In 1956, President Eisenhower initiated a new program called Sister City International or the People-to-People Program. The purpose of this program was to promote cultural and economic exchange between the US and other countries by establishing relationships between cities of similar size and economic base.
After returning, the Roberts explained to interested citizens of Antioch how we could have a Sister City in a foreign country. An informal committee was formed to discuss the possibilities and advantages. Members of this committee included Reverend Allen Lewis, Walt Rienke, Betty Flaherty, Sally Massey, Roy Murphy, Iver Kipp and Verne Roberts. At the same time in Japan, Chichibu City was seeking a sister city in California. The two cities were likely candidates to be each other’s sister city as each city had manufacturing plants, were situated near a river, had a mountain in the vicinity, and were at the edge of the economic sphere of a large metropolitan area (San Francisco and Tokyo).
Antioch started the first exchange in 1971 when David and Sally Massey chaperoned students Nola Anderson and Jerry Freeman (see photo) to Chichibu for one month. WIth the exception of the summer of 2011 when Japan was recovering from the earthquake and tsunami, the Sister City Organizations have sent a delegation from Antioch to Chichibu, or from Chichibu to Antioch, every year.
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