Building Complex, located at 111 W. First St. in Belvidere.

The evening will feature 50s, 60s, and 70s music courtesy of “The Wise Guys” from Arlington Heights. Plus, there will be cuisine of German, French, and American food.

Cocktail hour will begin at 5:30 p.m. with a cash bar. Dinner will follow at 6:30 p.m.

Tickets for the event are $20 per person. For tickets, contact Wallie at (815) 547-5058, Pat at (815) 904-4927, or Cathy (815) 978-8029.

Proceeds from the event will go to support the Youth Exchange of the Belvidere Sister Cities Association.

The Youth Exchange program sends four students abroad every summer. Two high school aged students travel to Germany and two students travel to France. At the end of their stay, two German exchange students and two French exchange students travel to Belvidere with the American students and stay for a two to three week period.

Belvidere has been sister cities with Schwieberdingen, Germany since 1988, and Belvidere has been sister cities with Vaux-le-Pénil, France since 1998.

About Sister Cities International

Sister Cities International is a nonpartisan 501©(3) nonprofit that serves as the national membership organization for individual sister cities, counties, and states across the United States.

The network unites thousands of citizen diplomats and volunteers from 522 U.S. communities with over 2,000 partnerships in more than 140 countries.

Sister Cities International was created at President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s 1956 White House Summit on Citizen Diplomacy. He envisioned an organization that would be a champion for peace and prosperity by helping citizens foster bonds between people from different communities around the world.

President Eisenhower reasoned that if private citizens built partnerships that celebrated and appreciated differences between cultures, and didn’t rely solely on national governments to manage international relations, then it would lessen the chance of new conflicts.

For nearly six decades, Sister Cities International has served as a hub for institutional knowledge and best practices in the field of citizen diplomacy. Sister Cities International continues to strengthen the sister cities network through strategic institutional partnerships, grants, programs, and support for its members.

Sister Cities International motivates and empowers private citizens, local organizations, and municipal officials to conduct long-term, mutually beneficial sister city, county, or state relationships.

The mission of Sister Cities International is just as important today as it was when it was founded. With the advent of the internet and new technologies, the world is becoming smaller, and the relationships and interactions between the U.S. and its foreign counterparts are more complex than ever.

Despite this increase in online communication, the face-to-face meetings and personal relationships developed through sister cities are still vital and irreplaceable.

What is Sister City?

A sister city, county, or state relationship is a broad-based long-term partnership between two communities in tow countries. A sister city, county, or state relationship is officially recognized after the highest elected or appointed official from both communities sign an official agreement of partnership.

A sister city organization may have any number of sister cities, with community involvement ranging from a half dozen to hundreds of volunteers.

In addition to volunteers, sister city organizations may include representatives from nonprofits, municipal governments, the private sector, and the other civic organizations.

Sister city relationships offer the flexibility to form connections between communities that are mutually beneficial and which address issues that are most relevant for partners.  They implement projects in a number of areas, including: cultural exchange, youth and educational programs, economic partnerships, and municipal assistance.