| Dear AFS Volunteers and Staff,
I know that last week’s announcement indicating a significant change to our inbound FLEX and YES programs was not only disappointing, but also unsettling. Many of you have worked hard to place these students with host families while also looking for new host families to host the unplaced students. Your efforts have not gone unnoticed, regardless of this transition to a virtual-only program for the spring, and I am grateful for the work you’ve done on behalf of these participants.
While we’ve come to expect sudden changes to all aspects of our lives, some of those changes, like this one, are particularly hard to swallow. They involve what is normally an exciting event – one that is entirely a human experience. It involves families and global ambassadors, under our care, as they discover together more of what makes us all the same rather than different. And that’s something we need more than we might have imagined.
We are so proud of how our community of volunteers, staff, host families, and alumni have embraced a switch to full virtual exchange throughout the last few months – driven by a focus on making sure that under any circumstances, the AFS mission and our commitment to building global families continues no matter the circumstances. While nothing can match sitting across a dinner table with one another, I understand that the virtual exchange experiences our community has pivoted to have been well-received. It has already proven to be an enriching global experience that is achieving some of the same objectives and expectations that we have for the in-person exchange.
Given the significant challenges that we’ve faced over the last six months or so, I know that this news has created for many of you an added concern for the health of AFS-USA. While this decision is certainly a disappointing one, many staff and volunteers will be helping to soothe the disappointment of host families and others involved with these important exchanges.
But, we are moving forward no differently than we were before this decision was communicated to us. We remain dedicated to rebuilding AFS-USA, no matter what additional challenges this pandemic might throw our way. In the simplest of terms, this transformation to virtual for the YES and FLEX students does not warrant the need to cut our costs more than we already have, and that includes staff. The [limited] resources that we have on hand today are not dedicated solely to current participant activity; they are also an investment in our future as we gear up to place a much more significant number of students arriving in the summer of 2021.
For now, I would ask that all of us set our sights on the AFS-USA Virtual Summit where we’ll meet old friends and new ones. With those friends we will look to rejuvenate our AFS energy, re-commit to our AFS mission, and refresh our love and enthusiasm for the work that we all do together. I look forward to seeing you there!
With warm regards, |