Hosts sought for exchange students

AFS, the leading international high school student exchange program, needs families in the community to host high school students for an academic year or six months.

Students arrive in August.

All kinds of families can host -- two-parent households with young children or teenagers, single-parent families, families with adopted children, foster parents, as well as couples and single people who do not have children or who have grown children.

One of the most important characteristics of host families is being eager to share their life and activities while providing the same kind of care, support and comfort as they would to their own child or family members.

AFS students come from more than 40 countries and represent many different cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. Local AFS volunteers enroll students in high school and support students and their families to help both gain the most from their experience. In addition to host families, AFS needs people who are interested in becoming volunteer liaisons to work locally with families and their hosted students.

Anyone interested in learning more about hosting or volunteering with AFS should visit www.afs.org/usa/hostfamily or call (800) AFS-INFO. AFS Intercultural Programs/USA is a nonprofit, 501(c)3 organization.

The mission of AFS is to work toward a more just and peaceful world by providing international and intercultural learning experiences to individuals, families, schools, and communities through a global volunteer partnership.