From Hesitation to Celebration: How the Whites Became Serial Host Parents

Is it possible to host so many students you lose count of how many you’ve hosted??Apparently so, as was the case for Mr and Mrs White, serial host parents in the US.??

From humble hosting beginnings over the years Mr and Mrs White welcomed countless exchange students into their home in the US. Initially, the family had not considered hosting until a close friend - that happened to be the local YFU area coordinator - reached out to the couple and posed the question: “Have you ever thought about hosting?

Becoming a host parent is a volunteering opportunity that offers the chance to form long-lasting friendships across the globe.?

The Whites were interviewed on January 7th 2020 as part of the project cumulation “in my words” published in 2021. Their story is shared below.??

“Our daughter, Susan, wanted to be an exchange student. To try the international experience, we hosted a French girl for three weeks in the summer via NACEL. I was hesitant to host, but Susan persuaded me. We had a fabulous time. Then I spoke to my friend at school who was the area coordinator for YFU at that time. He said ‘have you ever thought about hosting a student for the year?’ I said No. He led us through the application and showed us students he thought would fit well with us. Our Olav, from Munich, came and delighted and enriched us for 10 months.??

We never looked back.??

We hosted 11 young citizens of the world for their full stay or most of it. After I got to be the area coordinator, anybody whose placement was not working well came to stay with us for a while. I lost count of how many there were and who were here temporarily. The ones we chose from the beginning were two students from Germany, two from Sweden, two from Japan, one from Thailand, one from Spain, a Colombian and a Brazilian.??

Hosting was the best, most fun thing I ever did in my life other than having children of my own.

We got to go to New York city, Washington DC and Disney World with Olav. We took everybody to Washington because I felt they needed to see that after I was the area coordinator. Both of our daughters lived there at the time, so we had free housing. Our Brazilian son started out with one family, but they soon realized hosting was not for them. We switched him to another family across the street. That did not work either, so in October, he came home to be with us. ? ? ? ?

I am so, so happy still to be in touch with at least 60 of these sons, daughters and friends on Facebook. In 2011 another YFU rep, Doris, and I spent three weeks in Europe. We saw more than 30 alumni. One evening Doris commented on what a fabulous time we were having. I said ‘Yes, and all we had to do was work with teenagers for 20 years.’?

My YFU experience made me a far better person.”?

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