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40th Anniversary of the Peace Corps
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Posted on Oct 13 2000
Calling all former Peace Corps Volunteers, Trainers, Instructors and Staff. Come join us to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Peace Corps. Meet at the Seaside Bar at the Pacific Islands Club (PIC) starting at 5:00 pm this Saturday, October 14, 2000. This will be a no-host bar.
The October 14, 2000 marks the 40th Anniversary of the day presidential candidate John F. Kennedy stood on the steps of the University of Michigan’s student Union and challenged the 10,000 students present to volunteer their skills overseas.
After a day of campaigning for the presidency, John F. Kennedy arrived at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor on October 14, 1960, at 2:00 am, to get some sleep, not to propose the establishment of an internal volunteer organization. Members of the press had retired for the night, believing that nothing interesting would happen.
But 10,000 students at the University were waiting to hear the presidential candidate speak, and it was there on the steps of the Michigan Union that a bold new experiment in public service was launched. The assembled students heard the future President issue a challenge: how many of them, he asked, would be willing to serve their country and the cause of peace by living and working in the developing world? Less than five months later, The Peace Corps was created and the first Volunteers left for Africa that August.
