March 4, 2005: Headlines: Benefits: Fund Dividend: Local RPCV Groups: Anchorage Daily News: Carolyn Gray, of Northern Alaska Peace Corps Friends in Fairbanks told legislators it's been harder to recruit Alaskans for overseas work since the Legislature seven years ago kicked volunteers off the list of allowable absences for the Permanent Fund dividend

Peace Corps Online: State: Alaska: February 8, 2005: Index: PCOL Exclusive: Alaska : March 4, 2005: Headlines: Benefits: Fund Dividend: Local RPCV Groups: Anchorage Daily News: Carolyn Gray, of Northern Alaska Peace Corps Friends in Fairbanks told legislators it's been harder to recruit Alaskans for overseas work since the Legislature seven years ago kicked volunteers off the list of allowable absences for the Permanent Fund dividend

By Admin1 (admin) (pool-151-196-123-27.balt.east.verizon.net - 151.196.123.27) on Friday, March 04, 2005 - 11:29 pm: Edit Post

Carolyn Gray, of Northern Alaska Peace Corps Friends in Fairbanks told legislators it's been harder to recruit Alaskans for overseas work since the Legislature seven years ago kicked volunteers off the list of allowable absences for the Permanent Fund dividend

Carolyn Gray, of Northern Alaska Peace Corps Friends in Fairbanks told legislators it's been harder to recruit Alaskans for overseas work since the Legislature seven years ago kicked volunteers off the list of allowable absences for the Permanent Fund dividend

Carolyn Gray, of Northern Alaska Peace Corps Friends in Fairbanks told legislators it's been harder to recruit Alaskans for overseas work since the Legislature seven years ago kicked volunteers off the list of allowable absences for the Permanent Fund dividend

Overseas Peace Corps workers could get dividend

HOUSE BILL 127: Members will discuss issue further Saturday.

By LARRY PERSILY
Anchorage Daily News

Published: March 4th, 2005
Last Modified: March 4th, 2005 at 03:24 AM

JUNEAU -- A former Peace Corps worker told legislators it's been harder to recruit Alaskans for overseas work since the Legislature seven years ago kicked volunteers off the list of allowable absences for the Permanent Fund dividend.

"It's just one more barrier," said Carolyn Gray, of Northern Alaska Peace Corps Friends in Fairbanks.

The House State Affairs Committee considered legislation Thursday to add back Peace Corps duty to the list of reasons Alaskans could be absent from the state but still collect the dividend. Members took no action, holding House Bill 127 for further discussion at a meeting set for Saturday morning.

It's the third time since her election in 2000 that Anchorage Republican Rep. Lesil McGuire has tried to put the Peace Corps on the dividend recipient list -- the same as college students, military personnel and Alaskans sent out of state for medical care.

"It's near and dear to my heart," she told the committee.

The Peace Corps is celebrating its birthday this week, commemorating President John F. Kennedy's order establishing the agency on March 1, 1961. More than 178,000 Americans have served in 138 countries in the past 44 years.

During that time, the Peace Corps has been an effective tool for democracy and against communism worldwide, Matanuska Valley resident Justin Barbalace told committee members.

"We are no longer fighting communism," but the agency can help promote democracy by fighting hunger and poverty, said Barbalace, who is scheduled to start his Peace Corps assignment in June. He said the dividend would help him make payments on his college loans.

Without the dividend, and with the low Peace Corps pay, some Alaskans come back home in worse financial shape than when they left, Barbalace said.

About 85 percent of Alaskans who join up for the Peace Corps' two-year assignments return to Alaska, McGuire said. On average, 30 to 40 Alaskans serve each year.

The volunteers range in age from their 20s to 60s, said Gray, who served in Panama from 1965 to 1967 before starting a 26-year career as a Fairbanks school teacher. She retired in 1996.

"Recruiting is a difficult process in Alaska ever since 1998," when legislators eliminated the Peace Corps from the dividend list, said Gray. Her husband, Don, also a retired teacher, served with the Peace Corps in India from 1966 to 1968.

But if the Legislature adds back the Peace Corps, what about Alaskans who leave for work with a U.N. relief agency or to volunteer for a group such as Doctors Without Borders, asked Rep. Max Gruenberg, D-Anchorage.

"I'd like to think about that issue," he told his colleagues.

The committee deleted from the bill a provision that would have allowed diplomats in the U.S. Foreign Service to continue receiving their dividends while overseas.

"People who are serving in the Peace Corps ... make a sacrifice. The Foreign Service is a career choice," said Rep. Berta Gardner, D-Anchorage, who proposed the amendment to remove Foreign Service workers from the bill.

She pointed out that diplomats get health insurance, annual leave, child care and a comfortable wage.

Daily News reporter Larry Persily can be reached at lpersily@adn.com, or in Juneau at 523-9306.





When this story was posted in March 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:

The Peace Corps Library Date: February 7 2005 No: 438 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 over 500 categories, this is the largest collection of Peace Corps related reference material in the world. From Acting to Zucchini, you can use the Main Index to find hundreds of stories about RPCVs who have your same interests, who served in your Country of Service, or who serve in your state.

Top Stories and Breaking News PCOL Magazine Peace Corps Library RPCV Directory Sign Up

March 1: National Day of Action Date: February 28 2005 No: 471 March 1: National Day of Action
Tuesday, March 1, is the NPCA's National Day of Action. Please call your Senators and ask them to support the President's proposed $27 Million budget increase for the Peace Corps for FY2006 and ask them to oppose the elimination of Perkins loans that benefit Peace Corps volunteers from low-income backgrounds. Follow this link for step-by-step information on how to make your calls. Then take our poll and leave feedback on how the calls went.
Coates Redmon, Peace Corps Chronicler  Date: February 26 2005 No: 457 Coates Redmon, Peace Corps Chronicler
Coates Redmon, a staffer in Sargent Shriver's Peace Corps, died February 22 in Washington, DC. Her book "Come as You Are" is considered to be one of the finest (and most entertaining) recountings of the birth of the Peace Corps and how it was literally thrown together in a matter of weeks. If you want to know what it felt like to be young and idealistic in the 1960's, get an out-of-print copy. We honor her memory.

February 26, 2005: This Week's Top Stories Date: February 26 2005 No: 454 February 26, 2005: This Week's Top Stories
Folk-Singer Steve Schuch releases "Trees of Life" 26 Feb
Christopher Bartlett maintains Marine Protected Area 25 Feb
Joseph Frey uses amputation experience to help others 25 Feb
James McCann concerned by maize in Ethiopia 25 Feb
Sen. Obama says PC can help improve diplomacy 24 Feb
PCVs help remove batteries in Belize 24 Feb
Jimmy Carter praises mother's PC service 24 Feb
Craig D. Wandke's lunar passion began in Honduras 23 Feb
Char Andrews discusses her experience with cancer 23 Feb
Beverly Seckinger tells stories through film 23 Feb
J. Tyler Dickovick: As Togo goes, so may go Africa 23 Feb
Andres Hernandez searches for PCV for 40 years 23 Feb
Bulgaria is now like second home to Aaron Wills 22 Feb
Bernadette Roberts to serve as diplomat in Albania 22 Feb
USA Freedom Corps downgraded at White House 22 Feb
Tom Skeldon seeks to control pit bull trade 21 Feb
Gabriela Lena Frank writes music on Dad's PCV service 21 Feb

Make a call for the Peace Corps Date: February 19 2005 No: 453 Make a call for the Peace Corps
PCOL is a strong supporter of the NPCA's National Day of Action and encourages every RPCV to spend ten minutes on Tuesday, March 1 making a call to your Representatives and ask them to support President Bush's budget proposal of $345 Million to expand the Peace Corps. Take our Poll: Click here to take our poll. We'll send out a reminder and have more details early next week.
Peace Corps Calendar: Tempest in a Teapot? Date: February 17 2005 No: 445 Peace Corps Calendar: Tempest in a Teapot?
Bulgarian writer Ognyan Georgiev has written a story which has made the front page of the newspaper "Telegraf" criticizing the photo selection for his country in the 2005 "Peace Corps Calendar" published by RPCVs of Madison, Wisconsin. RPCV Betsy Sergeant Snow, who submitted the photograph for the calendar, has published her reply. Read the stories and leave your comments.
WWII participants became RPCVs Date: February 13 2005 No: 442 WWII participants became RPCVs
Read about two RPCVs who participated in World War II in very different ways long before there was a Peace Corps. Retired Rear Adm. Francis J. Thomas (RPCV Fiji), a decorated hero of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, died Friday, Jan. 21, 2005 at 100. Mary Smeltzer (RPCV Botswana), 89, followed her Japanese students into WWII internment camps. We honor both RPCVs for their service.
Bush's FY06 Budget for the Peace Corps Date: February 7 2005 No: 436 Bush's FY06 Budget for the Peace Corps
The White House is proposing $345 Million for the Peace Corps for FY06 - a $27.7 Million (8.7%) increase that would allow at least two new posts and maintain the existing number of volunteers at approximately 7,700. Bush's 2002 proposal to double the Peace Corps to 14,000 volunteers appears to have been forgotten. The proposed budget still needs to be approved by Congress.
RPCVs mobilize support for Countries of Service Date: January 30 2005 No: 405 RPCVs mobilize support for Countries of Service
RPCV Groups mobilize to support their Countries of Service. Over 200 RPCVS have already applied to the Crisis Corps to provide Tsunami Recovery aid, RPCVs have written a letter urging President Bush and Congress to aid Democracy in Ukraine, and RPCVs are writing NBC about a recent episode of the "West Wing" and asking them to get their facts right about Turkey.

Read the stories and leave your comments.






Some postings on Peace Corps Online are provided to the individual members of this group without permission of the copyright owner for the non-profit purposes of criticism, comment, education, scholarship, and research under the "Fair Use" provisions of U.S. Government copyright laws and they may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner. Peace Corps Online does not vouch for the accuracy of the content of the postings, which is the sole responsibility of the copyright holder.

Story Source: Anchorage Daily News

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; Benefits; Fund Dividend; Local RPCV Groups

PCOL17516
23

.


Add a Message


This is a public posting area. Enter your username and password if you have an account. Otherwise, enter your full name as your username and leave the password blank. Your e-mail address is optional.
Username:  
Password:
E-mail: