A monthly newsletter of The West Cascade Peace Corps Association in Oregon's Southern Willamette Valley

April 2011


Upcoming Events

  • April 5: Food For Lane County - Chefs' Night Out
    See article for more information.
  • April 7: WCPCA's Discussion Group at New Day Bakery at 449 Blair at 6:30pm
  • April 8: WCPCA April Potluck
    The WCPCA April potluck will be on Friday, April 8th from 6-8:30 pm at the home of Dale Morse (directions). Our speaker will be Audrey Squires, RPCV from Guatelama, 2008-2010.
  • April 11: WCPCA April Board Meeting
  • April 21: WCPCA's Discussion Group at New Day Bakery at 449 Blair at 6:30pm
  • April 21: Panel presentation to the Lane Country League of Women Voters from 12:15 to 1:00 pm at Mallard Banquet Hall, 725 West 1st Street.

In This Issue

From The Board From Members and the Wider World

SHINY NAN
By Lynn and Jack Cole, Afghanistan (1968-70)

North of the Hindu Kush in Afghanistan is a pretty town called Baghlan which means "garden place," an appropriate name. Jack and I were on one of our periodic runs through the north to visit Volunteers. The Volunteers had arranged a visit to one of the Afghan homes.

Jack waited under the mulberry trees while we ladies were escorted to the women's quarters. There we found grandmother Koshi teaching granddaughter Khatula how to make and bake nan (bread). They had already made the unleavened dough. As we watched, Khatula patted the dough onto a board fashioned like a large paddle with a long handle. They were using an under­ground beehive oven which had already been heated with a camel-dung fire. It was a feat to slap the nan up against the inside wall of the oven without losing it in the fire. Koshi placed the first nan and Khatula succeeded in placing the second one without mishap.

It was also tricky to remove the baked nan without losing it in the hot ashes. This was accomplished dexterously. From a water bucket on the floor Koshi cupped some water in her right hand and sprinkled it on the hot nan. Khatula did the same. This gave the nan a shiny surface.

Koshi smiled at me as she took the water from the bucket and put it on the nan. This was because we had a secret. Shortly after our arrival, a little grandson about two years of age and wearing only a shirt, had come up to the bucket and peed in it. Koshi had clucked and with her hand had splashed out some of the water as a token gesture of removing the urine.

The nan was delicious.

Jack Cole was a Peace Corps doctor, now retired. Lynn Cole is a homemaker and quilter. They live in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

In 1994, the WCPCA put out "The Funniest Job You'll Ever Love", an anthology of Peace Corps humor. This book was a great fundraiser and was made up of the stories of members. Now, we'd like to do it again, and we'll need your stories for the next edition.


WHO KNEW? is a segment that invites RPCVs to submit ideas, experiences and/or memories of their PC experience. This month, we have a submission from a PCV currently serving in Peru. Email your thoughts and memories to newsletter@westcascadepca.org or call Keith Beyer at 541-515-6435.

Peace Corps' 50th in Peru

As you all know, Peace Corps just celebrated its 50th anniversary with PCV’s and friends all over the world holding celebrations, Peru not being the exception. It was a special month to reflect on the many accomplishments of volunteers worldwide and also how far Peace Corps has come in the past 50 years. I got to see just how much has changed in the past 50 years talking to a fellow Peruvian RCPV this month as well.

I recently met up with fellow RPCV Robert Watada (’64-’66) and his family in Lima, Peru while they were on vacation. Both Robert and I served and are currently serving as Peace Corps volunteers in Peru with almost 45 years between us. Peru was one of the first countries to invite Peace Corps volunteers to serve starting in 1962. Since then, 3,250 volunteers have served in Peru in 21 of the 24 departments. Peace Corps left in 1975, but was invited to return back in 2001, and that is where we are today. It was very interesting to talk to a Robert about his Peace Corps experience, as so much has changed in the past few years.

For starters, volunteers back in the beginning of Peace Corps had training in the states before coming to their host countries whereas I had a 2-month intensive training full of language, technical learning, and safety and medical talks. In addition, volunteers back in the 60’s had less contact with Peace Corps in general. They were dropped off in site, never to be heard of again for the next two years. PCV’s now a days have continuous contact with Peace Corps in the terms of additional trainings, letting them know about our whereabouts, and tri-annual reports that have to be written. Likewise, Robert and volunteers alike had little or no contact with family and friends apart from letters through the mail. But with the invention of facebook, skype, and email, I stay constantly connected to my friends and family back home. Not to mention the fact that I have a cell phone in Peru and all the candy-filled packages I receive from my mother every month.

While some things have changed, other things stay the same. Even though I get packages filled with delicious candy and chocolate, I also get a plate full of rice and potatoes every day at lunch and the occasional fried guinea pig. Although the latest Justin Bieber song might be playing on my ipod, I’m dancing huayno with the best of them at my town’s party. Let’s not forget the hours I have spent on overcrowded combis with men, women, children, and even small animals shoved on board.

So even though technology has changed the Peace Corps volunteer’s experience, the original goals of Peace Corps have stayed the same: bringing technical assistance to developing countries and building relationships while sharing each other’s cultures.

Having talked to other PCV’s and RPCV’s from around the world, what is a constant no matter when or where you have served, is the passion we have to make a change in our communities and the frustration that comes with that. There is the constant drive to motivate others in the community to improve their lives while also the disappointment of not doing enough. And while I think every PCV has at least once dreamt about making big changes in their communities, in the end, we are just happy to have made even a little change in one person’s life.

For me personally, I have stopped caring so much about how many cocinas mejoradas I have built or how many English classes I have taught. What I’m now working more towards is building strong relationships with my community. I have now realized that I won’t be remembered for what I did, but how I was. Whether I took the time to have tea with my neighbor, or play soccer with the kids, these will be my lasting impressions on my community and from that I can only hope that I have left my community a little bit better than when I came.

So happy birthday Peace Corps. Thank you for giving me, Robert Watada, and thousand other volunteers a chance to do something with our lives and in the process, teaching us what really matters in this world.


BOOK REVIEW from Jack Meacham

Europe has always been on the leading edge of civilization. And the United States has been the beneficiary of primarily Europe's advances. And now the United States is the model for the rest of the world. That's what I was led to believe when I was younger. This is likely what most Americans continue to believe. And these may be unexamined assumptions underlying the Peace Corps.

But is this true? Has Europe been the primary source of ideas, discoveries, and inventions that have pushed civilization forward? Not so, according to Ian Morris, a professor of classics and history at Stanford University and author of "Why the West Rules--For Now" (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2010, 750 pages). According to Morris, the West, broadly conceived as the descendents of hill societies of western Eurasia starting around 9500 BCE (including societies in Mesopotamia, the Mediterranean Basin, Europe, the Americas, and Australasia), has until recently lagged far behind the East, the societies that descended from between the Yellow and Yangzi Rivers in China starting around 7500 BCE (and stretching from Japan to Indochina).

Morris's book is unusual in comparing the progress of East and West not with highly selected historical events and anecdotes, but rather with an objective, quantifiable index of social development that reflects four traits of advancing societies: energy capture (food, fuel, raw materials), organization (urbanism or largest city size), war-making capacity, and information-technology (literacy and communication technologies). Summing the scores on these four traits, Morris concludes that the East, despite its later start, moved ahead of the West by the middle of the 6th century and remained ahead, sometimes far ahead, until the late 18th century. Morris extrapolates from his social development index to predict that the East will again catch up with and move ahead of the West around 2050.

When I was teaching a university course on world history, I searched for a text that would tell the single story of the human species over 10,000 years from a bird's eye, integrated perspective (rather than the many stories of empires rising and falling and nation-states warring with each other). Of a dozen or more books that I considered, Morris's is by far the best. It provides a concise and coherent account of the development of human society as a whole as well as close to 100 fascinating maps, tables, and listings of data. For those who don't agree with Morris's account, here are the numbers for constructing your own social development index.

If you've been looking for a great follow-on read to Jared Diamond's "Guns, Germs, and Steel," this is it. Morris similarly gives a central role to geography, but also touches on climate change, famine, migration, disease, failed states, and more. Morris's book nicely compliments another mind-changing history book, John M. Hobson's "The Eastern Origins of Western Civilisation" (Cambridge University Press, 2004, 376 pages). Hobson argues that many important turning points in Europe's development actually reflected the influence of ideas and inventions imported from the East, especially between the 6th and the 18th centuries, the same period of Eastern advances over the West identified by Morris. What I was led to believe many decades ago about the long-term dominance of Western civilization may turn out to be merely a short-term blip during the 19th, 20th, and early 21st centuries.

Volunteers needed for 2011 Smithsonian Folklife Festival!

The 2011 Smithsonian Folklife Festival will showcase Peace Corps, in honor of its 50th Anniversary. The Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage is seeking RPCVs that are comfortable teaching the languages they acquired while in country.*

This request is for the Family Activities area of the festival. The Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage would like to conduct brief language lessons with festival guests several times a day.

If you plan on being in the Washington D.C. area during, June 30 through July 4, and July 7 through July 11 and have a few hours to spare please consider registering for this great opportunity. What better way to support Peace Corps' 3rd goal!

* Please note, registration is not a guarantee you will be asked to teach. Further details to follow…

More information and online registration:
Call for Smithsonian Folklife Festival Volunteers

Best regards,
RPCV/w

RPCVs Who Served in Afghanistan

You are invited to participate in a celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the founding of the Peace Corps. Join fellow returned volunteers from all Peace Corps countries, and meet your friends and co-workers who served in Afghanistan. Come to Washington, DC September 21-25, 2011. Reunite with other RPCVs Afghanistan on Thursday, September 22 at L'Enfant Plaza Hotel, for a meet and greet from 4:00pm to 6:00pm. Meet the new Afghan Ambassador to the United States at a press conference at the Afghan Embassy, and join him and embassy staff at an Afghan dinner hosted by the Embassy on Friday, September 23.

Come to a fund-raising bazaar with Afghan gifts, hear speakers who have been to Afghanistan recently, and learn what Friends of Afghanistan is doing for Afghans in country on Saturday morning, September 24. Renew your commitment to our Peace Corps country and find out how you can participate.

Lead the parade of flags on Sunday morning as we march from the Kennedy Memorial carrying the flags of all Peace Corps countries. Afghanistan is always first. Wear national dress (if you can still fit into your shalwar kameez).

For complete information on all events Afghan, contact Jan West: janwest@suddenlink.net. Jan will send you the full schedule and will record your registration. Find out who has already registered and make plans to get together with your group or cycle. We need a headcount for the Afghan dinner and the Saturday meeting and bazaar.

For complete information on the entire weekend of all events, including Day of Service, Advocacy Day, and the Gala celebration Saturday evening, and to register with NPCA, go to www.peacecorpsconnect.org/resources/peace-corps-50th-anniversary/#visit. A full list of hotels offering a discount to PC attendees is on this site, but we encourage our group to stay at L'Enfant Plaza. Our opening evening event and our Saturday morning meeting will be held at L'Enfant Plaza, and it is convenient to all other functions.

8th Annual African Celebration

Africa RPCVs are invited to the 8th annual African Celebration to talk to students about their Peace Corps experiences in Africa. The African Celebration will be held on Friday, April 22 at the Wheeler Pavilion in Eugene. The information table will be available to students from 9am-12pm. If you have any questions please direct them to Justin at pcorps@uoregon.edu.

A Life In Time by Kaye Stone (India, 1966-68)

I have written a book about the time I grew up in an orphanage in North Carolina from 1949 – 1961 and served in the Peace Corps in India from 1966-68. I was lucky my sisters saved the 87 letters I wrote them from India, which was the basis for the second part of the book on the Peace Corps. The title of the book is A Life in Time. The subtitle is "From an orphanage to the Peace Corps".

My ancestors came to the colonies in the 1600s which must have been an adventure for them. They came when the King gave land in the colonies to younger sons of aristocrats who could not inherit large estates in England because of primogeniture laws. The King hoped this gift of land to England’s younger sons of aristocrats would ensure their loyalty. It did not. William Stone was an early provincial governor of the State of Maryland. Thomas Stone, his great, great grandson, signed the Declaration of Independence for Maryland. Three hundred years later, without the protection of primogeniture laws to protect them, my family was no longer rich.

My sisters and I went to an orphanage in 1949 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. I graduated from high school in 1961 and was sent to college. That tobacco money was good for something.

I went on my adventure in 1966 when my first airplane ride was to Peace Corps training in Hawaii. I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. Nevertheless, I deselected myself at the end of training since I could not keep those chicken diseases straight. I was sent to training for Family Planning (even though I was a virgin) in Chicago. I ended up going to India with that group. I lived in Bombay (Mumbai now) until August, 1968.

Inserts of Book, one of letters

“It sounds like a bloody war outside. It is another one of India’s numerous holidays, Divali. To different people it means different things, but all the different groups of people celebrate with firecrackers. Divali is Hindi for lights, and this is the festival of the lights. The people send Divali cards as we send Christmas cards.

My apartment is on a hill. From my balcony I look down on quite a few buildings that stand between me and the Arabian Sea. They all have candles side by side in every window. There are candles along every balcony rail. Some balconies have electric lights. It’s really beautiful! They also have a wide variety of firecrackers. Little kids are letting off ones that are so powerful, they shake the building. The firecrackers have been going off every night for the past two weeks. Each night there are more numerous and they are louder. Divali is in two days.”

Another letter: “The morning we left Darjeeling, it was pitch dark except for an orange glow along the mountain’s top……where the snow peaked mountains were. It was very dark except for the highest peak which was aglow just like a light bulb. It was the only thing high enough to catch the sunlight. We stood there for an hour and a half and watched the light spread across the mountain range as it got lighter until we had to catch our ride down the mountains”

Example of a note at end of letter:

“When Linas and I left Darjeeling, we left in a DC3 to fly back to Calcutta. I remembered my shildhood friend at The Children’s Home describing the design of the airplane. As we were rolling down the runway, which was made of grass, men were there getting cattle out of the way so we could lift in the air. As we rose in the sky, the packages and other freight slid down the aisle toward the rear of the airplane.

“I was going back to Bombay after we returned to Calcutta. On the way to the train station in Calcutta, our taxi was stuck in traffic. We got out and walked across Howrah bridge to the train station on the other side so we would not miss the departure of the train. At the end of the bridge, a bus turned the corner and a man got caught between the bus and an iron divider. The man hollered. Everyone got out of the bus and rocked it off his body. Linas made us leave so I would not see what happened to the man. What I did see was the bus had trapped the man between the guardrail and the bus.”

If you are interested in purchasing a copy of the book, please print out and mail in the order form.

From The Board


Membership

Welcome to a new WCPCA member Courtney Dunham, Honduras, 2007-2009.

Members of WCPCA receive an email notice when it's time for them to renew their membership. It's very helpful if they renew before their membership expires. This saves time and effort for the volunteer WCPCA staff! Many thanks in advance.

Annual Meeting

The annual meeting of representatives of the northwest returned Peace Corps organizations will be hosted this year by the Inland Northwest Peace Corps Association (INPCA), which is based in Spokane, WA. The meeting will take place in Spokane on Saturday afternoon, April 30th, in the home of a member of that organization. A potluck lunch will open the meeting. That night everyone will go out to dinner at a local ethnic restaurant. Members of INPCA are willing to lodge those who come from out of town. Dale Morse will represent WCPCA. Joe Hindman, a WCPCA member, and also the northwest delegate to the NPCA and will attend the meeting.

If other WCPCA members are interested in attending the meeting or have agenda items to suggest, please contact Dorothy Soper.

50th Peace Corps Anniversary Knight Library Exhibit: A Legacy of Peace (April-July 2011)

In 2011, the Peace Corps marks 50 years of promoting peace and friendship around the world. This historic milestone is an opportunity to honor Peace Corps' past and inspire the next generation of volunteers. This exhibit is a dedication to Peace Corps' history and accomplishments with a focus on what makes the organization run: the volunteers. Using authentic photos, artifacts, books, and text, this exhibit explores volunteer experiences in each of the five decades and regions in which Peace Corps operates, finds out what returned volunteers have done since their terms of service, and highlights the University of Oregon's proud history of sending alumni abroad.

Volunteers for Lane County's Chef's Night Out

Just a reminder to all of you who volunteered to help clean up at Food for Lane County's Chefs' Night Out this coming Tuesday evening, April 5, at the Hult Center for the Performing Arts. In WCPCA's calendar, I incorrectly listed the time for our arrival as 8 p.m. It should be 8:30. Our point of entry is the 6th St. entrance where there will be a Hult employee who is expecting us. We will then check in with Food for Lane County's Sheya Norte and be given a tray, glass, etc. to use for the many delicious food offerings available. Guests will begin departing around 9 p.m. and clean up will commence not too long after that. For anyone that will be volunteering for the first time, just ask one of the other veteran volunteers what to do. The clean up should not last any longer than a couple of hours at the most. In Sheya's words in her email to me, "Thanks so much for your help...we plan to sell out and we have 61 vendors involved this year. So, a good time should be had by all." If you have any questions, please get in touch with me at 541.342.3797 or email to cloutierjames@yahoo.com. See you there. Bring a big appetite!

Peace Corps T Shirts

We have more Peace Corps 50 t-shirts available in all sizes. Many sold at the March 1 event both at noon and in the evening at Cozmic Pizza, so a re-order was placed with Sew On who printed the shirts. The price is still $15 per shirt. Keep in mind that money from shirt sales is an important source of WCPCA's income used for funding the Peace Corps Partnership Projects that we support around the world. If you want to order a shirt, please get in touch with me, James Cloutier at 541.343.3797 or Dorothy Soper and we will get the shirt to you so that you may avoid mailing costs. Also, the t-shirts will be available at the upcoming potluck, Friday, April 9 at Dale Morse's home.

Peace Corps 50th Celebration Eugene
Thank You From the Board

On behalf of the WCPCA board I want to thank all of you for supporting, staffing, and taking part in the celebrations of the Peace Corps' 50th anniversary on March 1st. I hope that you join us in believing that we celebrated this important milestone in a way that was worthy of the event and also enjoyable for all. Through our celebrations and also the good coverage in the local media, I believe that we reached a wide audience in our community. We were bringing our message back home and, I believe, that many heard us.

Volunteers for these events, including the WCPCA board, numbered approximately 45, about 30% of our membership. We should be very pleased with this level of participation and collaboration. Your contributions made it happen!

Among the numbers of interest is that at our celebrations 47 Peace Corps host countries were represented. The countries best represented (by 4 to 6 people each) were Peru, Guatemala, Honduras, and Tanzania. About 175 people attended the noon rally and 120 enjoyed the music at Cozmic Pizza that evening. We all were truly impressed by the giant world map which we had created over 20 years ago. Nice that it could see the sun once more. Yes, the weather was on our side and there is a photo to show that. We can thank the owner and construction firm of the (newly named) Broadway Commerce Bldg. for allowing a Register Guard photographer to take a photo of us from the third floor. I've attached that for your enjoyment. Using a zoom you'll be able to find yourself.

The anniversary year continues and will definitely include presentations on the PC at 50 to many local organizations. A panel from WCPCA has made a presentation on the "Peace Corps at 50" to one local organization and at least four more presentations with different people participating are now being planned through April and May. If you belong to an organization that is interested in a presentation, please let someone on the board know or come to a board meeting to let us know in person. The board will be reaching out to the membership to organize and take part in these activities.

I wish peace for our world and to all of you individually,

Dorothy Soper, President
WCPCA


Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Peace Corps

The Peace Corps reached its 50th birthday on March 1, 2011. Throughout the world people celebrated, recalling Peace Corps stories, friends, events, emotions, and just the facts of daily Peace Corps life that have made a difference in their lives. We recall that 200,000 Americans have served in the Peace Corps in 139 host countries since 1961. Their work has reached thousands including their fellow Americans who have learned from returned volunteers about Peace Corps experiences.

The National Peace Corps Association, an RPCV organization based in Washington DC, promoted "global house parties" as anniversary celebrations on March 1st. In response, approximately 740 such parties were held in 76 countries throughout the world. But the West Cascade Peace Corps Association wanted something bigger than a house party. Early on, we set our sights on a downtown dance party with Samba Ja. Tuesday at noon? In the winter? Outside?... Why not?? And the result....a noon rally on the Broadway Plaza ....an evening of music at Cozmic Pizza …media coverage. Did Lane County read about us? hear us? see us? join us? We think so and we think that the message was worthy of the event. Read on to see what happened and the people and businesses that took part.

March 1 Rally, 12 noon, Broadway Plaza

Many thanks to the gifted speakers at our March 1 rally celebrating Peace Corps 50 in Eugene, our talented M.C., Denny Guehler (the voice of the Oregon Country Fair for 25 years), and Samba Ja.

In case you missed it, the program went like this:

Maggie Keenan (Philippines, 1987-90) welcomed the crowd and reflected on the third goal of Peace Corps. Roger Hamilton (Ghana, 1961-62) shared his reflections on serving in the first ever Peace Corps group. Tom English (Nepal, 1966-69) gave a tribute to Sargent Shriver. Justin Overdevest (Dominican Republic, 2000-04; Peru, 2004-06; and UO Peace Corps Recruiter) commented on the special connection between UO and Peace Corps. Cassady Walters (Mali, 2008-10) was joined by Aissitan Traoré, a UO student from Mali. Cassady spoke about her Peace Corps service in Bambara and Aissitan translated into English. Cleven Mmari, director of the UO Information Technology Services for the Division of Student Affairs, and hails from Tanzania, spoke about the impact of PCVs in Tanzania and around the world. David Piercy (Iran, 1964-66) read the City of Eugene Proclamation for Peace Corps 50 in Eugene. The program was closed by Wayne Thompson (Peru, 1964-66) who spoke about The Grand Map, and invited the crowd to sing Happy Birthday and enjoy cake and other treats courtesy of generous local businesses.

The Grand Map:

An added highlight to Peace Corps 50 in Eugene was the return of The Grand Map which was displayed from the second story windows on the side of the old Center Court building in downtown Eugene. Produced at the 1990 National Conference of Returned Peace Corps Volunteers held at the Hilton Conference Center in Eugene, this world map was advertised as the largest ever hand-drawn and hand-painted map. The map is a 30 x 15 foot canvas piece and was part of a Biden-Pell grant that helped create a world-wide literacy and cartography campaign in schools both in America and Peace Corps countries.

The Grand Map left Eugene in the fall of 1990 and did not return until Beryl Brinkman brought it back from the east coast years later. Since Beryl's death, it had stayed dry and safe but in a barn south of Eugene until its appearance on March 1. And now that The Grand Map has resurfaced, it has another show. It will be at the Old World Deli in Corvallis on May 11 for Peace Corps 50 in Corvallis. Who knows, it might even make it to Washington D.C. for the Peace Corps 50 celebrations happening September 21-25.

Special thanks go to Pete Eggspuelher, the owner of the Center Court building, and to Hyland Construction. They secured The Grand Map to the building and allowed Brain Davies, a Register Guard photographer, access to take a photo of the event.

March 1 evening of music at Cozmic Pizza

Peace Corps 50 in Eugene continued with music, food, and fun at Cozmic Pizza on Tuesday evening. Music by Casera began at 7 p.m. and included musicians from Chile, Bolivia, Ecuador, Brasil, and Eugene. The instruments and singing had an Andean flavor.

The second band, Macaco Velho, played Brasilian music and prepared listeners for Carnaval Brasil happening only a few days later. Special thanks go to John Hicks who made all the musical arrangements for the evening.

Media Coverage

We were thrilled with press coverage of our March 1st events, starting with a 4-page color supplement in the February 17 issue of The Eugene Weekly, featuring profiles of 20 RPCVs in our community. The Eugene Weekly circulates to 40,000+ readers. WCPCA board member Maggie Keenan produced the supplement with help from Eugene Weekly Art Director Todd Cooper and thanks to generous support from Anita and Art Johnson.

A KEZI-TV camera crew and photographer Brian Davies from The Register-Guard attended the 12-noon rally. Brian donned a hard hat and climbed up the Hyland building to get a photo of the crowd gathered below on Broadway Plaza:

Another photo by Brian Davies, of Tom English (Nepal, 1966-69), ran on the cover of the March 2 City Region section. Interviews with WCPCA members ran on KEZI-TV March 1. The Register-Guard ran editorials on January 22 and February 28, as well as a Guest Viewpoint by George Jeffcott on February 28. The RG ran a longer report in the March 6 issue and Eugene Magazine ran a 14-page spread in their Spring 2011 issue. Find links to all Peace Corps 50 in Eugene press coverage below.

Maggie thanks Dorothy Soper for editing, Andy Behl for marketing, Sue Verner for help with press, and Felicia Kenney for posting everything on our website.

In summary:

The mission of the West Cascade Peace Corps Association is to fulfill the third goal of the Peace Corps, "promote a better understanding of other people on the part of the American people." Through the media coverage and events of March 1st, we pursued our goal and the response indicates that the community heard us. We hope that you share that view.

About 175 people participated in the noon rally and 120 joined us at Cozmic Pizza. The full board and an additional 35 WCPCA members, representing in all a third of our membership, took part in organizing and staffing the events of March 1st. Forty-seven Peace Corps host countries were represented by RPCVs and host country citizens. The best represented countries, with 4-6 people each, were Peru, Guatemala, Honduras, Ghana, and Tanzania.

The new red, white, and blue Peace Corps 50 tee shirt designed by WCPCA member, James Cloutier, was unveiled and basically sold out at the rally. More have been ordered and will soon be available to purchase at potlucks and through the website, www.westcascadepca.org. Tee shirt sales are a primary fundraiser to help defray the cost of our celebrations.

Thirteen local businesses sponsored the March 1st events with cash or in kind donations. We hope that you'll patronize our corporate sponsors. Many thanks are extended by the WCPCA board to these businesses and to WCPCA members who staffed our events. They made our celebrations possible and their names are listed below.

To defray the cost of the celebrations the board charged a cover fee for the evening event and solicited cash donations. Revenue totaled approximately $2,000. The net cost to the organization for the celebrations was $1,300.

We extend our gratitude to the WCPCA board and members, and other friends of the Peace Corps for their enthusiastic participation.

Maggie Keenan and Wayne Thompson, Cochairs for the March 1st celebrations Dorothy Soper, President, WCPCA

Corporate sponsors:

  • Adams' Sustainable Table
  • Broadway Commerce Building (Pete Eggspueller)
  • Cozmic Pizza
  • Eugene Brewery
  • Eugene Weekly (Art and Anita Johnson)
  • Eye Beam
  • Hyland Construction
  • Imagine Group
  • Oveissi and Company
  • QSL Print
  • Safeway
  • Sweet Life Patisserie
  • Voodoo Doughnuts

Volunteers:

Linda Ague
Gwen Ayers
Gwen Bailey
Andy Behl
Cathy Beyer
Julie Bosustow
Vern Delk
Dale Dow
Rob Dwan
Amy Ekparian
Nancy English
Tom English
Benj Epstein
Denny Guehler
Roger Hamilton
Joe Hindman
Beth Hunt
George Jeffcott
Diane Jeffcott
Sarah Klinghammer
Ted Kulingoski
Joyce Leader
Lori Matthew
Dave McJunkin
Mary Meacham
Nancy Meyer
Walt Meyer
Shannon Micheel
Eva Miller
Cleven Mmari
Steve Mustow
Don Nordin
David Piercy
Audrey Squires
Rolly Thompson
Cassady Walters