After two "'months of preparation at Rutgers University, our group - then ready to begin service as rural community development workers in South America - took the train down to Washington, D.C., to be received in the Rose Garden by President John F. Kennedy. Days later in Bogotá, Colombia, we were welcomed by the president and the Cardinal Archbishop of Bogotá. This was pretty heady stuff for a 22-year-old with a flat top haircut from suburban Chicago. The Peace Corps has come a long way. Our nation has made millions of friends in the countries served by Peace Corps and those friends remember us most often as real people they got to know by working and relaxing together. In Colombia, we built one-room schoolhouses, aqueducts and farm-to-market roads, all of which enabled local people to improve the quality of their lives. We learned how to be contributing adults who could fit in, understand and collaborate with people whose language and life experiences were decidedly different from our own. We also learned that friendships can indeed cross ethnic and national boundaries. In the small rural town where I lived, I was honored to stand as the godfather for children in two different families. This year, the Peace Corps celebrates its 50th anniversary. Volunteers are still in Colombia and have been in 138 other countries where our participation has made friends and changed lives. We've become a dimension of foreign aid that truly makes a difference and a force for foreign relations that builds lasting connections.
Colombia RPCV Mike Murra writes: At Notre Dame's graduation ceremonies in 1961, I listened to our commencement speaker, Sargent Shriver, discuss the importance of service and a "higher calling." Intending to go to law school, I switched my plans and applied to join the first group to go abroad as newly minted Peace Corps Volunteers.
Fifty years of the PEACE CORPS
Volunteerism • Celebrating Americans who brought the world closer and made millions of friends worldwide.
Fifty years of the PEACE CORPS
By Mike Murray STLtoday.com | Posted: Thursday, March 31, 2011 12:00 am | Loading…
In some respects, it seems like yesterday. At Notre Dame's graduation ceremonies in 1961, I listened to our commencement speaker, Sargent Shriver, discuss the importance of service and a "higher calling." Intending to go to law school, I switched my plans and applied to join the first group to go abroad as newly minted Peace Corps Volunteers.
After two "'months of preparation at Rutgers University, our group - then ready to begin service as rural community development workers in South America - took the train down to Washington, D.C., to be received in the Rose Garden by President John F. Kennedy.
Days later in Bogotá, Colombia, we were welcomed by the president and the Cardinal Archbishop of Bogotá.
This was pretty heady stuff for a 22-year-old with a flat top haircut from suburban Chicago.
The Peace Corps has come a long way.
Our nation has made millions of friends in the countries served by Peace Corps and those friends remember us most often as real people they got to know by working and relaxing together.
In Colombia, we built one-room schoolhouses, aqueducts and farm-to-market roads, all of which enabled local people to improve the quality of their lives.
We learned how to be contributing adults who could fit in, understand and collaborate with people whose language and life experiences were decidedly different from our own.
We also learned that friendships can indeed cross ethnic and national boundaries.
In the small rural town where I lived, I was honored to stand as the godfather for children in two different families.
This year, the Peace Corps celebrates its 50th anniversary. Volunteers are still in Colombia and have been in 138 other countries where our participation has made friends and changed lives.
We've become a dimension of foreign aid that truly makes a difference and a force for foreign relations that builds lasting connections.
More than 200,000 Americans have served, including at least 3,000 Missourians.
Today, not all the volunteers are fresh-faced and 22; many of them are more than 50 years old. The Peace Corps remains true to its roots: to help the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women; to help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served; and to help promote a better understanding of other people on the part of Americans.
Today at Washington University, the St. Louis Peace Corps Association will honor two Missourians who exhibit the spirit of the Peace Corps. Former U.S. Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond of Missouri and Dr. Patricia Wolff of St. Louis will receive the first annual Global Stewardship Awards.
Sen. Bond will be honored for his singular leadership in advocacy on behalf of the Peace Corps. Dr. Wolff is being honored for her volunteer work in combating malnutrition among children in Haiti. Her program has reached more than 23,000 children. Everyone is invited; if interested, please send an email to stlouispeacecorps@gmail.com.
Today, the annual budget for the Peace Corps is $400 million, about the same as the budget for the Army marching band.
Five years after launching the Peace Corps, Sargent Shriver had 15,000 volunteers on the ground in 50 countries; today there are 8,600. At a time when America needs to repair its reputation, we need to consider, as Sen. Bond says, putting sandals on the ground instead of boots, in countries under stress.
Many Americans have a desire to serve; many countries are asking for volunteers. But Congress has allowed the budget of the Peace Corps to languish, and it is under attack.
We urge Senators Claire McCaskill and Roy Blunt and all members of the House of Representatives from Missouri to maintain the current levels of funding for the remainder of the fiscal year and to support the President's request of $440 million for FY 2012.
We hope that all the members of our Congressional delegation, as well as other leaders in our region and state, will join with us to support this extraordinary 50-year venture so that it might continue to connect us with new friends around the world.
Mike Murray was a Peace Corps volunteer in Colombia from 1961- 1963. He is president of the St. Louis Peace Corps Association.
