Fountain Hills Sister Cities hosted an Oktoberfest volunteer appreciation dinner at Mountainview Kitchen on Oct. 10, 2022, to say thank you to the adult and student volunteers who worked the Sister Cities strudel and bierstein booths at Oktoberfest.

During the appreciation event attendees heard about recent updates in Ukraine and the $43,000 collected so far from local supporters that was donated to Fountain Hills’ Sister City Zamosc, Poland, to help assist the thousands of Ukrainian refugees who have fled to their city. As the war in Ukraine continues, Sister Cities will continue to support friends in Zamosc taking care of the refugees.

During the appreciation event, students from The Inspiration Academy thanked Sister Cities for their donation of $1,000 (plus another $1,000 from Board members Elizabeth Matej-Horchem and Bogumil Horchem and Bev Tall). Those donations helped fund the student trip to Baltimore, Gettysburg and Washington, D.C. During the trip the students learned a lot about President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who in 1956 proposed a people-to-people, citizen diplomacy initiative that became Sister Cities International.

For more information about Fountain Hills Sister Cities, visit the website at FountainHillsSisterCities.org.