Dear {Contact_First_Name},
Quite a few exciting events have taken place these past weeks, such as our now almost traditional, birthday party for those born in March and April, hosted by Jan Allen in her home. We also had a wonderful day trip to the lovely gardens of Keukenhof with a typical Dutch pancake lunch and a cruise to discover the windmills of Kinderdijk, all in one day! Discover the pictures below!
Now coming up are even more exciting events!
First on the list, time wise is the wonderful fund-raising event for cancer research, “Relay for Life” on June 1stand 2nd in Waterloo. This is a 24h event where you may walk to raise money or sell homemade goodies at our AWCB stand. For more information and/or registration, please contact our member Melita on her WhatsApp +32497048742. She’s our AWCB representative for the event.
The AWCB is once again happy to support Lina’s Project from our member Nancy Evans. This will be a lunch on 13th June at All Saints Church, Waterloo and will include a silent auction. Please come and show your support to our fellow member for this important event.
But most important of all is our annual General Assembly Meeting. This will take place Tuesday June 18th starting at 18:00 with a potluck dinner and continuing at 19:30 with the General Assembly. This year we will hold the General Assembly at the All Saint Church Chaussée de Charleroi 1420 Braine l’Alleud, as it is easily accessible, comes fully equipped for catering and has ample parking.
Now, the board has an important message for you all, dear members.
We might have found a new Clubhouse!! We are very excited with this project, we have been working hard to complete it, but we can only do it with you!! At the General Assembly, we will tell you all you need to know; the negative points (there a little, of course!) but mainly the positive points (there are a lot!!). Nothing is perfect, but we need your advice and your vote if you agree with this project. This could mean that next year, in 2025, our General Assembly could take place in our new Clubhouse! Sending you all, dear members, my friendship, my joy of living and my great smile! May the best reach each one of you. |
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Florence Jeannin President, AWCB |
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“Sharing love generates the flow of life that creates more love.” Harold W. Becke
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Potential New Club House
Since the previous Club House was sold, the Club has lacked its own location to meet friends, hold events and generally to be the physical heart of the Club. Past Members surveys showed over 75% of the Members wanted to pursue the dream of a new Club House. The current Board has only been in place since 7th January 2024, but we built on previous work done and found a promising property that meets all the key criteria needed based on prior member surveys and practical considerations Safe, secure, open plan, lots of parking, close to public transport, affordable, secure and large enough to hold big events. Well we are pleased to announce that we have found a possible location!
Any new Club House is going to be a compromise, with good and not so good points. The new location ticks more boxes than any other we have found; certainly all the criteria above! The possible venue is a former kitchen store in Overijse, located in a building where there is a coffee & sandwich shop, a hairdressers, a nail salon, a pet grooming salon, a toy store, a Medi-Mart store and a 24 hour gym. It has a large, well lit parking area with direct access into the Club House (the car park is shared with the McDonalds). The unit itself is 239 square meters and is mainly open plan. We foresee three separate areas, being a kitchen and eating area, then two flex zones that can be used for yoga, club meetings, a library, a reading area……, Basically whatever we want it to be!
The interior does need to be renovated, but we find this a big advantage. It will enable us to shape the Club House exactly as we want it and not be bound by the previous owners thoughts. Effectively we would clean this out into a shell and rebuild the inside as we like.
The Board will be working hard in the coming weeks to be able to bring a proposal to the General Assembly. We are already negotiating with the Owners (of course, without any obligation until the General Assembly votes), discussing with the Commune on possibilities, working with an Entrepreneur and Interior Architect on plans and designs. Our intent is to have all the figures finalizsed before the end of May. At that point, the Board will decide whether we recommend this to the General Assembly on Tuesday 18thJune.
If the Board decides to recommend to proceed, we will at the earliest possible opportunity circulate a full description and the financial plan. We will also table ideas as to how the Club House can be self-funding, which in our view is a must to be able to proceed. We cannot and should not rely on Membership fees alone to pay for the running of the Club House otherwise we will deplete the bank accounts and once again find ourselves in the situation of needing to sell the property to stay solvent.
In order to give you the Members the maximum information, we will try to hold an Open Day at the property prior to the General Assembly. This will enable you to view the property, see the plans, discuss possibilities and ideas and generally to see for yourselves our proposal.
The final decision will be taken by your vote, during the General Assembly. Whether to proceed with the Club House proposal or not is entirely your choice; the Board will deliver to you all the information you will need to make a decision.
We are extremely excited to have found this opportunity and look forward to sharing more information with you in the weeks ahead. |
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Notice of General Assembly
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Please note that the Annual General Assembly will be held on 18th June 2024, starting at 19:30 at All Saints Church, Waterloo. This will be preceded by a Pot Luck Dinner (why not try out this month's delicious recipe from the AWCB’s own cook book ‘From Apple pie to Waterzooi’).
The agenda will be published closer to the date, but please already put this into your diaries; if we want to proceed with the new CLub House we need your support!
The current Board members have all decided to put themselves forward for re-election as Directors at the General Assembly. Should other members wish to be nominated, please contact the Club Secretary (chris@awcb.org) to discuss.
The General Assembly will be possible to attend by Zoom. Due to logistical constraints, please note that comments made by Zoom attendees cannot be read out loud; only questions can. So please make sure that if you want to ask anything during the General Assembly, you do so under the form of a question. All members attending, both in person and by Zoom, will be eligible to vote on each resolution. Members unable to attend may appoint a proxy to vote on their behalf.
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Recipe Corner - What's cooking today? Endive, Pear, Roquefort and Walnut Salad
Summer is arriving; as I write this the sun is actually shining! So for a light summer dish, let's try this delicious salad. Salad 2 Belgium Endives, 1 medium radish, 1 head of lettuce, 2 sliced pears, ½ cup (120ml) chopped walnuts, 4 oz (115g) crumbled Roquefort. Wash and pat dry the endives, radish and lettuce; separate th leaves. In a large bowl, mix the endive leaves with the radish and lettuce and pour on just enough vinaigrette to lightly coat the leaves. Toss well and place on individual salad plates. Arrange pears around the salad and top with walnuts and Roquefort cheese. Apple Honey Mustard Vinaigrette ½ cup (80ml) extra virgin olive oil, ½ cup (80ml) honey, ⅔ cup (120ml) apple juice, 3 tbsp grain mustard, 2 tbsp wine vinegar. Combine all ingredients in a jar and shake for 5-10 seconds. Serve and enjoy! |
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Mark your calendars to save the date for our fun lineup of events that provide opportunities to connect, explore and indulge!
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Flower Gardens of Keukenhof
It was so wonderful to take a full day trip to Holland to visit the windmills, have a delicious Dutch pancake lunch in a very typical restaurant and end up in the world known flower garden of Keukenhof!!
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Members Birthday Celebration - March and April
March and April birthdays were joyfully celebrated in Jan and Ivo Allen’s home. Quite a few members joined in to make the evening so special!!
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Hearts for Hope @ Erasme Hospital
Sophie, Marianne, Melita and Florence went to “thank you” lunch organized at the Erasme Hospital for all volunteers. Our AWCB club was warmly thanked for all the lovely work done with Hearts for Hope
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Other Events Last but not least, there was a wonderful tour of Art organized by our member Agalia, bowling evenings with laughter and fun organized by our member Kayali, lunch at Cuir and also wine tastings or cocktail parties with the American Club of Brussels
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FAWCO is a UN affiliated NGO that, since 1931, has brought together inspiring women working towards common goals of peace, multicultural understanding, and international goodwill; supporting women and girls; and defending the rights of Americans living overseas. Membership in FAWCO is included in your AWCB dues each year, so check out all that FAWCO has to offer! www.fawco.org
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State Department Federal Credit Union
Did you know that all AWCB Members with US citizenship are eligible for an account with the State Department Federal Credit Union? The SDFCU specifically offers accounts for US citizens living abroad, something very valuable in this time when other banks are closing accounts of those US citizens who are non-US resident. The SDFCU offers this to all FAWCO members, including members of FAWCO affiliated Clubs.
And that is not all! If you are married, your non-US citizen spouse can also be added to the account! Yes, that's right, the SDFCU will allow you to add your non-resident alien (not ET, your spouse) to the account! Joining is easy and several members have already joined. So if you are looking for banking in the US, give the SDFCU a try. www.sdfcu.org |
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Thank you to our AWCB Sponsors |
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Your Logo Here? Contact us to find out about sponsorship. Do you know of a business that might want to become a sponsor of the AWCB? Let us know at board@awcb.org and we will contact them. We are offering an annual rate of 200 Euros for non-members and 150 Euros for members. Thank you! |
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AWCB Member Email Preferences |
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AWCB sends out many types of email communications - as an example, some are about events, others are about general updates, our newsletter or other official commuications (like General Assemblies). Some people may not wish to receive all email communications that are sent out from the AWCB, and we would like our members to know that you can choose which types of email communications you would like to receive from AWCB. To assist with you with choosing the types of email communications you would like to receive, we have attached a link here to this email preference guide: https://gethelp.wildapricot.com/en/articles/512-email-settings-for-contacts-and-members#updating You can also reach out to our Wild Apricot specialist for advice or help, Karolina via email karolina@awcb.org. |
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Choose to enrich the club's philanthropic or social activities on offer, either one would be gratefully appreciated, and make new friends at the same time! We always need help with communications, especially help in writing our newsletter, website updates, events planning and organization, and many other administrative and operational tasks - every little bit helps. Please contact us if you are interested. Thank you in advance and we look forward to hearing from you! |
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AWCB Member Directory
Have you met someone at a club and want to get in touch? Just log into our AWCB website and AWCB Community and then Member Directory and you can find the contact details of all members who have opted in to share their information. You must login to see information and you can change your own information and visibility by updating your profile.
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AWCB Bulletin Board
While you are on the website, make sure you visit our Club Bulletin Board to announce something special, announce something for sale, or ask for help or advice, on the Club Bulletin Board located in the AWCB Community.
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Get the App And view events on your phone! |
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