October 1999 - Columbia River Peace Corps Association

Vol. 18, No.8
"Bringing the World Back Home"
PEACE CORPS ASSOCIATION
CONFERENCE REPORT
The 1999 National Peace Corps Association
conference welcomed the new NPCA president, Dane Smith, in St. Paul, Minn. from
August 12-15. Smith was most recently the
U.S. ambassador to Senegal, culrninating a
long and distinguished career in the foreign
service.
Smith started his Foreign Service career
in 1966, spending most of his overseas duty
in Africa. Both he and his wife, Judith,
served as Peace Corps volunteers in Asmara, Eritrea (then part of Ethiopia) from
1963 to 1965. Smith notes, "Peace Corps has
been a major part of my family for more
than 35 years." Two Smith children have
also served as Peace Corps volunteers, one
in Cameroon and the other in Paraguay.
The NPCA bestowed two major awards
at the conference, the Loret Miller Ruppe
and Sergeant Shriver Awards.
The Loret Miller Ruppe Award for Community Service recognizes projects carried
out by affiliated groups that promote the
third goal of Peace Corps or that continue to
serve host countries, and thilt build group
spirit and cooperation, promote service, and
are examples that others can follow.
October 1999
EVENTS CALENDAR
October 11 - Restaurant Gathering:
6:30 p.m., India Grill, 2924 E. Burnside.
October 13 - "Pedals for Progress"
Advisory Board Exploratory Meeting:
Time and place to be announced. (:l3eP'l¥5)
October 25 - Soiree: 6:30 p.m., Lucky
Lab, SE 9th and Hawthorne.
November 13 - Northwest Regional
Meeting: Spokane, Wash. (See page 4.)
November 29 - Soiree: 6:30 p.m., Lucky
Lab, SE 9th and Hawthorne.
December 11 - African Pig-Out: Time
and place to be announced.
The Sergeant Shriver Award for Humanitarian Service is given every two years
at each national conference to a former volunteer who, following Peace Corps service,
makes a sustained and distinguished contribution to humanitarian causes at home or
abroad.
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The CRPCA Newsletter
This year the Loret Miller Ruppe Award
winner was 'the Peace Corps Alumni Foundation for Philippine Development. In 1982, the
foundation created a scholarship program for
deserving low-income Filipino students.
Since its creation, the scholarship program
has made it pOSSible for more than 80 Filipino
students to earn diplomas and degrees in tlie
Philippines. Scholarship alumni hold degrees
in education, nursing, medicine, engineering,
community development, dentistry, and agricultural education.
.
The winner of the Sergeant Shriver
Award for Humanitarian Service calls Eugene, Ore. her home. Julie Demichelis was a
Peace Corps volunteer in Ghana from 1982 to
1984, serving as a home science program coordinator. While in Ghana, Demichelis became interested in disaster preparednes~.
In the past 15 years, her humanitarian career has included work in refugee camps and
relief centers for Liberian refugees during
some of the worst years of the crisis in that
country. In 1993, she beg~ directing emergency food relief operations for refugees in
Macedonia, and was asked by the Interna. tional Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies to advise the Ministry of De'fense in earthquake-prone Albania.
In 1995, the United Methodist Refugee
Committee sent her to Bosnia and Herzegovina to direct a multi-ethnic team to reestablish
community services in war-torn and ethnically split communities. In 1997, the U.S. Institute for Peace sent her back to the Balkans
to investigate the capabilities of NGOs, tl)e
police, and local media for future peacemaking initiatives.
In 1998, Demichelis oversaw grant funding and advisory services to strengthen municipal and civil services and the media in
Belgrade. She also assisted in the start-up of
a pre-peace accord and community-based
grant-making program in Kosovo.
October 1999
The president of the International Resources Group, Asif Shaikh, writes, "Julia is
an exceptional human being who has dedicated her considerable energy and intellectual
ability, as well as her emotions, safety, and
personal comfort, to the survival of those in
need. She has consistently foregone more lucrative and certainly more comfortable opportunities to be on the front lines of humanitarian crises."
Both of the award winners Should
serve as an inspiration for us to continue our
own humanitarian service, both as individuals and as an RPCV group. Let us think about
what type of project we can do to be a benefit
to humanity.
(Most ofthe aboveparagraphs are comprised ofexcerpts from the NPCA awards
presentation speech given at the A1!gust 14
Awards Banquet by Maury Stems, award
committee chair.)
-MM
WANTED:
1999 CRPCA AFRICA DINNER
PLANNERS AND VOLUNTEERS
Yes, it is that time of year again. Each
November, the CRPCA has put on an African
feast, commonly know as the West African
Pig-Out. With the departure of Pig-Out gurus
Mike and Mary Lynn Waite last year, we
tried something new: a Kenyan feast cosponsored by SARNA (Society of Africans
Reside!lt in North America) and supervised
by cookbook author and SARNA member
Grace Kuto. We have tentatively reserved a
site in downtown Portland for this year's
event the evening of Saturday, December 11.
What do we want to do this year? .
Suggestions have ranged from a return to the
"Waite-ian" tradition to a catered restaurant
meal. Whatever we decide, we will need volunteers to help with a variety of tasks, mostly
October 1999
The CRPCA Newsletter
3
on the day of the event. In the past, tasks
potato chips and marshmallows. Surprishave included: (1) Planning and coordinating ingly, the creek between our campsite and the
meals, entertainment, and/ or the silent aucbumper boats was inhabited by a number of
tion, (2) Cooking one or more dishes in a big
large, bright orange fish.
pot in your home and bringing it to the dinThere was something for everyone at
ner, (3) Requesting donations of beer and
the campout. Some people went for a hike,
food from local vendors, (4) Driving to Seattle while others swam in the lake or the river.
Almost everyone went up on the gondola,
to buy palm oil and other ingredients, (5) loand some people explored the art galleries in
cating and arranging the site, (6) set-up, (7)
nearby Joseph or took a drive into Hell's
clean-up, (8) selling tickets/memberships at
Canyon. (A few of us snuck off to a Hungarthe front door, and (9) coordinating A/V
ian restaurant, but that's another
equipment.
story...)
If you have suggestions or are willing
Of course, the only time it rained was
to help, contact Karen Cellarius by phone at
during the preparation and eating of the
(5lB) ~964 or e-mail at <[email protected]>
ASAP (today, if possible!). Please leave your
group dinner on Saturday. But that stopped
and everything dried out in time for a Saturname, number, and/ or e-mail address, any
ideas you might have, and what you are will- day night campfire, complete with marshmal. lows, good conversation, songs, and a ranger
ing to help with. If you are interested and
who asked us to be quiet. The sound of deer
able to attend a planning meeting, please inmunching on camper food a'Yakened us on
clude days and times you would be available
Sunday morning, followed by the aroma of
to meet.
-KC
Basque sausages cooked up by the Idaho
group.
After breakfast, people slowly packed
up and headed back to their regular Ameri40+ PARTICIPANTS GATHER
can
lives in places like Sandy, Spokane, and
AT THE NORTHWEST REGIONAL
Orofino.
CAMP-OUT IN THE WALLOWAS
See you next year!
-KC
More than 40 people gathered at Group
Camping Areas B & C at Wallowa Lake State
Park on August 27-29. The group was comSOMALIA SLIDESHOW PRESENTED
posed of RPCVs from Oregon, Idaho, and
BY MARTIN KAPLAN AT
Washington, and their friends and families.
SEPTEMBER CRPCA POTLUCK
. The site is surrounded by beautiful,
high mountains and alarge lake formed in
Many thanks to Martin Kaplan for sharing his
the ice age. An enclosed gondola takes peoslides with us at the CRPCA P9tluck on Sunple up to the top one of the higher peaks
day, September 19. Martin was part of
where you can visit with trusting alpine
squirrels and watch hang gliders jump off the "Somalia 1" from 1962-64. His slides were a
great reminder of the early days of Peace
mountain. Back at the campground, howCorps, complete with a two-month training in
ever, civilization intrudes with the cries of
New York City and on-site visits by the new
children wanting to ride in nearby bumper
president
of Somalia and Sargeant Shriver.
boats. Tame deer wander around accepting
4
The CRPCA Newsletter
October 1999
Martin reported that his group broke the
1,000 mark for Peace Corps volunteers. Of
the 44 people who started training, 22 actually finished their two-year commitment, The
group, which produced seven marriages, celebrated its 35th reunion last year in Colorado.
-KC
9833 or bye-mail at <kaplanm9®idtnet> if
you want to be a speaker or if you,know
someone else who would be willing to speak.
-MK
PEACE CORPS ART AND ARTIFACTS
RPCV groups in the Northwest will convene
for a regional meeting in Spokane, Wash. on
Saturday, November 13. Five main topics
will be discussed:
A committee is being formed to explore possibilities of having an exhibit of art and artifacts collected by RPCVs while serving overseas. Anyone interested in joining the group
to plan and coordinate such an event should
contact Martin Kaplan at (503) 699-9833 or by
e-mail at <kaplanm9®idtnet>.
-MK
PROGRAM SERIES
AND SPEAKERS' BUREAU
CRPCA is looking for members who are willing to give a one-hour presentation about
their Peace Corps experiences-or any other
appropriate subject-as part of the program
series. Speakers may use audio visual aids to
illustrate their talks, if they prefer.
If you do not want to be a speaker
yourself but know of someone who would be
willing to speak as part of our program series,
please let us know. We are especially interested in speakers who can talk about interesting and/or provocative subjects.
Wf! re also looking for interested persons to be included in our Speakers' Bureau.
CRPCA is often contacted by schools and
other organizations to provide speakers who
are knowledgeable about various parts of the
world. Contact Martin Kaplan at (503) 699-
REGIONAL RPCV
MEETING IN SPOKANE
Action: What are RPCVs doing in
their communities? What unique social activities have occurred? What are we doing to
share our global view? What personal acts
keep us connected?
Building: How are our groups dealing with building membership and leadership? How can we provide some opportunities for personal growth and commitment?
Communication: External messages
by newsletter exchange and internet. Internal
messages by newsletter, postcard, directory,
and phone-tree.
Diversity: How do we deal with diverse ages, activities, levels of support, motives for joining, etc.?
Reconnect: Is the reconnect activity
sufficient to aid returnees?' What are groups
doing in ,this area?
.The meeting will start at 12:00 noon
with a lunch provided by Spokane-area volunteers. From 1:00 p.rn. to 5:00 p.m. we'll discuss the various topics, followed by dinner in
an ethnic restaurant
Check the CRPCA Web site
(www.crpca.org) for further detaiIs in the
coming days.
-MM
October 1999
The CRPCA Newsletter
NCq WALKATHON
The National Conference for Community and
Justice (NCCJ) will hold its first annual
"Walk-As-One Walkathon" in Portland on
Sunday, October 24. The event, sponsored by
Jammin 95.5, WB 32, Nike, and PG&E, will
start and end in the Rose Garden Commons
area.
More than 1,000 members of corporate, religious, and community organizations
are expected to participate to show their support of inulticultural issues and raise funds
for NCq Youth Leadership Programs. Anyone interested in walking, forming a team to
represent their company or organization, or
helping out with registration or along the
route should call Niki Scott at (503) 231-2436.
-NS
5
meeting on October 13. The time and place
for the meeting are as yet undecided. For
more information, please e-mail Mark Morton at <markmpe@teleportcom>.
Pedals for Progress collects used bicycles for distribution in developing countries.
The program was started by an RPCV several
years ago and has achieved great success.
The benefit is several fold, first to the people
and communities who receive the bikes, secondly to the people who are trained and employed to work on the bicycles in the recipient countries, and thirdly to our own environment by preventing these bikes from ending
up in landfills.
We would be the first group on the
West Coast to work on this project. Having a
West Coast group would reduce shipping
costs to many countries that now receive
bikes shipped from the East Coast. - MM
Thanks to this month's contributors: Mark
Morton, Karen CeIlarius, Martin Kaplan, Lesly
Sanocki, and Niki Scott. This month's issue sufWe are ready to kick off the 2000 RPCV calenfers not only from the editor's usual deficiencies,
dar sales. We would appreciate volunteers to but also from a computer virus submitted by a
work on the calendar committee. We'll prinon-member. We hope to correct this problem in
marily need volunteers to call members. If
. time for next month's issue.
-ed.
RPCV CALENDAR SALES
you're interested, contact Lesly Sanocki by
phone at (503) 690-3391 or bye-mail at
<[email protected]>.
You may also nominate your favorite
nonprofit organization as the potential recipient of our year 2000 calendar proceeds.
Thanks for your help. More calendar inforination to come.
-LS
PEDALS FOR PROGRESS
All RPCVs interested in forming a Board of
Advisors to help sponsor local bike collection
for the national nonprofit organization
"Pedals for Progress" are invited to attend a
The Columbia River Peace Corps Association NewsIetleris published ten months each year by the CRPCA.
Send NewsJettersubmissions to the editor via e-mail
by the next-to-last Monday of the month.
President Niki Scott
417-1823
[email protected]
Secretary-Treasurer: Karen Cellarius
289oS964
[email protected]
Program Coordinator. Martin Kaplan
.
kaplanm9@idtnet
Restaurant Coordinator. Lee Wolochuk
236-5574
Program Host Charlene Holzworth
284-3444
Webmaster: Mark Morton
markmpc@teleportcom
flditor. Tom Argent
241-7734
[email protected]
Columbia River Peace Corps Association
P.O. Box 802
Portland, OR 97207
www.crpca.org
Membership Application/Renewal Form/Address Change
Name:
Street Address:
City, State, ana Zip:
Home Phone:
Work Phone:
E-mail Address:
Peace Corps Country, Years of Service, and Job/Sector
Application Type: _ _New
- - Renewal _ _ Address Otange (effective date)
Association(s) you wish to join (check one):
--CRPCA only ($15 individual/$22.50 family)
_ _NPCA only ($25 individual/$32.50 family)
_ _CRPCA and NPCA ($40 individual/$55 family)
Make checks payable to: Columbia River Peace Corps Association
Mail to: CRPCA, P.O. Box 802, Portland, OR '17207
--f./--I-/~-