"Do you remember those winter clothes I asked you to store for me?"

Gayle Buchanan told Trinh Phan that she did.

"Would you ship them to me?" the Vietnam native asked in a recent telephone call from Texas. "My husband and I are moving to Korea in January."

Gayle and Don Buchanan, '56 and '58, were host parents for Phan, '95, while she was a student at Berea. And, as it is for many of the nearly 80 families who participate in the College's Host Family Program for international students, contacts with the students don't necessarily conclude at commencement.

"The program helps Berea's international students adapt to a new environment," Ed FitzGerald, who advised foreign students for 22 years, explained. He noted that the activity is community based with both College and Berea community residents serving as "families away from home."

Dorie Hubbard, a Berea resident and chair of the Host Family Committee, agrees that the main focus "is to make international students feel comforable here and to help them adjust.

"Many of these students had never been out of their country before coming here," she noted.

The exact year the Host Family Program began is not recorded, but

its roots extend to the 1960s when former Academic Dean Kenneth Thompson was advising international students. Rose Ramsay, '52, wife of retired College Vice President William Ramsay, also '52, said Dean Thompson and his wife, Verna, asked her to coordinate the program when Dr. Thompson neared retirement.

Rose became coordinator in 1971 and saw the program grow from 30 families to 60 shortly after FitzGerald became foreign student advisor in 1977. Now, there are 78 families hosting 105 students from 67 countries.

The current totals are the greatest in the program's history, according to Alina Strand, who became the College's foreign student advisor last May. Every international student who wants to be associated with a host family is provided with one, she said.

Overall, there are more than 120 international students at Berea. They include (1) those who are non-U.S. citizens, (2) refugees and (3) dual citizens (U.S. and another country). Berea's international students usually represent about five percent of the total enrollment. They also must meet the same need and low-income provisions required of American applicants and must be capable of reading and writing English at the freshman college level.

Matching students with host families, a summer activity, is one

of the most difficult tasks of the program, Strand said. In some

situtations, matches don't always work, Hubbard added, which means that reassignments must be made.

For the most part, however, the benefits of the program are good for both students and families. The Buchanans, who have been a host family since 1968, find the experience very positive.

"We've learned so much about different cultures and religions and the experience helped our children learn how others live and what the necessities of life really are," Gayle related.

Marlene, '61, and John Payne, '62, who have been host parents for 20 years, have found that each host family "brings something unique and special" to the student relationship. Mary Kay, Nursing '74, and Mike Johnson, '73, who have hosted as many as seven students at one time, have found more cultural similarities rather than differences where their students are concerned. Since 1988, the Johnsons have hosted students from 11 countries.

Depending upon schedules, there are a number of things hosts and students do together. These include meals, family outings, shopping trips, birthday parties and get-togethers during holidays. Some families have hosted their students' families, and visits and correspondence have continued many years after the students have left Berea. Bill Ramsay once was asked by a Malaysian student that he and Rose had hosted if he would give the bride away at her wedding. He did.

Wati Mastriyana (center), sophomore business major from Indonesia, enjoyed a snack at Woods-Penn recently with her host parents. Dr. John and Marlene Payne have been active in the Host Family Program for 20 years.

But some events can be grim. Such as the student who was told by her Chinese parents shortly after the 1989 Tiananmen Square protest not to communicate with them as their lives might

be in jeopardy. Recently, Mike Johnson was available for a student who abruptly learned that his father had died in Great Britain. And Dave and Sherry vandellen were quick to comfort their African student who was notified that her father was a war victim in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe).

With Berea's commitment to international students increasing, the Host Family Committee continues to look for new hosts. And, Hubbard emphasizes, a financial commitment is not a condition. It's more important just to be available for students.

"Any family interested in hosting a student should contact Alina, the committe or me," Dorie said. "Even those who might be interested in participating for a short time -- such as during a holiday season -- are welcome."

Dorie and Tom Hubbard are host parents for Dewi Lestari (left), junior business major from Indonesia, and Hoa Nguyen, junior mathematics major from Vietnam. The students joined the Hubbards on a recent shopping trip at the Appalachian Arts and Crafts shop in Berea.

Host families continue to make a difference in the adjustment of international students to a new country, a new life and a new educational experience. A Greek student once related that adjustment -- from negative to positive -- as she discussed her first 24 hours on campus.

"I arrived at Berea in the middle of the night and was taken to James Hall," she told host parent Gayle Buchanan. "It was so dark and I was so scared and I remember wondering why the walls of my room were black.

"But," she smiled, "I awoke in the morning and the walls were white."

Foreign Student Advisor Alina Strand (left) and Dorie Hubbard, chair of the Host Family Committee, keep in contact concerning ways in which the program can benefit international students. Karolina Letunova (right), a sophomore business major from Russia, lends a hand with some of the paper work.