The Friendship Club Newsletter

I landed on an advertisement for this newsletter and it simply took my whole attention.

 

"Hello, my name is Renee. I have a pen pal club called The Friendship Club that has around since 1989. Contact Renee at sweetpea32873(at) aol.com if you would like to join, have questions or would like to sent in an ad or submissions for upcoming newsletters which are published once a month. Cost to join is $3.00 per current issue or $36 for a year (12 issues). I accept cash, money order or PayPal. Submissions are printed for free. No prisoners please! Write or send payment to:

The Friendship Club

c/o Renee Akridge

719 Latimer Ave.

LaGrange, KY 40031, USA"

I was amazed! Since 1989!!! That's almost my entire penpalling career and I have never heard about it! It was time to take matters in my own hands and correct my knowledge. As I was really curious about the newsletter, I immediately contacted the owner.

Maxine: Hello, Renee and welcome to my blog PenPal Magazine.
Renee: Thank you, Maxine, for making my newsletter a part of your blog. I am really excited to be part of it.

Maxine: Tell us more about your newsletter? How did the idea about the newsletter came to be?  

Renee: Well I wanted to make a club with a name that can effect pen pal and making friends in the world and came up with this. 

Maxine: How did you manage to keep the newsletter going for over 20 years?

Renee: It is hard, believe me. But I am dedicated pen pal who would not stop promoting our wonderful hobby! I'm trying to make it work.

Maxine: Tell us more about the newsletter itself and a bit about its history? 

Renee: When Friendship Club Newsletter started out, it was completely free. Soon we reached 100 members! Since we are a paper newsletter (postal version) with a cover, I needed to start charging for it as I wasn't able to afford doing it for free. There are a lot of expenses that you need to keep track of when doing a paper magazine - such as ink for printing, postage expenses, etc. That's how the newsletter became paid paper one. The number of our members has gotten smaller since then.

Maxine: What columns/pages can we expect in Friendship Club Newsletter (FCN)?

Renee: We have editorial, also polls, traditions/birthday event section, recipes, jokes, pen pal ads, ads, poems and stories.

Maxine: Do you have any issues that are available online so that we can look at them before ordering?

Renee: I do email sample copies that are just a couple of pages of the newsletter without the cover. The full version (whole newsletter) is shipped by snail mail after your order and it includes a cover page and any extra pages added. I use my computer to make the newsletters and print them out.  
Maxine: One question that I am sure that most people are wondering, do you have to pay to get your ad in your newsletter?
Renee: No! All ads are free to send in and print.
Maxine: Do you search for any guest writers?
Renee: Yes! We have some guest writers who send in an article every month. I am always searching for new guest writers.

So my opinion about The Friendship Club Newsletter:

Subscription: Easy, fast and friend - just contact the owner. Renee replies really fast to any inquires about the newsletter in a very friendly manner!

Magazine type: newsletter, paid, paper, monthly released.

Payment: Cash, money order, check, PayPal.

Information wise: Interesting sections: polls, traditions/birthday event section, recipes, jokes, pen pal ads, ads, poems and stories.

Ads from Pen Pals: Yes!

Design: Newsletter type. 
Website: http://thefriendshipclubtfc.webs.com/