This has been ANOTHER year of strange and unusual circumstances for the MCOW program, and yes for the whole world. No doubt about it, 2021 was a rollercoaster ride. 

During 2021 we missed MANY happenings and milestones … cherished moments that we were looking forward to celebrating together. Happy announcements about a new group of Student Ambassadors. A bustling ballroom filled to capacity for the Gala Auction. Watching our students and teachers unveil their new travel uniforms. Joyful discoveries made on the other side of the world. Awe-inspiring sights. New friendships. Connections and bonds unlike any we’ve experienced before. Laughter. Exhaustion. New words, foods, routines. Learning the Haka. Sunrise from 40,000 feet. Happy tears of being reunited with our loved ones. Great joy of welcoming the arriving Kiwis at the airport in September. Road trips around Puget Sound that shine a new spotlight on this beautiful place we call home. Choked-up, emotion-filled speeches before saying goodbye to our Kiwi friends. More hugs at the airport. There were far too many things that didn't take place, but should have. We feel a BIG void from missing all of that. 

As we end 2021, it’s important to pause and reflect on all the challenges we’ve been through since the beginning of the pandemic. And also take a minute to take stock of our accomplishments.
Nobody could have imagined the impact of COVID on schools and travel, and how profoundly that would impact MCOW in nearly every way. Dealing with a 2-year-long global pandemic has definitely been painful. While the pandemic shut down our program for awhile, it didn’t erase our mission. It forced us to redirect, reassess, and step out of our comfort zone. It forced us to rethink what matters. It was a gut punch for sure, even though it was filled with silver linings - starting with a renewed appreciation for tenacity, persistence, the importance of connections, and the joy of discovery. In these uncertain times, it seems more important than ever to find a way to inspire and prepare young people for success, whatever that looks like. 

Now as we enter the third year of this pandemic, we'll need to harness the spirit of community more than ever. I know we can do that. 

THANK YOU for helping us during this year, and in all the previous years. Our work wouldn't be possible without YOU and your incredible support of and commitment to MCOW. Thank you again and again. Whether you are a community partner, teacher, former Ambassador, former Host, or family member with ties to MCOW, we send you our heartfelt thanks and warm wishes for the New Year. To our Kiwi friends, we send you heartfelt greetings with the hope you are enjoying your beautiful New Zealand summer, the holidays, and the conclusion of your school year! 
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HAPPY NEW YEAR! Here’s hoping 2022 is filled with health, happiness, joy, peace, and new adventures for each of you! Let's make some great memories in the year ahead. 
Allison, Amy, Annette, Charles, Louann, and Stephan 
Board of Directors 
Meeker Citizens of the World ​

Hello Vendors. You are invited to register for the 2021 Meeker Holiday Bazaar! For more than 15 years it’s been a favorite holiday tradition in the NE Tacoma community. After having to cancel the 2020 event, we are thrilled to have the chance to hold it again this year! Mark your calendars (Saturday, November 13) and register today! Please click on the link below to access the Registration Form and Information Sheet.

We are tremendously grateful for the strong level of community support that exists for this fantastic event. And we really appreciate the talented vendors we’ve had in previous years - beautiful arts, amazing crafts, and unique creations of all sorts! We hope you will join us again this year on November 13.

The Meeker Holiday Bazaar is an important event because it raises money to help support the MCOW student exchange program with New Zealand. Meeker students and MCOW alums will be there to assist with move-in and move-out. We provide free coffee to vendors throughout the day. We will have festive music of course, along with a merry band of Santa’s helper elves who will be there to spread holiday cheer!

For complete details, please click on the link below to access the Registration Form and Information Sheet. Contact us at MeekerHolidayBazaar@gmail.com if you have additional questions.

Please join us on November 13 and help us continue this fantastic holiday tradition! Hope to see you there!
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A Toast to Friendship and to Better Days Ahead!
Hello to our MCOW alums, friends, and neighbors. We hope you are enjoying a beautiful summer (to those of you in the US) and a wonderful winter (to those of you in NZ)! August is always an exciting time of year in Tacoma – our long, warm, sunny days are the perfect time for trips to the beach and family vacations. This year the summer weather did not disappoint! In Invercargill the months of June, July, and August are the coldest of the year, so our Kiwi friends are probably excited that spring will be arriving soon. Goodbye snowflakes and hello springtime blooms.
 
Since our announcement on May 2 canceling the current program year, the MCOW Board of Directors has continued to stay busy. We’ve met each month for Board Meetings to work on contingency planning and to ensure all of the program’s operational and regulatory requirements are met. We’ve tracked COVID case rate numbers every single day for more than a year, watching the numbers trend up and down, up and down. We’ve been able to revise a number of documents and procedures, to streamline and improve them.
 
We’ve made plans (and then revised, adjusted, moved, and pended those plans) for a fun celebration evening event. We had hoped to hold this event in October, but COVID had other ideas and hijacked that timing. For now we’ve pushed that celebration event to February 2022 – fingers crossed we can make it work!
 
We’ve also been busy working on the 2021 Meeker Holiday Bazaar. Today we have GREAT NEWS to share – YES, IT’S A GO! After having to cancel the 2020 event, we are thrilled to have the chance to hold it again this year! For more than 15 years the Meeker Holiday Bazaar has been a favorite holiday tradition in the NE Tacoma community. We are tremendously grateful for the strong level of community support that exists for this fantastic event. And we really appreciate the talented vendors we’ve had over the years – beautiful arts, amazing crafts, and unique creations of all sorts! We hope you will join us again this year for some fantastic shopping – mark your calendars for November 13. The Meeker Holiday Bazaar is an important event because it raises money to help support the MCOW student exchange program. As always, Meeker students and MCOW alums will be there to assist the vendors. We will have festive music of course, along with a merry band of Santa’s helper elves who will be there to spread holiday cheer! If you know a potential vendor, please tell them to contact us at  MeekerHolidayBazaar@gmail.com to access the Registration Form and Information Sheet. If you are an MCOW alum and want to help us with this event, please let us know. Let’s all come together on November 13 and continue this fantastic holiday tradition! Hope to see you there!
 
To our MCOW families with students, we know you are very excited to get back to school. School starts for TPS students on Wednesday, September 8 – with IN PERSON classes! Let’s hope the recent “remote learning” experience isn’t repeated anytime soon. Good luck to all the students this year at school! You all deserve a fantastic year!
 
The past year has taken us through a very unexpected journey – including loss and disappointment, learning and revelation. Sometimes when we feel the most challenged or stressed, inspiration is close at hand. Maybe you felt that too. Through it all, the connections we have with each other is what endures. And that is the magic of a cherished community organization: 32 years later, in the midst of a worldwide pandemic with borders and schools closed, we remain connected. We are tremendously grateful to our alumni, friends, and neighbors who are the reason we’re still here, and we feel privileged to keep expanding our connections to a new circle of friends.

​A toast to friendship and to better days ahead!
 
Mihi Koe and Best Regards,
MCOW Board of Directors
August 31, 2021

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR 2021 MEEKER GRADUATES & MCOW AMBASSADORS Marina Blank, Tuscany Brown Reed, Christian Montemayor,
Lavinia Rubatino, Ryder Sawyer, and Addison Schultz —  

We are so very proud of you for this wonderful accomplishment! Congratulations to you (and your parents) on this very important milestone! 

We wish you all the best as you move on to high school. We know you will continue to make us proud! We are so grateful that you were part of Meeker Middle School and MCOW, and we hope you will hold onto many incredible memories and friendships from your NZ experience! 

THANK YOU MEEKER & TPS 

The end of the school year is traditionally a time for us to recognize our partnership with Meeker Middle School & Tacoma Public Schools (TPS). Without the support of Meeker staff and approval of TPS and the School Board, we wouldn't be able to host the Kiwi students in September or send our Student Ambassadors to NZ in February. Although the pandemic forced us to cancel the program this year, we know it will be back. SPECIAL THANKS to Meeker staff including Principal Patrick Kjack, Assistant Principal James Van Stralen, Chloe Eklof, Micah Haven, Kate Kuravackal, Cathy Maui’a, Sally McHugh, Sue McMonigal, Rodney Olson, Carrie Splinter, Craig Warren, and Lindy Wells-Nicholes. SPECIAL THANKS also to TPS Superintendent Carla Santorno, TPS Deputy Superintendent Josh Garcia, TPS Office of Student Life, TPS Secondary Education, TPS Legal Department, and TPS School Board. We look forward to our continued partnership in 2022 and beyond! 

TO OUR COMMUNITY 

This school year has been strange and difficult, unusual in every way. As it comes to an end, we are grateful to see the public health metrics improving very significantly! We’re also thankful to all those who helped us get through it and make the most of it! We know we can bounce back. 

To all the Meeker Middle School staff, students, and our friends in the MCOW community, we hope you have a safe & fun summer! 

Best regards, 
MCOW Board of Directors 

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AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE TO THE MCOW COMMUNITY & OUR FRIENDS
ABOUT THE 2021 – 2022 PROGRAM YEAR:

Out of an abundance of caution and in line with our guiding principle of Safety First in all we do, the MCOW Board of Directors has decided to cancel the 2021-2022 exchange. Last week we were notified that the James Hargest College Board of Trustees canceled the trip for the New Zealand students and adults scheduled to arrive in September 2021. This week the MCOW Board voted to not have a group of Student Ambassadors, Teacher Leaders, and Parent Chaperones travel to New Zealand in February 2022. This decision was not made lightly and is the result of a great deal of careful consideration, given its significance in the history of the MCOW program. For 31 continuous years, we have taken students to New Zealand each February, until a year ago when the pandemic forced us to cancel this year’s trip. While frustrating and difficult, the Board believes that canceling the February 2022 trip is the best course of action given the circumstances. Since its inception in 1989, the program has changed lives because of the connections made and the discoveries encountered around every corner. Sending our Student Ambassadors on this Kiwi adventure has become a familiar and safe experience for us, and it will be again in 2022-2023. But for now, we still find ourselves in the midst of a very unusual time, given the Coronavirus pandemic and the impact it is having around the world. For most of us, life has changed in profound ways, and the only thing that seems certain is uncertainty, still. The simple fact is we don’t know what to expect or how this will continue to impact our daily lives in the coming weeks and months. While this message is somber, the MCOW Board of Directors is committed to make the most of this unique year and we invite you to join us. In disappointment there is often resilience, discovery, and growth.
 
Was your student planning to be an Ambassador or planning to host a Kiwi? CLICK HERE to let us know so we can consider fun, new ways of connecting these students during the next year. (Note that the Board has decided to allow students who will be in the eighth grade to apply to participate in the February 2023 trip.)
 
Are you interested in helping with the annual Meeker Holiday Bazaar in November?  CLICK HERE to let us know that we can add you and/or your student to the list of volunteers needed for the Holiday Bazaar team.
 
Do you love attending the MCOW Gala Dinner & Auction?  While we won't have a traditional auction event this year, we are considering how to bring together our amazing MCOW Community in a gratitude event. CLICK HERE if you want to help us create an unforgettable evening in celebration of the MCOW program.

 Support
Do you shop at Fred Meyer or Amazon?  Please consider signing up with Kroger Rewards and Amazon Smile to help support MCOW. Once you do, your shopping dollars will be added with others and will turn into a donation to MCOW from these companies. These funds will help us to cover the expenses (for regulatory, technical, and business requirements) that we will continue to have this year to operate the program.
 
While we have decided to forego the exchange trip in February 2022, we fully intend to make our 2021-2022 program year count. We plan to make this year central to the core foundation of this program -- connections with other people. Let's stay connected. Let's stay safe. Let's make the most of the year ahead and work together to keep the MCOW program strong and vibrant for all the years to come.
 
Thank you for being a part of the MCOW community! Mihi Koe.
 
Allison, Amy, Annette, Charles, Louann, and Stephan
MCOW Board of Directors for 2021-2022
www.meekernz.org

Normally, the team of Teachers, Chaperones and Ambassadors jumps into action upon our return to the US at the end of February. Ambassadors share stories at each of the local elementary schools and the Information Night for prospective applicants & their families. The Teachers & Chaperones assemble notes and feedback to the Board and help set up the next team of teachers for success right away with a new program year starting March & April. However, March 2020 had different ideas in store. With the shut down due to the pandemic we moved into a wait and see mode for our Spring activities, and instead of seeing teammates in the hallways we had virtual meet-ups here and there.

It's hard to believe it's almost been a year since our trip in February 2020! Tonight, we got together for our official Reunion virtually. Our team received care packages on their doorstep this afternoon; perhaps with a little nostalgia for pizza takeout in Wellington and Queenstown? The candy & drinks packed in were our favorites here, but we wish we could have been having our favorite New Zealand crunchies, L&P, and more. In honor of our field trip panning for gold in New Zealand, we worked through a Gold Rush Adventure with The Escape Game Remote Adventures company... luckily both teams made it out! A fun reminder of just how valuable every member of this team was back on our trip. It takes all different strengths & personalities to travel as a team. Not only did we all bring value, but we all grew in different ways from this experience too. Afterward, we gathered virtually to reminisce and catch up. We remembered funny little moments, hugging cows on Farm Day, food we tried, overcoming fears on zip lines and planes, and so much more. Since our return, some of us have moved or remodeled! Some of us got new pets, hobbies or hair styles! Some of us look forward to returning to classrooms, going to concerts, and sports; of course, many of us miss traveling! 

THANK YOU to our families and community members who supported our fundraising, the MCOW Board's leadership and guidance, the incredible people of James Hargest, and... most of all our host families in Invercargill. We miss you all!

Our February 2020 exchange trip was a memory we will never forget! 
Meeker Citizens of the World 2019-2020 Ambassador Team 
Mrs. Eklof & Mrs. Hausman - Teachers 
Liz Sawyer & Pam Kikillus - Chaperones
Ashley, Aspen, Ava, Audra, Ben, Julia, Lavinia, Owen, Ray, Ryder - Ambassadors 

Northeast Tacoma Healthy Kids Coalition started as one woman’s desire to feed the children at Browns Point Elementary who were hungry on weekends. Now, Jewel Ocariz is one of an incredible team of individuals who lead this not for profit organization bursting with activity! What once only served 6 children at one school is now a partnership among the Northeast Tacoma three elementary schools (Browns Point Elementary, Northeast Tacoma Elementary, and Crescent Heights Elementary) and the middle school (Meeker Middle School). 

Each year, our MCOW Student Ambassadors complete a service project as a team within our local community supporting various organizations in Northeast Tacoma. Several times our service projects have included hours packing food with the Coalition. With Covid impacting our community, Meeker Citizens of the World does not have Student Ambassadors completing service projects and a need for donations ourselves has diminished temporarily. At the December MCOW Board meeting, we unanimously agreed to take this opportunity to give back. First, in honor of the ongoing support of MCOW by the Meeker Middle School music program to all those welcome assemblies over the years, we provided tubs of essential food and household items through the program coordinated by the music department for years serving the Hilltop Community. Second, we reached out to the Coalition for their most urgent needs and how we could best support them. 

The MCOW Board delivered these urgently needed items today so they can round out the full kits they will start distributing again this week. We learned the Northeast Tacoma Healthy Kids Coalition has seen their need substantially increase both during Covid and with the closure of the local NE Tacoma food bank. They are now serving 273 students. (That number does not include those students siblings. Though, due to generosity of the community they were able to serve students and their siblings through the recent holiday gift distribution.) We are sharing their hope for an extension to come for the incredible farm to table refrigerated truck distribution they were able to provide in part of 2020. This bi-weekly drive-thru service to these families went beyond the usual non-perishable goods distributed. Regardless if the farm to table portion of the program comes through again, they will continue providing upwards of $3500 worth of nonperishable food to the students of Northeast Tacoma every month. They do this entirely through donations. 

• DONATE FOOD: They have worked to identify a specific list of goods best utilized.  Their wishlist identifies these on Amazon but many of these are available at local Costco, Winco, Walmart or other local grocery stores.
• VOLUNTEER TIME: An efficient, highly organized system exists to their storage, packing and distribution needs. Often these opportunities are simply an hour of your time, and times/days vary. Given Covid restrictions, sign ups are limited and restricted for health and safety of volunteers and families receiving the items. Contact the Coalition through their email if you have questions or want to help, nethealthykidscoalition@gmail.com 
• LEARN MORE & CONNECT:  Sign up for email updates at visit their website or visit them on FaceBook.

We honor the tremendous value and critical pivoting with Covid restrictions this organization has demonstrated in 2020. We look forward to returning to the days of coordinating our Student Ambassadors service projects with organizations like the Northeast Tacoma Healthy Kids Coalition! Our next MCOW program year begins soon; please stay tuned for more announcements and updates. 

This year has been a unique one for Meeker Citizens of the World and for our world at large! 

For over 30 years, this program has centered on the rich growth that comes from a cultural exchange - listening, exploring and embracing many different concepts and perspectives. It hasn’t been unusual over the past years for the program to adjust with the times during economic challenges or unexpected hiccups, although dealing with a global pandemic is definitely a first. Just as the teachers we partner with are missing the face to face hellos with students in the hallways and classrooms, we too are missing our connection with the core mission of the program - the kids! 
 
While this photo is from past sunnier days, we have met as the MCOW Board of Directors each and every month to adjust, consider new possibilities, and strategize on program elements for the exchange program. Earlier this month we gathered via Zoom to reflect on this year; we’ve shared with one another many laughs, difficult decisions, and choked-up moments during the year. And, we’ve started looking ahead as we turn the page into 2021! Our program year starts each April so there are dreams, contingencies and practicalities already being discussed for the return of the program. This group of adults serving as the Board each has their own ties to the program. Despite our small NE Tacoma community, some of us never knew each other until MCOW brought us together. Each of us brings different talents, but we all share a love of kids and this program. 

Whether you are a community partner, teacher, former Ambassador, former Host, or family member with ties to MCOW, we send our heartfelt hugs and warm wishes this holiday season. To our New Zealand friends, we send joyous greetings for you all with the hope you are enjoying your summer, the holidays, and the conclusion of your New Zealand school year!