Dear Members and Friends,

Happy and healthy New Year to you and your families.

The schedule for our 2009 meetings is as follows:

Annual meeting: April 5th, 2009 at 2pm
Excursion: June 14th, 2009
Swiss National Day Celebration: August 2nd, 2009
November meeting date to be announced

I hope that all of you will attend as our society needs everyone’s participation, not only to elect our officers, but also to flourish.

As you may all know by now, our dear member Hildegard Medicus passed away late last year. She had been a driving force in our Society and will be sorely missed. Our condoleances to Heinrich, her husband. I also found out that Yvonne Lee, who now resides in California, has not been well. I am sure she would appreciate to hear from her old friends back East. Her address is 3096 Hollyridge Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90068.

Here is some informationI want to share with you:

The UBS Bank informed us that all Swiss depositors with residency in the USA will have to find another bank to handle their affairs. They have ceased providing cross-border services to clients in the USA. The Organisation for Swiss abroad as well as Soliswiss (www.Soliswiss.ch) may be of help to find another solution.

The Bundesbrief Society is looking for new members and is actively developing its agenda for 2009. Anyone interested can contact them at www.Bundesbrief.org.

The Consulate General of Switzerland has announced that the Swiss Society in New York is offering a juried award in the amount of $10,000 each year to promote Swiss Culture. In 2009 it will be offered to someone with musical talents.

You will receive the invitation for our April 5th meeting by regular mail at the beginning of March.

All my best and I hope to see you on the 5th of April.

Marie-Louise McHugh