Our Board of Directors report

The Comité Tricolore Annual General Assembly was held on January 23rd at the new campus of the Rochambeau French International School and was the occasion to review all that had been achieved during the 2022 year….and of course plan for the year ahead!

2022 has been an excellent year for the CT in its mission of strengthening the ties of the French-American community, while assuring a healthy financial situation to sustain our charitable activities.

This allows us to increase our financial commitment to our beneficiaries, especially in this inflationary period and to have a cushion to face any unanticipated crisis.

We were very busy with our events and programs:

• Seven Solidarity Dinners
• Bastille Day La Vendée (July)
• Le Déjeuner sur l’Herbe (October)
• The second Victor Obadia Humanitarian Trophy
• Meal deliveries to La Casa Friendship Place. Three deliveries with about 150 meals delivered.
• Sponsoring activities on our website; media and management of sponsors
• Management of our beneficiaries by the Solidarity Pole
• Communication with two newsletters per month sent to 6 000 contacts
• Social Media presence on Facebook and Instagram
• Management of the Réseau des Metiers de Bouche Facebook Group dedicated to the food industry.

We have created a special "Album of the Year" in our Photo Album webpage which allows you to see all the pictures of the year in one place.

The Comité Tricolore is bidding farewell to Ambassador Philippe Etienne and is thanking him for his constant and kind support of our activities.

We will miss Ambassador and Mrs Etienne very much and we wish them the best for their next endeavours.

Rochambeau

The French International School is located in Bethesda, Maryland.

Rochambeau opened its Primary school campus last November, bringing together students from ages two through 5th grade (CM2) into one state-of-the-art Primary School campus, Maplewood.

Maplewood offers:

• 11.2 acres campus in the heart of Bethesda
• 4 playgrounds + 1 turf field
• 170,000 sq. ft. of instructional space
• 37 classrooms + music, science & cooking rooms
• Spacious library and commons
• Lunch program
• Capacity for 700 students

The new Maplewood campus has allowed the school to unite maternelle and elementary students and teachers together on one campus and expand our academic, athletic and support facilities.

Primary school students are enjoying the beautiful and spacious campus, dedicated music and science rooms, and a culinary kitchen.

Rochambeau is the only French school in the Washington DC metro area accredited by the French Ministry of Education. Rochambeau teaches a French curriculum with an international American section.

The program accommodates the different levels of languages of multicultural students representing over 80 nationalities.

Solidarity Dinner at La Côte d’Or

Each month our dinners fill up fast. If you missed the last one, join us for our next one at La Côte d’Or on February 16th at 6:30 pm.

La Côte D’Or Café is a quaint French restaurant in Arlington, specializing in traditional and Nouvelle French Cuisine. Chef Jacques Imperato’s personal “flair” was named a Sun Gazette Best of 2022 Winner and one of 50 Best Restaurants by Northern Virginia Magazine in 2021 and 2022.

Check out the amazing menu on EventBrite that Chef Imperato has prepared for us and register by clicking here.

As usual your participation will help the restaurant AND the community since the price of the ticket includes the price of the meal which goes entirely to the restaurant plus a tax-deductible donation to the CT which goes entirely to our beneficiaries.

30 tickets are available at the price of $ 95 per person (tax and tip are included, drinks excluded) that includes a $25 tax-deductible donation. If you are coming with friends, please let us know so that we can seat you together at the same table.

Les Expressions Françaises

Décrocher la Lune
"Taking down the Moon" is not quite the same as "Shooting for the moon".

In his book "Pantagruel" published in 1532, Rabelais talks about "taking the moon with one’s teeth" to describe reaching an impossible goal. Rabelais wrote novels known for their sometimes burlesque and always satirical comedy and imagery. Yet taking the moon with the teeth might have sounded too farfetched and the expression evolved to only taking it down.

Shooting for the moon is hopeful, "décrocher la lune" is just saying how hard it will be to achieve a goal.

Since "impossible n’est pas Français", trying to take down the Moon has become a favorite French expression!