Welcome to Washington International Club

Welcome to Washington International Club has almost 500 members, 62% from the U.S. and 38% from around the world, and offered 140 events last year, sometimes every day.

Our groups share American culture with international members and bring the world’s cultures to all of us, with the help of embassies in Washington. The deepest dive into “friendship through understanding” is our “Telling Our Life Story” group, and once a year our “Literature, Travel & More” group shares a virtual program with sister clubs.

Our club was founded in 1959 by Marian Wood Adair, who first brought women together through her “International Neighbors” luncheons. At our first meeting, on April 13, 1959, some 135 women came together: 85 Americans and 50 from other countries. In Marian’s words, the aim was “to bring together women from different countries, to share mutual interests, to learn from each other, and to establish deep and lasting friendships.” Members who moved back home took the idea with them, and in 1986 their clubs formed Welcome Clubs International.

Some traditions go back to Marian herself: each new president receives a peony and the gavel, and a quilt our members made in 1976 shows the flags of their home countries. In 1983 Marian received the Eisenhower Medallion, the highest individual award of the People to People program. As WCI’s charter club, we celebrated our 60th anniversary in 2019 and our 65th in 2024.