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Do you love to travel to other countries, but yearn for something beyond the “guided tour” experience? Would you like to meet people who live in these countries and possibly form lasting friendships?
The Lakewood Sister Cities Program is part of a global community that was formed in 1956, when President Eisenhower inaugurated the "People to People" program for the USA and the world. We are a volunteer, nonprofit organization that arranges for adults and students living in Jefferson County, Colorado to visit Sutherland Shire, Australia, Chester and Portsmouth, England, and Stade, Germany. (Thanks to the city of Lakewood, Colorado for supporting this program and allowing all of Jefferson County to participate!)
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Jefferson County students live and attend school for 6 months in Australia, then host an Australian student for six months. Only Jefferson County, Colorado high school students are eligible. Each student's family is matched with an Australian family who houses the student in exchange for the American family housing the Australian student
The trip is funded by personal funds and group fund-raising activities.
Through the Music Scholar Program, Lakewood Sister Cities also exchanges one student musician with a student musician from Chester, England. This is a two-week exchange. The musician will be given the opportunity to play with an orchestra while in England.
We have recently begun a jazz band exchange program for high school students. “Big Band” music students from Vincent Luebeck Gymnasium in Stade visit their counterparts at Wheat Ridge High School, playing jazz and sightseeing for a week. The Stade Big Band, the Wheat Ridge Jazz Band and the Wheat Ridge Singers have performed together in concert during their stay. The following year, the Wheat Ridge students have visited Stade, staying with the German students’ families and performing and sight-seeing in Germany.
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Adult exchanges are 10-day visitations in Chester and Portsmouth, England, Stade, Germany; or Sutherland Shire, Australia, in which members stay in the homes of Sister Cities members in those countries. The following year, Lakewood Sister Cities members provide housing for visitors from the country they visited.
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The Sister Cities program is a fun, inexpensive, and educational way to travel and to get to know “real people,” not just hotel clerks and taxi drivers.
"Our most cogent diplomats cannot achieve peace without understanding, and understanding can only be reached through the hearts of the people."
- Dwight D. Eisenhower
If you don't live in Jefferson County, look into Sister Cities International. They are the parent organization of the sister city programs and have a list of all the cities in the world that are involved in exchanges, including other Colorado cities
For more information, including membership and participation in any of our programs,
You can call us at: 1-877-208-8703
or email us: Just click HERE
or, write us at:
Lakewood Sister Cities Program
PO Box 260861
Lakewood, Colorado
80226 USA
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Fundraising Corner
Don’t forget to buy King Soopers Gift Cards!
These are still the primary fundraiser for Lakewood Sister Cities. Buy them at face value and use them like cash. Five percent of every card purchased and used by our members is money in the bank for Sister Cities. Buy one $25 card and you add $1.25 to our account; buy $100 and you put $5 in our account. It all adds up and allows our programs to continue. You can use them at all King Soopers, City Markets, and many Safeway stores. To buy gift cards, call Alan Sutton, our Ways and Means chair, at 720-878-4311, or call any of the student exchange members.
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