Dear INC Board Members,

I write this note to all of you as the representatives of the INC and ask you to please

pass on to each member of the Club my gratitude for the generous honour all of you bestowed on me by making me a life-time member. I am especially grateful for the kind words Anne Miranda expressed about me on behalf of all of you at the luncheon. I was deeply touched and surprised when I read the article in the October issue of the Newsletter. Only Anne could express so much and so well in 50 lines. Thank you, Anne.

Anne is an example of the many friends that I have made in the Club. I can hardly be

called a newcomer having lived in Spain for 25 years but would not think about abandoning the Newcomers Club. All of us have been a newcomer at one time or another; when we stared school, when we started a new job, when we changed homes, or when we moved to another country. Being a newcomer is very difficult, as we all know, and at theses crucial moments we all needed a helping hand. This helping hand was extended to me when I first joined the Newcomers Club and I have never forgotten it. This is the reason why every time I meet a new person in the Club I try to make her welcome and offer any help that I can give her.

The reason why I believe so much in the Newcomers Club is that all of us have gone through this very difficult period of change and our new friends who are strangers when we first meet them suddenly become our best friends. There is a special bond that is formed which can last forever. Most of the members of the Newcomers are here only temporarily and might think that time is too short to make any durable friendships. I

found that every single person has so much to offer and can enrich your life in many ways.

Look around and listen at any Newcomers meeting--you will see people from all over the world and you will hear at least five languages being spoken at the same time. You might start talking to someone who has just arrived and when you continue the conversation you will find out that she is from your home town, has gone to the same school, to the same university, and was your neighbour until you moved away! That's the beauty of Newcomers and why I support the Club and will always support it. We all need it and we all need each other. As my good friend Lila Anderson once said, "We all didn't come over on the same ship, but we're all in the same boat." To all the members of the Newcomers Club, thank you for enriching my life and for being my friends.

Besos,
Felicia

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