This weekend we have European visitors with the Marshall Foundation Fellows visiting the area to learn about U.S. agriculture and research at the University of Illinois College of ACES. The German Marshall Fund (GMF) of the United States is an American institution that stimulates the exchange of ideas and promotes cooperation between the U.S. and Europe in the spirit of the post World War II Marshall Plan. In 1947, U. S. Secretary of State George C. Marshall first announced plans to rebuild war-torn Europe. The Marshall Plan is credited with putting Europe back on track to democracy and prosperity following the devastation of W. W. II. The GMF was created in 1972 by a gift from the German people as a permanent memorial to the Marshall Plan aid. The farsightedness of the German gift to work in "all of Europe" became even more apparent in 1989 as the Berlin Wall fell and the two Germanys began to unite. The GMF moved its German office from Bonn to the former East Berlin to become the first private American organization to establish a presence on what had been "the other side" of the Berlin Wall. The GMF maintains a strong presence on both sides of the Atlantic. In addition to its headquarters in Washington and the Berlin office, they are also located in Bratislava, Paris, Brussels, Belgrade, and Ankara.

Since its inception, the GMF has brought Americans and Europeans together to increase understanding and to build future transatlantic networks among the political, media, business, and nonprofit communities. GMF works closely with partner organizations to sponsor a range of fellowship and exchange programs designed to provide both broad cultural exposure and more opportunities for learning about specialized policy areas. The Marshall Memorial Fellowship for young American and European leaders is the flagship GMF fellowship program.

The GMF fellows this year are Yoeri Albrecht of Amsterdam, Netherlands. Yoeri is a journalist and editor at the leading weekly newspaper, Vrij Nederland. Ms. Alexandra Chaini is from Athens, Greece and is the head of communications with the World Wildlife Federation Greece. Ms. Tzvetalina Petrova-Genova is from Varna, Bulgaria and is the Head of International Relations and Project Management for the Black Sea Regional Agency for Energy Management. Marcin Zogala of Warsaw, Poland is an economist with the National Bank of Poland.

We welcome the GMF fellows to Champaign County!