Guest Author - Sandy Mullins

45 years ago, a man had a dream. That man, then Senator John F. Kennedy challenged students at the University of Michigan to serve their country in the cause of peace. The Peace Corps grew from this speech and is devoted to world peace and friendship. On March 2, 1961, President Kennedy signed the executive order that established the Peace Corps. Five months later, 5000 volunteer take the first exams fo be come the first Peace Corps volunteers. In less than two years there were about 7,300 volunteers out in the field. Within five years of the start of the Peace Corps the number of volunteers reaches 15.000.

Two returning Peace Corps volunteers go onto become members of the United States Senate, Paul Tongas of Massachusetts, who served in Ethiopia in 1962-64 and Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, who served in the Dominican Republic in 1966-68.

By the twentieth anniversary of the Peace Corps the number of volunteers was up to 98,000 in 99 countries. Sadly the number of volunteers takes a dive in 1982 to a low 5,380. With more funding the numbers increase, but sadly no where near what they had been seeing. The 1990s we saw more countries and a returning volunteer Carol Bellamy became the Director of the Peace Corps.

Peace Corps’ Crisis Corps volunteers have worked to help the survivors of the Tsunami of December 26, 2004 in Thailand and Sri Lanka. For the first time in September 2005, Peace Corps’ Crisis Corps also helped Americans following the Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Volunteer numbers have reached an all time high of 7,810 Americans working in 77 countries.

In 45 years, more than182.000 volunteers have served in 138 countries. The volunteers help with environment, information technology, and AIDS education.

Mission of the Peace Corps (from the Peace Corps Site)
1. Helping the people of interested countries in meeting their needs for trained men and women.
2. Helping promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served.
3. Helping promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of all Americans.

Help celebrate the 45th Anniversary of the Peace Corps. If you are interested in more information, volunteering or donating you can check out the link below.

Peace Corps (offsite link)
Kennedy Speech at University of Michigan (offsite link)

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