For those of you who have yet to sign up for the Google Peace Corps - Philippines group, please check out the link below:

http://groups.google.com/group/rpcv-phillippines?hl=en

Hello all:

Attached is the "official" invite to the Peace Corps - Philippines Groups 228-231 Reunion to be held this summer in Washington, D.C. June 22nd to 24th. I very much appreciate all those who put in their preference for a reunion date. The majority of people angled toward the 22nd to the 24th of June over June 29th-July 1st, so there you have it. I do hope that anyone who might have a conflict might be able to re-work their schedules in order to make it. Indeed I hope all will make the effort to come and reminisce about our "golden era" in the Philippines.

Please note that the schedule is tentative. I have contacted Peace Corps regarding a presentation on Peace Corps in the Philippines today. They seem open to it. Steve Groff has been kind enough to act as a point person in terms of us having a get-together of some sort at the Philippine Embassy. The parties on Friday and Saturday nights should not be an issue.

As for what takes place for anyone who might be in town prior to the Friday night party (Let's say as early as Thursday or Friday morning), I am open to suggestions/ideas and would appreciate any help on that front. The same goes for Sunday. People may wish to do their own thing in smaller groups. That said, if any of you want to host a brunch somewhere or do an outing in the D.C. area, by all means, go for it. We can put it on the "official" schedule once the idea has been formed.

Also, I have contacted a group that my wife's business uses called Accomodations Unlimited (www.wedothelegwork.com) that helps search for hotel accomodations for large groups. I asked them to find hotels which would offer us the best group rate. What they came up with is as follows:

Crowne Plaza Silver Spring - website
$129.00 per night + tax

The River Inn - website
$139.00 per night + tax

Although they gave me about eight other recommendations, the two above were clearly the best deals. The River Inn is located in Foggy Bottom. Both hotels are a five minute walk to the Metro and within 10-20 minutes of major D.C. museums, restaurants, etc. If I have a clear indication from 15-20 people that they would like to pursue the group rate, I will do so. The only issue is an "attrition clause" written into most group rate contracts that states if we don't fill the specified number of rooms up to 80% of the original block, then we have to pay the difference. Please let me know by Monday February 26th if you would be interested in getting the group rate at one of the aforementioned hotels. If the numbers look good, I'll get back in contact with Accomodations Unlimited.

Finally, many of you will be clearly coming a great distance to attend the reunion and incurring costs along the way. My goal is to keep the Peace Corps Reunion activities as cheap as possible. Depending on numbers, I would think that we could keep the costs under $50.00 a person. I'll let you know as are numbers become more clear.

It's been great to see so many people engaged on the Google site. Please update your profiles and contribute pictures and musings as you see fit.

More info to follow.

I look forward to seeing you all this summer!

Take care, Dave