On June 6th we held our spring pic-nic where 20 adults and 8 children enjoyed a wonderful day at Mary Alice Park with some Bratwurst and Cervelat (from Enrico Gamma’s butcher shop Wienerz), juicy grilled to perfection by our Grill Meister Toni Buehlmann. The kids played games and some even took a dip into the lake. For pictures check our website www.sasatlanta.org.

Then on August 1st (yes it was the 1st indeed) we celebrated our National Holiday, again at Bridge to Grace Church in Roswell (thanks to our member Rene Welti). A record attendance of over 120 people made the board recalculate the shopping list, but our treasurer Guido Walther had it all under control. It was again a very nice day for our event, and despite the heat, we all enjoyed great Bratwursts and Cervelats (again supplied from Wienerz), with salads and lots of desserts (provided by your board members).
We saw several members and even guests volunteer their time to help out with the event, i.e. set up and clean up and would like to thank them as well as our your fellow board members for their time. The “Lampion-Umzug” was huge this year… and all the children, big and small, looked like they enjoyed it a lot. Again, many memorable pictures are on our website.

We then tried to get our fall outing happening, but the weather in October did not want to cooperate despite the fact that historically it is known as the driest month of the year, and our event planed on October 10th was rescheduled for October 24th. Due to the weather uncertainties and some members being sick the group shrunk as the event got closer. A few members got up early and met at 10.30am at Amicalola Falls State park to take part in the hike…even our little member Niilo Wilkens (just over 15 months) was a part of it. Then a bit later additional members joined the hikers for a pic-nic in the rather cold but dry weather. We all were wrapped up in many layers of clothes and enjoyed again some Bratwursts and Cervelats. We also enjoyed some Walliser Bread (contact Sybille Hoegger for more info where to buy it here in Atlanta) and Willisauer Ringli (brought form Switzerland by Astrid Wilkens), thanks very much. We like to thank Jim Eppelin and Devon for organizing the event.

Swiss German Mom & Kids (Mami & Kind Treffen)
Besides all these regular club events, the group “Mami & Kind Treffen” has met several times over the past few months, either again at someone’s home or at the pool to meet up with other parents and children to promote the Swiss German language. This group has been a great success, thanks to the families opening up their homes to host an event. We have now a separate link on our website to see the upcoming dates/themes and where the group will meet.
We will meet on November 21st the next time to build an advent calendar at the home of Eva Gerstenkorn-Zogg. Everybody is welcome, just contact Astrid Wilkens or call her at 770 906-1346.

Ladies Luncheon
It is time again for the Ladies to meet. Sybille Hoegger is organizing a visit to the Atlanta Botanical Garden with lunch following the exhibition at the Garden’s restaurant. Now that the Henry Moore Exhibition is extended, you will get to see 18 sculptures throughout the garden. Then there is the Fuqua Orchid Center with its beautiful and rare specimens and a small train show which reminds us that Christmas is not far away.

We will meet on November 19th at 11.00 am (at main entrance). RSVP or for more info contact Sybille Hoegger at 404 314-6262 or via email Sybille Hoegger Rionda.

Upcoming Events for 2009

Mark your calendars for the upcoming events, both invitations are enclosed

December 5th:   Samichlaus is visiting us at Garden Hills. Come out and enjoy a wonderful winter tradition!
December 12th: Time for our Christmas Party Laurel Springs Golf Club

Questionnaire results
Along with the invitation of our General Assembly meeting in March 2009 we sent out a member questionnaire (put together by Rene Welti and Beat Schindler). Jean-Pierre Huber evaluated the 13 returned questionnaires. Overall the result shows that our members are happy with the club as it is, besides a few requests on small group events. If you like to start a group (like the Mami & Kind) contact your board and we can see where we can help.
If you have any questions about the results, please do not hesitate to contact your board members and we gladly answer them for you. You can find the results on our website. If you do not have access to our site and would like a copy, please contact Tanja Alemany at 678-947-6076.

Website
Again, we like to remind you what great resource our website is. The bulletin page is for all members to inform other members/visitors to the site to promote your yard sale, job offer, party gatherings or non-SAS group meetings. Contact your board if you would like something posted and of course keep checking the bulletin to see other members’ postings. Also, if you like to promote your business you can do so for being a member in good standing.

Due to keeping the flow of e-mails low and have the personal e-mail addresses of your board members hidden we changed the e-mail addresses to a generic “contact@” or specific group name i.e. “jassen@” etc. We hope you understand we had to take these measures, but this will avoid mass mailings to ALL board members from soliciting parties, as well to keep our personal e-mail addresses unavailable to any unknown party. If you are in need of any of our e-mail addresses please see them, as always available to you, at the end of our updates.

On behalf of your board, we wish you a wonderful fall season and until next time, be well.