Barbara Anne Ferris's Remarks at the Peace Corps Fund



We would especially like to thank Dorothy Hamilton, a returned Peace Corps Volunteer from Thailand and founder and CEO of the French Culinary Institute, who offered to help in any way she could. She embraced the idea, she gave us her extraordinary team who worked non-stop to bring us this wonderful evening.

Barbara Anne Ferris's Remarks at the Peace Corps Fund

Barbara Anne Ferris

Maureen Orth (Colombia) on the Advisory Board of the Peace Corps Fund; John Coyne (Ethiopia) Co-founder of the Peace Corps Fund; Caroline Kennedy; Barbara Anne Ferris (Morocco) Co-founder of the Peace Corps Fund; Former Senator Harris Wofford, member of the Advisory Board to the Peace Corps Fund

Thank you, John, and again, thank all of you for coming tonight to support the Peace Corps Funds Live a Life of Service Award.

Now don’t forget that the silent auction continues in the other room. We have a very short presentation and then you will have plenty of time to make your bids on all of the wonderful items in the other room.

Let me take a moment to recognize those who made this evening possible:

Caroline Kennedy, our Honorary Chair, who has been generous enough to support our mission; and all the senators, congress people, and other outstanding Americans who are members of our Honorary Committee;

I also want to thank Lee Ann Wong, Cindy Renzi, Katie McManus and Rena Katz, all of the French Culinary Institute--they started planning and never stopped until this event tonight – and as we can all see – it is nothing short of absolutely spectacular;

To all of our gifted and talented chefs – thank you for giving us so much of your time and talent, and for working so brilliantly with our culinary theme, which was to represent all the continents of the world in the food you are all enjoying;

And I'd like to thank our sponsors, without whose generosity there would be no Peace Corps Fund and no awards to be presented: Citigroup, United Federation of Teachers, Marshall Fields, Sony, New York Community Trust, The Russert Family Foundation; Southern Liquors;

My thanks to Our Board of Directors, Our Advisory Board, and our core team of organizers: Concetta Bencivenga, Stacey Flanagan, Matt Losak, Bob Graulich, Nita Noveno, Bruce Schlein, and Gabe Tabek, our college intern from Wesleyan University, who someday, I’m sure, we will all be working for, and most important…our brilliant event manager, Jeff Susman.

We would especially like to thank Dorothy Hamilton, a returned Peace Corps Volunteer from Thailand and founder and CEO of the French Culinary Institute, who offered to help in any way she could. She embraced the idea, she gave us her extraordinary team who worked non-stop to bring us this wonderful evening.

Dorothy’s unending generosity, her visionary leadership and her own commitment to service, inspire her staff, her colleagues, her family and friends.

Tonight, the Peace Corps Fund says thank you to Dorothy Hamilton with warmth and deep gratitiude . And to show our appreciation for your life of service, Dorothy, we are naming our Awards – the Dorothy Cann Hamilton Living a Life of Service Award.

We look forward to honoring many more Returned Volunteers in the years to come with the Dorothy Cann Hamilton Living a Life of Service Award.

It is now my pleasure to introduce to you our Emcee for the evening, Maureen Orth, Returned Peace Corps Volunteer from Colombia where she has a school named for her which she is currently helping to make the first public, bilingual –and computerized school-- in Medellin. Maureen is a Special Correspondent for Vanity Fair, an author – most recently of “The Importance of Being Famous” and a good friend. Please join me in welcoming Maureen Orth.

When this story was posted in February 2006, this was on the front page of PCOL:




Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers

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Top Stories: February 2, 2006 Al Kamen writes: Rice to redeploy diplomats 20 Jan Peace Corps mourns the Loss of Volunteer Tessa Horan 1 Feb RPCV pursues dreams in America's Heartland 1 Feb Sargent Shriver documentary to be shown in LA 30 Jan W. Frank Fountain is new board chairman of Africare 27 Jan Abbey Brown writes about acid attacks in Bangladesh 26 Jan Christopher Hill Sees Ray of Hope in N.Korea Standoff 26 Jan Jeffrey Smit writes on one man diplomatic outposts 25 Jan Joe Blatchford's ACCION and microfinance 24 Jan James Rupert writes: A calculated risk in Pakistan 23 Jan Sam Farr rips conservative immigration bill 21 Jan Americans campaign for PC to return to Sierra Leone 20 Jan Kinky Friedman supports Gay Marriage 20 Jan Margaret Krome writes on Women leaders 18 Jan James Walsh leads bipartisan US delegation to Ireland 17 Jan Mark Schneider writes on Elections and Beyond in Haiti 16 Jan Robert Blackwill on a "serious setback" in US-India relations 13 Jan Kevin Quigley writes on PC and U.S. Image Abroad 13 Jan Emily Metzloff rides bicycle 3,100 miles from Honduras 9 Jan Charles Brennick starts operation InterConnection 9 Jan Lee Fisher tells story of Pablo Morillo 7 Jan Nancy Wallace writes: Was PC a CIA front after all? 4 Jan

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RPCV admits to abuse while in Peace Corps Timothy Ronald Obert has pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a minor in Costa Rica while serving there as a Peace Corps volunteer. "The Peace Corps has a zero tolerance policy for misconduct that violates the law or standards of conduct established by the Peace Corps," said Peace Corps Director Gaddi H. Vasquez. Could inadequate screening have been partly to blame? Mr. Obert's resume, which he had submitted to the Peace Corps in support of his application to become a Peace Corps Volunteer, showed that he had repeatedly sought and obtained positions working with underprivileged children. Read what RPCVs have to say about this case.

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Military Option sparks concerns The U.S. military, struggling to fill its voluntary ranks, is allowing recruits to meet part of their reserve military obligations after active duty by serving in the Peace Corps. Read why there is opposition to the program among RPCVs. Director Vasquez says the agency has a long history of accepting qualified applicants who are in inactive military status. John Coyne says "Not only no, but hell no!" and RPCV Chris Matthews leads the debate on "Hardball." Avi Spiegel says Peace Corps is not the place for soldiers while Coleman McCarthy says to Welcome Soldiers to the Peace Corps. Read our poll results. Latest: Congress passed a bill on December 22 including language to remove Peace Corps from the National Call to Service (NCS) military recruitment program

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Why blurring the lines puts PCVs in danger When the National Call to Service legislation was amended to include Peace Corps in December of 2002, this country had not yet invaded Iraq and was not in prolonged military engagement in the Middle East, as it is now. Read the story of how one volunteer spent three years in captivity from 1976 to 1980 as the hostage of a insurrection group in Colombia in Joanne Marie Roll's op-ed on why this legislation may put soldier/PCVs in the same kind of danger. Latest: Read the ongoing dialog on the subject.

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PC establishes awards for top Volunteers Gaddi H. Vasquez has established the Kennedy Service Awards to honor the hard work and service of two current Peace Corps Volunteers, two returned Peace Corps Volunteers, and two Peace Corps staff members. The award to currently serving volunteers will be based on a demonstration of impact, sustainability, creativity, and catalytic effect. Submit your nominations by December 9.

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Robert F. Kennedy - 80th anniversary of his birth "Few men are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, the wrath of their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality for those who seek to change the world which yields most painfully to change."

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Peace Corps at highest Census in 30 years Congratulations to the Peace Corps for the highest number of volunteers in 30 years with 7,810 volunteers serving in 71 posts across the globe. Of course, the President's proposal to double the Peace Corps to 15,000 volunteers made in his State of the Union Address in 2002 is now a long forgotten dream. With deficits in federal spending stretching far off into the future, any substantive increase in the number of volunteers will have to wait for new approaches to funding and for a new administration. Choose your candidate and start working for him or her now.

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The Peace Corps Library Peace Corps Online is proud to announce that the Peace Corps Library is now available online. With over 30,000 index entries in 500 categories, this is the largest collection of Peace Corps related stories in the world. From Acting to Zucchini, you can find hundreds of stories about what RPCVs with your same interests or from your Country of Service are doing today. If you have a web site, support the "Peace Corps Library" and link to it today.

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Friends of the Peace Corps 170,000 strong 170,000 is a very special number for the RPCV community - it's the number of Volunteers who have served in the Peace Corps since 1961. It's also a number that is very special to us because March is the first month since our founding in January, 2001 that our readership has exceeded 170,000. And while we know that not everyone who comes to this site is an RPCV, they are all "Friends of the Peace Corps." Thanks everybody for making PCOL your source of news for the Returned Volunteer community.

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