This Week at Rotary

Una Hendron and Her Journey with Friends Forever International

This week, following an introduction from Amelia Burke of Friends Forever International, the club had the pleasure of hearing from Una Hendron, an alum of the organization, who walked us through her remarkable journey with a program that turns young people into leaders and, in the process, strengthens the communities they come from.

Friends Forever International, or FFI, is a youth leadership organization that works with young people around the world to help them become the best version of themselves, so that they in turn can help their communities do the same. The Rotary connection runs deep: FFI was founded in 1986 by Bob Raiche, a Portsmouth Rotarian, and its very first group traveled from their hometown in Northern Ireland to a town in New Hampshire. Today the organization works with young people aged 14 to 18, drawing participants from all over the world across campuses in three different countries.

Una's own story with FFI began in 2017. Her group met for months before spending two weeks together in the United States, then returned home to complete a community action project in their own town. That first experience clearly took hold. In the years since, Una has worked with more than 200 young people, led 27 FFI groups, and in 2025 was named the Bob Raiche Fellow, a fitting honor given how fully she has carried forward the founder's vision.

Una also shared highlights from her work with FFI's alumni programs, including recent projects in New Orleans and Belize. The Belize program was especially hands-on. There, she and her fellow volunteers worked alongside 250 young people across three different schools while living on and helping repair two campuses.

The repair work was real labor with lasting results. At the Boom Creek campus, the team varnished several of the buildings, built furniture, and tidied the grounds to make the campus safer. At Dos Amigos, they painted the entire building and reorganized the space so it could host a community event.

If there was a through-line to Una's presentation, it was connection. On both campuses, the team hosted community days that brought people together: members of local Rotary clubs, students, and residents all stopped by. It's a reminder that the work of FFI isn't only about the young people at its center, it's about weaving them into a wider web of neighbors and supporters.

Una closed with a look ahead to an upcoming global program that captures the spirit of FFI's work. It will bring young people from around the world together in Northern Ireland, after which each participant returns home to carry out their own service project drawn from the inspiration FFI provides. Notably, the projects reach beyond the theme of peace and reconciliation, giving young leaders room to address the needs they see in their own communities.

We're grateful to Una for sharing her story with us. From a first group of teenagers crossing the Atlantic in the 1980s to campuses being rebuilt in Belize today, Friends Forever International shows what happens when we invest in young people, and it's a mission any Rotarian can be proud to stand behind.