May Newsletter: Finding inspiration from all sides
Dear Supporters,
Last month, I had an amazing trip to Guatemala and reunited with many friends that I hadn’t seen since my last visit seven years ago, or even since serving there as a Peace Corps Volunteer from 1988-91. I was reflecting on how special it is to have maintained such strong relationships over more than three decades with a community of humble people living without many of the modern conveniences that we have here in the U.S. We all now have smartphones and social media, and the ability to harness digital technology to transcend borders–allowing people to connect with anyone, anywhere in the world–is an incredibly powerful force for friendship and peace.
I can’t help but see the connection to the digital platform that we will be building for Peace Corps Park. Not everyone in the U.S. can travel to Washington, D.C., much less so the people living abroad whose lives have been touched by the values of service and partnership that are at the center of this project, and the companion app will be a critical tool in allowing it to reach so much farther than the physical boundaries of the Park.
We invite everyone to help shape the app, so please take a few minutes to fill out this simple survey and let us know what you’d like to see in the Park’s digital visitor experience!
This month we were also deeply inspired by a service-commemorating event hosted by First Lady Dr. Jill Biden at the White House, where Peace Corps Foundation Chairman Roger K. Lewis was among those in attendance, to celebrate the National World War I Memorial. The event commemorated the many volunteers and donors who made the project possible, with Dr. Biden speaking beautifully about the broad community of people with connections to that war, ranging well beyond the soldiers and their families.
First Lady Dr. Jill Biden
These themes resonate powerfully with what we are doing with Peace Corps Park, which aims to unite a group much wider than the 260,000 Americans who have served in the Peace Corps. We want anyone who has given part of their life to the values of service to see themselves in the Park, as well as the hundreds of thousands of partners and neighbors who have worked alongside Volunteers in the U.S. and overseas. We know that the values we share can inspire future generations to dedicate themselves to a life of service, and that’s why we continue to work tirelessly to make it a reality.
Of course, that can only happen with the support of this generous community, and this month we’d like to extend a special thanks to the Jones Day Foundation, which recently made a $50,000 grant to Peace Corps Park. With its D.C. office situated directly adjacent to the Park's site on Louisiana Avenue, we look forward to a fruitful partnership with our neighbor, a law firm with a focus on service and a rich history of pro bono work aligned with its values and mission.
Thank you for your continued generosity and support, and please let us know if you or your group would be interested in a joint fundraising initiative to help us accelerate progress on our fundraising goal of $10 million.
Yours in service,
Glenn A. Blumhorst
Chief Advancement Officer
Peace Corps Foundation
President and CEO, National Peace Corps Association (2013-22)
RPCV Guatemala (1988-91)
GBlumhorst@PeaceCorpsCommemorative.org
Connecting with the RPCVs of Washington, D.C.
Peace Corps Foundation staff were delighted to be invited to present our vision for Peace Corps Park at the most recent board meeting of the Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of Washington, D.C. (RPCV/W), where we discussed the physical and digital plans for the Park with one of the principal stakeholder groups of returned Peace Corps Volunteers in the country.
We see great potential in such connections, as the power of RPCV groups to amplify the impact and footprint of the project makes them critical partners in ensuring the project is as inclusive of this community as possible. We extend our thanks to RPCV/W for the invite, and would love to connect with other affinity groups to help us shape this legacy project. Please contact Arianna Richard at arichard@peacecorpscommemorative.org to plan a chat!
Welcoming Jason Carter to the Advisory Board
Our advisory board serves the Peace Corps Foundation as a champion for Peace Corps Park and a valuable source of strategic insight. Members share their gifts in service to the Foundation's mission by providing their professional expertise, diverse knowledge of constituent perspectives, connections to local, national, and international resources, colleagues or peers, philanthropic support and many other forms of assistance. This month, we welcome Jason Carter to the Foundation’s Advisory Board.
Jason Carter is a former state senator from the state of Georgia, where he served from 2010 to 2015, and was the Democratic Party nominee for governor of Georgia in the 2014 election. Since 2015, he has served as chair of the board of trustees of The Carter Center. He is the grandson of Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter. Carter attended Duke University where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts with a double major in philosophy and political science.
After graduating from Duke University, Carter served in the Peace Corps, stationed in South Africa. He lived in Lochiel, South Africa, when Nelson Mandela was the president. He worked on education issues in rural areas as South Africa began its transition from decades of apartheid rule. Carter followed the example of his great-grandmother, Lillian Carter, who became a Peace Corps volunteer at age 68 and spent nearly two years in India working as a nurse with patients with leprosy.
Carter authored a book about his time in the Peace Corps called Power Lines: Two Years on South Africa’s Borders. He is currently a partner at the law firm of Bondurant, Mixson & Elmore in Atlanta, where he represents clients in high-stakes trial and appellate litigation. Carter has received numerous awards for his work as an attorney, including for his pro bono work defending voting rights.
Fundraising Update
We continue to make progress toward our campaign goal of $10 million, with nearly $4 million raised since our campaign began. The Peace Corps Foundation gratefully acknowledges the following donors, who have made generous new contributions and/or pledges since April 25, 2024:
See the full list of cumulative gifts here.
$50,000 - $99,999
Jones Day Foundation
Roger K. Lewis*
$10,000 - $24,999
Tony Barclay*
Eleanor Lewis*
$5,000 - $9,999
Glenn and Cathy Blumhorst*
John L. and Sharon Hoffman
Michael Newman
Christopher Siegler*
$2,500 - $4,999
A.W. (Buster) Lewis*
Timothy M. Resch
$1,000 - $2,499
Sam Farr*
Eloina and Gale Gibson
Robert Graulich and Scotland King*
Nancy Kelly and Michael Hagan*
James Patrick King
Stuart Marshall Bloch and Amb. Julia Chang Bloch
Terry L. Lierman
Nancy Polich*
Jensy Patterson Richard
Jack Seybold and Sally O'Connell*
Peter Von Christierson
Anna Whitcomb*
Other gifts to $999
Linda Barnett*
Ellen Davis-Zapata*
Elizabeth Downes*
Father Henry R. Doyle
John Feighery*
G. David Hicks*
Ann Hopkins*
Edward Hromatka
Sharon Keid
Laura Kettel Khan*
Mary Kritz
Phil Lopes*
Julia Maxwell
Jim Moon
Marty Mueller*
Christi Murray
William Preston
Maureen Reidenback
DeAnne and Christopher Riddle
Jessica Rogers*
Christopher Shays
Kathleen Williams-Ging
Darrel Young*
* New gift in addition to prior gift
As the bull market continues, consider donating stock!
On May 16, the Dow Jones Industrial Average topped 40,000 for the first time in history. That bodes well for stockholders… and for your Peace Corps Foundation! We’ve recently seen an increase in donations of stock, which are a great way to support the project without affecting your day-to-day spending.
You can make a larger impact by donating long-term appreciated securities, including stocks, bonds, and mutual funds, directly to charity. Compared with donating cash, or selling your appreciated securities and contributing the after-tax proceeds, you may potentially increase your gift and tax donation. Donating securities that have been held for a year or more offers the potential for a double tax benefit—a full fair market value tax deduction and elimination of capital gains taxes. Consult your tax advisor to know how this will affect your specific portfolio.
To make a gift of stock, see the instructions on our website.
Once the stock is received in the Foundation’s Vanguard account, it will be liquidated and you will receive a letter from us acknowledging the value of the donation as it arrived in the Foundation’s account. Please let us know that you are making a gift of securities and we’ll make sure to confirm receipt.
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
I continue to host small gatherings and meetings with key stakeholders around the country to build awareness of Peace Corps Park, and I’d love to connect with you or your group to let you know about the project and our vision for how it will bring our community together. Reply to this email and let me know if you’d like to arrange a meetup!
June 1-6 Kansas City and Columbia, Missouri
June 9-11 San Francisco Bay Area
June 12-13 Ashland, Eugene, and Portland, Oregon
July 16-22 Colorado
July 26-27 Washington, DC: Friends of Sierra Leone meeting
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
