Happy Birthday Peace Corps

 

On the Presidential campaign trail of 1960, then Senator John F. Kennedy stopped in Ann Arbor, Michigan, at 2 o'clock in the morning to get some sleep.  But, 10,000 university students were waiting for him, hoping to hear him speak.  And so he did.  With no reporters around, Kennedy gave an impromptu speech and challenged his young audience to promote peace in the world and to be the face of the United States around the globe.  He urged them to volunteer their time and knowledge to people in developing nations-to help the less privileged while living and working alongside them.  He believed it was the only way the United States could meet the challenges that were certain to arise in the 1960's.

And so was born the idea of the Peace Corps.  The Senator became the President, and on March 1, 1961 President Kennedy signed an executive order establishing the Peace Corps; three days later he appointed Robert Sargent Shiver its director.  By July, a plan was in place to send volunteers to Ghana, Tanzania, Colombia, St Lucia, the Philippines, and Chile.  More than 5,000 people applied to take the first exam given.

Since 1961 there have been 195,000 volunteers and trainers associated with the Peace Corps serving 139 countries.  Through 27 is the average age of volunteers, 5% of them are over the age 50 – and the oldest is 84. volunteers serve in the current work area: Education 35%, Health care 21%, Business 15%, Environment 15%, Youth 5%, Agriculture 5%, other 4%.

(March 2009 Newsletter, page 3)