April Newsletter: Leveling up on multiple fronts

April 25, 2024

April Newsletter: Leveling up, on multiple fronts

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Dear Supporters,


Having just returned from a wonderful visit to my Peace Corps sites in Guatemala (more on that in our next newsletter), I am basking in the knowledge of the lifelong impact that service has both on those of us who engage in this kind of work and the partners that support us along the way. It’s why we do this, and the potential of Peace Corps Park to inspire future generations is a multiplier effect that we can’t ignore.


This month, we are excited to share a few updates that capture our tireless work to level up everything we are doing and make this project a reality.


First, we have released our most comprehensive annual report to date, noting the Peace Corps Foundation’s main accomplishments in 2023 and our progress toward the major milestone of approval on the final designs that will clear the way to break ground. We’ve also published the final inscriptions that will be included in the design proposal to be inscribed on the Park’s benches. And, we are seeking your input as we get the ball rolling on the digital companion that will enhance both the in-person and virtual experience of visiting Peace Corps Park. 


As for the fundraising campaign, we are nearing the halfway point of our goal thanks to the recent challenge grant from philanthropist Jacqueline Mars and the matching gifts from so many of you who responded in kind.


You can keep the momentum going, so please consider making a donation today!


We’ve also refreshed our website and will be posting updates regularly between newsletters, so check out the Latest News section for the most recent developments on the Park's progress, and remember to share with your networks as well.


Yours in service,

An image of Glenn Blumhorst's handwritten signature

Glenn A. Blumhorst
Chief Advancement Officer
Peace Corps Foundation


President and CEO, Nation

al Peace Corps Association (2013-22)
RPCV Guatemala (1988-91)



GBlumhorst@PeaceCorpsCommemorative.org

Introducing Our 2023 Annual Report

Last year was a year of significant acceleration for Peace Corps Park, thanks to our generous community of supporters. Your contributions to raising funds and raising awareness of the project have helped us nail down a timeline for breaking ground on this important legacy project.


The $1 million we raised in 2023 helped bring the Park’s design to a detailed final plan with the selection of stone and pavers to be used, to engage key team members and explore partnerships with a number of stakeholders. Explore the annual report on our website to learn about our major achievements and financial summary, and please share it with your networks to ensure that anyone who believes in the values of service is up to date on our progress.

Help Define the Park’s Digital Visitor Experience


A key component of Peace Corps Park is the digital visitor experience that will both enhance in-person visits to the site and allow people from anywhere in the world to take a virtual tour of the Park. We have begun planning the project with our goal to release an initial version ahead of the physical groundbreaking, and we’d like to hear your thoughts on what features you’d most like to see in a companion app and website.


We are very excited to develop this digital platform, as it will allow us to tell the Peace Corps story more deeply, with features on the history of the program, lists of volunteers who have served, and first-hand audio and video accounts of the impacts of service, both from volunteers themselves and the local partners they work with.


Please fill out this three-question survey to help us shape this critical component of Peace Corps Park!


Inspiring Inscriptions Will Capture the Timeless Values of Service


Thanks to your input and the counsel of our advisory board, we have finalized the selection of inscriptions to include in the proposal for Peace Corps Park’s final design. Critical in this effort was capturing both the values of international service and partnership, and representing voices that embody the principles on which the Peace Corps was founded.

With two quotes from the original architects of the program and two from inspiring leaders of countries that have hosted Peace Corps Volunteers, we are confident that the Park’s visitors will find inspiration no matter where they are coming from and hope that our partners at the National Park Service and U.S. Commission of Fine Arts agree.


“Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country”


The quote that started it all, from John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address in 1961, served as a rallying cry for thousands of Americans who made up the initial cohorts of Peace Corps Volunteers. It’s a call to action that still resonates today, and helps remind people that everyone has the power and potential to make a difference in the world. This quote will greet visitors at the Park’s main entrance on Louisiana Avenue, NW.


Find out more about this and the other quotes on our website.

Fundraising Update


The Foundation is excited to share that, thanks to the leadership of our Board and the generosity of this community, we are well on our way to matching philanthropist Jacqueline Mars’s $500,000 challenge gift to help make Peace Corps Park a reality. This boost has accelerated our progress toward the campaign goal of $10 million, with more than $3.5 million raised so far; we invite you to meet Mrs. Mars's challenge and help us get to the finish line!


We gratefully acknowledge the following individuals who have made generous new contributions and/or pledges since March 27, 2024:


See the full list of cumulative gifts to the Peace Corps Commemorative Foundation on our website.


$2,500 - $4,999

Ron and Jane Brousseau
Eleanor and William Revelle
William Romenius*


$1,000 - $2,499

Patrick Cotter
Nicholas Craw and Lisa Blocklinger*
Martia Glass*
David and Champa Jarmul
Nancy Kelly and Michael Hagan*
Earl Kessler*
Beany Kogen-Wezelman
Mr. and Mrs. Matthew Niskanen
Douglas Shifflet
Ross Snow
Laverne and Allen Webb


Other gifts to $999

Archie W. and Wanita L. Blumhorst*
Lynn Bottazzi
Ellen Davis-Zapata
Robert Denniston
H. Jesse and Gloria Dubin
John Feighery*
Stan Garnett
Urbae Hall
Donald Hodgen
Judith Livingston
David Lough
Joel Mayer
Susan McDonald-Brodey
Christine McReynolds
Frank Mitchell
Marty Mueller
Wayne R. Nilsestuen
Margaret and Steve Norton
Amy Richwine
Jessica Rogers
Mary Rossi
Dane and Judy Smith*
Barbara Stender
Elizabeth Thomas
Alyce Tidball
Ambassador Gaddi Vazquez*
Barbara Waldschmidt
James Weathersbee
Kathleen Williams-Ging
Jean Wintemute*
Darrel Young*

* New gift in addition to prior gift

Connect with us on social media


Whether or not you’ve been able to support the project with a donation, an easy way to amplify your impact is to give us a boost on your social media platform of choice!


Follow us on any of the following networks, and re-share our posts to help raise awareness among your own community.

@PeaceCorpsPark on Instagram
@PeaceCorpsPark on Facebook 
@PeaceCorpsPark on LinkedIn

@PeaceCorpsPark on Twitter / X 


Connect with us in person


As usual, I continue to host small gatherings and meetings with key stakeholders around the country to build awareness of Peace Corps Park. I’d love to connect with you or your group in the coming weeks to let you know about the project and our vision for how it will bring our community together once it’s built. Please reply to this email and let me know if you’d like to arrange a meetup!


June 1           Philadelphia: India V reunion
June 2-6 
    Kansas City and Columbia, Missouri
June 9-12
    San Francisco Bay Area
July 26-27
   Washington, DC: Friends of Sierra Leone meeting

DONATE

PeaceCorpsCommemorative.org


PEACE CORPS COMMEMORATIVE FOUNDATION
Compassion   Generosity   Perseverance


Please note our new preferred mailing address:
5636 Connecticut Avenue, NW Ste 42143
Washington, DC 20015


The Peace Corps Commemorative Foundation is the trade name of the Peace Corps Foundation,
a District of Columbia 501(c)(3) charitable organization.
EIN: 01-0554700

March 27, 2025
March Newsletter: Updated timeline: The path to Peace Corps Park takes shape
February 28, 2025
February Newsletter: Now is the time to show our strength in unity
January 28, 2025
January Newsletter: Our values need champions, and your voice matters
December 30, 2024
Dear Supporters, When I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Dominican Republic, trying to keep as low a profile as a six-foot tall red-headed American guy can, I remember a moment on a crowded bus when I felt a tap on my shoulder. A local man asked me, “are you from the Peace Corps?”, and told me that as a boy, his village didn’t have water until a Peace Corps Volunteer helped install a clean water system. He had never gotten the chance to thank that young man.
December 23, 2024
Dear Supporters, I write to you today as one of the thousands of Nepalis–and perhaps millions of people around the world–whose lives have been touched and transformed by their association with the Peace Corps.
December 17, 2024
Dear Supporters, From my experience as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Samoa to my term as director of the Peace Corps, I have seen how lives are changed by people working together, through service, to further the cause of peace. That service is an important part of our nation's legacy. Americans have always stood for democracy, justice, equality, and service. The belief that what unites us is so much greater than that which divides us. The knowledge that, through service, we can create a better world together. These are the values that continue to draw people to our shores and reflect the best of America. Peace Corps Park is a space where stories of service will come alive—a place where we will celebrate the uniquely American spirit of Peace Corps dedicated to fostering understanding and building bridges of peace. It is a place where anyone, regardless of culture, race, faith, ethnicity, or background, can reflect upon the idea that we are all part of one human family. Peace Corps Park is more than a place on the map. It is a living, breathing testament to America’s compassion and perseverance in service of humanity. Please join me in ensuring that this symbol of the American idea becomes a reality, with a donation that will ensure future generations are inspired by the ideas that inspire us. Your generosity is not just an investment in a park; it is an investment in hope and the idea that, even in times of division, we can find common ground. That even when challenges feel insurmountable, we can persevere. That together, through compassion and action, we can create a world that reflects the very best of who we are. Many thanks for your support, and for your faith in the power of peace through service. Let’s work together to make our vision a reality. With warm regards,
December 10, 2024
Dear Supporters, When I was in Congress, they called me “Mr. Peace Corps” for my consistent advocacy on behalf of the agency that inspired me to 44 years of service in elected office. My two years in a poor barrio in Medellin, Colombia taught me how to listen to the needs of the people living around me to find real solutions to the problems felt by people in poverty everywhere. I learned that if someone has a safe place to sleep, access to education, and quality health care, then they have a chance in this world, and that philosophy has animated my lifelong commitment to service here in the U.S. The Peace Corps is a powerful idea that remains as bold as it was almost 65 years ago, and that boldness deserves a place among the monuments and memorials that decorate the landscape in Washington, D.C. Like me, tens of thousands of Peace Corps Volunteers learned how to hear, from listening in a foreign language and observing, from a place of total immersion, how to fix things abroad that also needed fixing back home. Our nation is stronger for it. Peace Corps Park is a ray of sunshine in a divided world, representing our belief that idealism gets results. Please join us in ensuring the Park becomes a reality at a time when we need to advocate loudly for our values . “Yes we can!” John F. Kennedy believed that telling the Peace Corps story back home was a lifetime commitment. I’m sure if he were alive now he’d still be saying, “Ask not what Peace Corps Park can do for you, but what you can do for the Park”. We are asking our community of supporters to help us raise the remaining amount needed to put shovels in the ground and to be part of the team that made this permanent symbol of peace and partnership in our nation’s capital a reality.  Thank you. Give peace a chance. Sam Farr Peace Corps Colombia (1964-66) U.S. Congress, D-Carmel, Calif. (1993-2017)
December 3, 2024
Invest in the future with Peace Corps Park on Giving Tuesday Dear Supporters, Every year, the season of thanks encourages us to reflect on the things we are grateful for, but also to think about the future and the world we want to see. For Peace Corps Park, we are so grateful for the achievements of the past year–both in inspiring major donors like Jacqueline Mars and Ces Butner and in securing design approval from the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts–and profoundly excited about the future. With more than $5 million already raised, the only real hurdle in this journey toward groundbreaking is raising the remaining funds for this meaningful project. On this Giving Tuesday, we invite everyone to make Peace Corps Park a central part of your giving plans with a tax deductible donation . There are many ways to give , and all of them will help bring Peace Corps Park to life in our nation’s capital. Most of all, your generosity will help us match Ces Butner's $500,000 gift before the end of the year and show how this community can rise to meet his challenge. At its most impactful, your charitable giving is an investment in the future: A way of saying “the world would be a better place if more people lived these values.” And while Peace Corps Park will commemorate the bold vision that JFK laid out when creating the Peace Corps almost 65 years ago, our mission is decidedly forward-looking. We believe the world is a better place when people from different walks of life partner with each other in service of a shared future, and that creating a permanent beacon to these ideals in our nation’s capital is a critical part of telling America’s story to the more than 25 million people who visit the National Mall every year.
November 26, 2024
November Newsletter: Announcing a major gift in this season of thanks
October 24, 2024
September Newsletter: Peace Corps Community Leading the Way
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