2006.05.05: May 5, 2006: Headlines: Fund Raising: Chicago Tribune: Oak Park Council on International Affairs has raised more than $350,000 for 368 projects around the world
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2006.05.05: May 5, 2006: Headlines: Fund Raising: Chicago Tribune: Oak Park Council on International Affairs has raised more than $350,000 for 368 projects around the world
Oak Park Council on International Affairs has raised more than $350,000 for 368 projects around the world
When Peace Corps volunteers work in foreign countries, they often undertake side projects--such as helping a community build a school. To get funding for the projects, the volunteers send a proposal to the Peace Corps Partnership Program, which allocates money contributed by private donors such as the Oak Park council.
Oak Park Council on International Affairs has raised more than $350,000 for 368 projects around the world
Oak Park group wins Peace Corps' praise
By Crystal Yednak
Tribune staff reporter
Published May 5, 2006
The "thank you" notes sometimes come in a child's handwriting. Some come with photos of smiling people in front of new school buildings, libraries or bridges. They come from such faraway places as Ghana, Cameroon, Nepal and Nicaragua.
And there are many of them--enough to fill large volumes.
For 45 years, the Oak Park Council on International Affairs has supported the work of Peace Corps volunteers by raising more than $350,000 for 368 projects around the world.
"No other group has given to that many projects. No other group has raised that much money for these projects," said Jody Olsen, the Peace Corps' deputy director, who will come to Oak Park on Saturday to thank the local fundraisers.
The Oak Park Council on International Affairs, formed in the 1930s as an international study group, started its relationship with the Peace Corps soon after the agency was created in 1961.
At the time, council member Elsie Jacobsen was enthralled with the idea of the Peace Corps, but she was not able to take an assignment overseas. So instead, she pitched the idea that the council raise money to fund extra projects for Peace Corps volunteers. Jacobsen died in 2003, but the council has continued funding projects.
A school renovation in Azerbaijan, new school desks and chairs in Tanzania, a new library in Togo--all are on the council's list for this year's projects.
Here's how it works: When Peace Corps volunteers work in foreign countries, they often undertake side projects--such as helping a community build a school. To get funding for the projects, the volunteers send a proposal to the Peace Corps Partnership Program, which allocates money contributed by private donors such as the Oak Park council.
The community getting the side project must donate 25 percent of the cost, in labor or materials, Olsen said. The rest of the money comes from donations like those from the Oak Park group.
For decades now, the council has taken on countless projects, keeping its focus on education in poor countries.
The council members said they continue donating because of the personal connections they make with people and places around the world.
"You feel like you're helping build a nursery school in Chad or somewhere, and you just hope it makes a difference," said Lois Wolff of Oak Park.
Wally and Mardy Bloch have proof it makes a difference.
In 1998 the River Forest couple donated money to buy equipment for a school for the disabled in Moldova, a poor European nation.
"They sent us pictures of what this meant to the students," Wally Bloch said. The Blochs get updates from the school to this day. And the volunteer who spearheaded the Moldova project got together with the Blochs after she returned to the United States.
Bloch said it is upsetting to hear about corrupt governments that take people's money while leaving their citizens without necessities and this program gives him the opportunity to do something about it.
But a Peace Corps worker in the country can see the need and say, "Here is a need that can be met ... and you can make such an impact with a little library or some books bought," he said.
The projects cost from a few hundred dollars to a couple of thousand.
Margaret Rohter, a Peace Corps volunteer in Brazil in the 1970s and now a council board member, said she enjoys reading accounts of the volunteer projects each year to see what can be accomplished.
"I know how much these small funds can contribute to the experience volunteers have in their community and the impact they can make," she said.
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cyednak@tribune.com
When this story was posted in May 2006, this was on the front page of PCOL:
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Story Source: Chicago Tribune
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