German Air Force and Junior League celebrate 50th Published March 7, 2016 By Debi Smith Sheppard AFB Public Affairs SHEPPARD AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- The German Air Force detachment at Sheppard Air Force Base celebrates 50 years of partnership with the United States Air Force this year and shares an even deeper bond with the Wichita Falls Junior League, their country sponsor. The Junior League, whose primary purpose of educational and charitable efforts through voluntarism, began sponsoring international students at Sheppard Air Force Base in 1961, as part of the Allied Student Program. In May 1966, the League began sponsoring the German Air Force detachment and started the International Friendship Program. The program is now the longest-running project for the League and spurred individual league members to further sponsor members in the Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training Program (ENJJPT) from The Netherlands, Norway, Italy and Canada. German Senior National Representative, Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Hullena, led a caravan of volunteers and families to the Junior League’s agency in Wichita Falls for a food fight March 5, 2016. “Four times a year, the League and the German Air Force family, get together for a social or cultural event to share time and enjoy each other,” he said. “We have planned this spring event since August.” German Air Force members collected over $500 to purchase 440 pounds of food for delivery to the Junior League’s spring ‘Food Fight.’ The event was a competition between the Lawton, Oklahoma Food Bank and the Wichita Falls Food Bank. The ultimate winners are those in a 12-county region who will directly benefit from the donation. Ms. Courtney Hoyt and Ms. Brandie Ross are the League’s International Friendship Program co-chairs, overseeing two of the four planned events annually. “The League sponsors a spring picnic and a Thanksgiving meal for the Germans and then we get to enjoy their cultural German Oktoberfest and Boßeln, a German road-bowling event that is hilarious fun,” Hoyt said. “In Boßeln, you throw a ball, typically orange and hard plastic, over a set distance along a public or paved road. The goal is to get to the end with the smallest amount of throws. We pull a wagon filled with refreshments and make an afternoon of it. It is so much fun.” Based on the outstanding and generous support for international students, the Junior League was inducted into the prestigious Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training Program’s Hall of Fame. For more photos or information on the agencies mentioned in this article, go to https://www.flickr.com/photos/sheppardafb1/albums/72157665650574465 https://www.facebook.com/JuniorLeagueWF https://www.facebook.com/WFAFB/