History

TFN was formed in the mid 1980s by two couples who had a common dream to see international students at Washburn University in friendships with American families who lived in Topeka. In the early years, TFN paired around 10 to 20 students per academic year. Since then, TFN has  been growing, and in 2009 to 2011, we had 60-80 students paired each year with friendship families. From 2012 to 2015, there were about 100 new students paired every year. Since 2016, that number has dropped to about 80 new students signing up for the Friendship Program, with overall fewer internationals enrolling at Washburn.

Vision

Our vision is that every international student from Washburn University be matched and in friendship with a Jesus-following Friendship Family.

The TFN Planning Committee is focused on recruiting, training, matching, and maintaining/encouraging Friendship Families to reach this vision.