Two Years as a Benvenuto Newcomers Director…
From the beginning I knew that being responsible for the Benvenuto Newcomers would be a challenging but exciting experience. My greatest responsibility towards the club was providing the overall experience for the Newcomer members and making it as memorable as possible for everyone. From planning various Newcomer coffee mornings, lunches and aperitivo’s (pre Covid19) and working hard with the board, my main aim was always to make the newcomers feel welcomed to the club. As not everyone shares the same interests, the challenge was for the members of the board to come up with new ideas together for events, get-togethers, excursions and so on. I am lucky that the people which I’ve worked with throughout these 2 years were helpful, kind and enjoyable to be around. My time as the Benvenuto Newcomers Director was mainly over the toughest times of the pandemic, which meant having to schedule all events online. This was not easy, especially because meetings and aperitivo’s over Zoom were not the same. The board worked hard to keep the club spirit up and to virtually make the best of things. Within the past two years 40 newcomers joined the club from all around the world, sharing their stories and making connections with everyone in the club. Hopefully the ones who had just joined the club who weren’t able to meet many of the other members and attend social events have the chance to do so now that things are getting better. We are slowly being able to plan events where members are face to face, which is the experience that all Benvenuto members should have.
Sonja Fritz