Help Wanted




Sarasota Sister Cities 

Needs a Few Good People

Please let us know if you would like to provide assistance to Sarasota Sister Cities. We need a Secretary and a Publicity Director.

We also need assistance with our Sister Cities. Please let us know if you have an interest in working with our sister cities in Canada, China, France, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Switzerland, Russia, or Scotland, We also need help in Membership, Education, Economic Development, Social Media, and Fund Raising.

Email us if you would like to help out and we will put you in touch with the right person.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sarasotasistercities@gmail.com



Happy Holidays, Nikolaus and Christmas Greetings

Many happy Holidays, Nikolaus, and Christmas greetings and a little family tradition I like to share. I wish you and your families and loved ones very Happy Holidays and the very best for the New Year 2017.


Nikolaus Day On December 6th

Every year, the families in many European Countries celebrate Nikolaus Day on December 6th.The evening before, children polish their boots and shoes (dirty ones will not be accepted by Nikolaus) and place them or stockings at the fireplace or at the front door.

Traditionally Nikolaus (or Knecht Ruprecht) will bring nuts, apples, clementines and chocolate and/or little toys. For kids (as well adults) whose behavior was a little in question over the year, Nikolaus might just leave a rod behind. In the old days, coal was much appreciated because people often hardly had anything for their fireplaces and heat the rooms.

But as families had more and more central heat, they forgot about the reason why Nikolaus brought them some coal. Nowadays it is like a punishment if there is coal in their shoes.

According to the legend, the custom began because of historical St. Nicholas of Myra (now the Anatolia region of modernTurkey), who died on December 6th, 346.

He was a Greek Christian bishop known for miracles and giving gifts secretly and is now the Patron Saint of the little children, sailors, merchants and students.

Known as Nicholas the Wonderworker for his miracles, he is also identified with Santa Claus. St. Nicholas had a reputation for leaving secret gifts, such as coins, in people’s shoes overnight.


Marianna Janz-Wecke, SCAS President




Sister Cities Partners




Attention members! Click here to download an updated spreadsheet (as of 12/20/16) with a list of all the partnerships we plan to include in our 2017 Membership Directory. Please check to make sure your city name along with its correct sister city partnerships are listed.

If your city is not listed or if there is an error with any of your sister city partnerships please email membership@sistercities.org

You will also notice that we have sister city signing dates listed for many, but not all, partnerships on the spreadsheet. If you have signing date information to share, please email membership@sistercities.org.

Dec 14, 2016 Embracing Our Differences Luncheon 11:30 at Michael's on East



An event sure to sell out EVERY year ... You won't want to miss our inspiring student speaker!

Please Join Us for the
Embracing Our Differences Luncheon
on Wednesday, December 14
at Michael's on East

Registration: 11:30

Lunch: Noon

Tickets: Patron $100  I  Individual $50

Co-Chairs:
Carol Buchanan
and Dennis & Graci McGillicuddy

Like us on Facebook   View on Instagram   Follow us on Twitter   View our videos on YouTube
Join Our Mailing List
Click for more info and to buy tickets:

embracingourdifferences.org/events



Embracing Our Differences, P.O. Box 2559, Sarasota, FL 34230-2559


Social Marketing Report November 2016


Social Marketing Report November 2016

Our blog sarasotasistercities.com is our online newsletter. We keep a calendar events at the top and amplify the information with photos on older posts.

We will be glad to publish information about Sarasota Sister events.  Email it to me, preferably with graphics, and I will post it on the blog. You can also post information directly yourself on our Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest pages.

If you see a mistake on our systems please let me know and I will correct it.

We email our members several times each month with notices of events. We use two email addresses - sarasotasistercities@gmail.com and craighullinger@sarasotasistercities.com

You can post information and photos and interact with others on our social media addresses. All of our members and friends are encouraged to join us. These systems work best if we have a number of our members posting.

We continue our efforts with our Facebook page. If you use Facebook please check out our page, and contribute thoughts, ideas, and 
events  
facebook.com/SarasotaSisterCities

If you use Twitter please join us. It is easy to create an account and post directly yourself. And prove to everyone that you are up to date. 
twitter.com/SarasotaSisterC


We also continue our efforts on LinkedIn and Pinterest.

LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/sarasotasistercities

Pinterest 
pinterest.com/sarasotasister


And of course our Web Site. We use a consultant to update the site and we change it infrequently. It does pick up info from the blog automatically and has links to our social media. 
sarasotasistercities.org


We maintain our membership records on 
www.imembersdb.com

From this site you can update your own records and membership records.  You should be able to log in initially using your email address and your zip coe. Membership VP Dave Harralson maintains this site and can help you get access membership@sarasotasistercities.com


I maintain a blog that has spreadsheets showing Board contact info and Members Contacts.  boardssc.blogspot.com 
The Board is open - you have to ask me for access to obtain access to all our membership. 

We have many photos on line. You can see them on our Pinterest page or see them from the left column of the blog. Or Click Here.


Google has provided us a domain email for free, since we are a non profit.  We will create an email address as Board Members request.  The address will be your title or name, followed by @sarasotasistercities.com

The system is similar to gmail. It also provides a way to share documents and photographs.  A little confusing but you can figure it out.

Using the domain email is of course voluntary.  If you do use the email it might make it simpler to use it with a separate web browser - perhaps use the Microsoft browser for your regular email and use Chrome or Firefox for you Sister City email.  That way you won't have to log in and out of the two email systems. Or you can choose to forward the Sister City email to your regular account.

A few of the new emails have started in the Estonian!! language. We don't know why. Great for internationalism but not so good for comprehension. If this happens give me a call at 309 634 5557 and I will help you get it back to English. 

If any of you would like to help improve our social marketing systems give me a call or send me an email or just jump in and start posting to our Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, or Twitter addresses. And if you know anyone who can help with this effort please put me in contact with me. I am likely beyond help but would appreciate it nevertheless.

I continue to post news releases with little success. It is easy to write a news release on the Tampa Bay News Wire and theoretically the papers will pick this up. Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.

News Release 
tampabaynewswire.com



If you have articles or photos to share, please send them to us and we will post them to the blog and social media.



Sister City Blogs

We have established a blog for each of our Sister Cities. We encourage the City Directors to post photos and notices on their blog. 

















xiamensarasota.blogspot.com



craighullinger@sarasotasistercities.com



Our Social Networking report:  socialnetworkingreport.blogspot.com


Sarasota Sister Cities Social Marketing Plan
sistercitiessocialmarketing.blogspot.com


Sarasota Sister Cites Plan
sscplan.blogspot.com

Sunsets Sarasota
sunsetssarasota.blogspot.com

socialmarketing301.blogspot.com


We use social marketing to inform our membership. Our principle addresses are: