WCPCA November potluck
Friday, November 12th from 6-9pm will be our November potluck and annual meeting. It will be held at the home of Dave and Dorothy Soper, 4430 Pinecrest Drive, Eugene.
We'll welcome Andy Behl, a newly returned PCV who worked in youth and sports development in St. Lucia in the eastern Caribbean, 2008-2010. Andy will present our program describing his PC work and how it led him to become a graduate student at the U of O in the Business School's Sports Marketing Program.
We'll also have a brief business meeting to review the goals and work of WCPCA's current Board of Directors and to introduce and elect a slate of candidates who will form the WCPCA Board for 2011.
Please bring a dish to share. Plates, cups for water, and cutlery will be provided.
Directions: Pinecrest is in south Eugene off of E. 43rd between Fox Hollow and Donald. Please call the host family for further directions, 541-343-3924.
50th Anniversary UO Knight Library Exhibit
Dig out your Peace Corps photos! Whether you just back from living abroad as a PCV or you were part of the early years of Peace Corps, we will be showcasing Peace Corps volunteer experiences in the Knight Library in Spring 2011 to coincide with the 50th Anniversary. As part of the exhibit we are looking to include 50 photographs, 2-3 per volunteer showing different countries and experiences. If you are interested in participating please email Justin at pcorps@uoregon.edu. Both digital and physical photos will be accepted.
Last Chance for the Membership Directory
The membership directory for Fall 2010 will be coming out before the end of November. You will only receive a copy (and be listed in the directory) if you are a member. Please join or make changes to your contact information by November 15th. Joining the WCPCA can be done at our membership page.
Membership is free for RPCVs during their first year back, to students at any time, to active PCVs, and to any RPCVs who are joining for the first time.
Kennedy and the Peace Corps: Idealism on the Ground
"Kennedy and the Peace Corps: Idealism on the Ground" an hour's accounting of the early history of the Peace Corps was aired by KLCC on October 20th. Those of us who heard it are enthusiastic about it and recommend it to the Peace Corps community and beyond. Our thanks go to Don Hein, Program Director of KLCC, who selected the program for local broadcasting.
The program is an excellent review of the critical steps to the Peace Corps' creation and includes current interviews with some of the participants and a taped conversation between President Kennedy and Sargent Shriver in which the latter complains about the CIA's trying to recruit PCVs.
The program was produced by Lester Graham of Michigan Public Radio and is available here. (The audio file itself is here.) This link will be added to the 50th anniversary page of the WCPCA website. If you would like help playing this audio file, please contact info@westcascadepca.org.
WCPCA's Charitable Giving
The time has come once again for the WCPCA to choose a project or projects to fund. Generally, West Cascade funds Peace Corps Partnership Projects, but we are open to funding any charitable or educational projects that support the goals and ideals of the Peace Corps. The only qualification is that the organization we donate the funds to must be a 501c3 nonprofit. We have $900 to be distributed this year, so if you know of a worthy project, please bring it to the attention of a board member or send the information to info@westcascadepca.org. We plan on voting on the distribution at the next board meeting on November 15th.
Proposed slate of WCPCA board members for 2011
As the nominating committee for the 2011 WCPCA board, Jim Beyer has proposed the following slate of fourteen nominees. The slate is composed of WCPCA members who wish to continue on the board and new members who responded to inquiries about board service. A notice inviting inquiries about board service was placed in the October newsletter but no one responded. The 2011 board will have the prerogative to appoint additional "at large" members as the need arises. Any members who are interested in board service and are not currently nominated are invited to contact the 2011 board in January.
The new board will serve from January through December, 2011. The proposed slate of nominees for the WCPCA 2011 board along with brief biographies is below. WCPCA members who attend the November potluck will vote on this slate.
Officers:
President: Dorothy Soper, Ghana (1963-65)
Vice President: Maggie Keenan, Philippines (1987-90)
Treasurer: Dale Morse, Nepal (1969-71)
Secretary: Wendy Nelson, Poland (1995-97)
Communications Coordinator: Felicia Kenney, Benin (2003-04)
University of Oregon PC Recruiter: Justin Overdevest, Dominican Republic (2002-04), Peru (2004-06)
Members-at-large:
Miriam Aiken, Philippines (1965-67)
Keith Beyer, Poland (1994-96), Thailand (1998), Russia (2001-02)
Nick Bosustow, Guatemala (1999-2001); Suriname, Country PC Deputy Director (2004-06); PC Recruiter in the SF bay area (2006-09)
James Cloutier, Kenya (1964-66)
John Hofer, Morocco (1969-70)
Jack Meacham, Turkey (1967-69)
Wayne Thompson, Peru (1964-66)
Robert Watada, Peru (1964-66)
Biographies:
1. Miriam Aiken taught TESL English as a PCV in the Philippines. She recently retired from a career as a project manager with a social science research company and moved to Eugene from the Washington DC area. She was active in the Washington RPCV group chairing the membership committee.
2. Keith Beyer and his wife, Cathy, served as English teachers in Poland, 1994-1996. They were also PCVs in Thailand, 1998, and Russia, 2001-2002. Keith had retired as an English teacher in a Wyoming community college before their Peace Corps experiences. Because of the wise advice of their daughter, Keith and Cathy moved to Eugene in 2008.
3. Nick Bosustow and his wife, Julie, were PCVs in Guatemala. Subsequently, Nick was the PC Deputy Country Director in Suriname and then the PC recruiter in the SF bay area. Nick and Julie have recently retired and moved to Eugene.
4. James Cloutier was in the first PC group in Kenya where he worked for the Kenya Ministry of Lands and Settlement as the Director of Visual Aids. He currently pursues his career as an artist devoted to exploring multiple mediums with humor as a constant thread throughout this process. James has been active in WCPCA from its beginning and has contributed his art to many endeavors. He's just completed a year and a half as the board president.
5. John Hofer served on an agricultural development project in Northern Morocco. Now retired, he worked for many years in marketing and new product development for high tech companies and has three patents to his credit. Currently he is serving on the boards of Helios Resource Network and the Community Fund for Social Change. He is also volunteering for the McKenzie River Gathering. He actively follows foreign affairs, particularly in the Middle East and Latin America and enjoys learning foreign languages, most recently teaching himself to read Arabic. John has completed a year of service on the WCPCA board. He is married with two children and three grandchildren. John's wife, Laura, is a retired clinical social worker and former VISTA volunteer.
6. Felicia Kenney has been Communications Coordinator for the WCPCA for several years. She maintains the website and the membership database and takes care of all electronic communications with the membership. She joined WCPCA shortly after her return from Peace Corps service in Benin where she worked on computer related projects. She lives in Eugene with her husband, a hedgehog and three chickens.
7. Maggie Keenan is the Communications Director at the Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide (www.elaw.org). She was an agroforestry volunteer in the Philippines. She then signed on for a third year to produce a quarterly Peace Corps magazine (1987-90) that covered PC work in the Philippines. After graduate school she spent three years in Uganda doing contract work for the Uganda Wildlife Society, UNAIDS, UNHCR, and the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. Maggie and her daughter, Emily, recently returned to Maggie's PC site and described their visit to WCPCA members and guests at the October potluck. Maggie has been active in WCPCA for several years including three years of recent board service.
8. Jack Meacham was a PCV in Turkey where he taught English in a rural high school. He and his wife, Mary, who was also a PCV in Turkey, have recently retired and moved to Eugene from Buffalo, NY. Jack was a university professor who taught developmental psychology and world history. Jack and Mary pursue their love of travel and have recently visited Iran and India. Jack has been the board treasurer for the last two years.
9. Dale Morse was in the Peace Corps in Nepal from 1969-1971 and also served as the Peace Corps recruiter at the University of Oregon from 1974-1975. He has been a professor of accounting at Cornell University and the University of Oregon and is currently teaching part-time at the latter. He is married to Leslie Mittelberg, who is the owner of Swahili Imports, and often follows her to strange places around Africa.
10. Wendy Nelson was a PCV in Poland and moved to Eugene in the fall of 2009. She's an instructor in English at the American English Institute of the University of Oregon. During her service in Poland she taught high school English. Her secondary projects were a two week English summer camp and helping at a Habitat for Humanity build. She attends a weekly yoga class and enjoys going to the Emerald City Roller Girls bouts. Wendy has been the board secretary for the last six months.
11. Justin Overdevest is in his third year as the U of O campus Peace Corps representative and ex officio member of the WCPCA board. During his PC service in the Dominican Republic and Peru he worked on projects ranging from reforestation, beekeeping, water and sanitation, solar panels, animal husbandry, and vegetable gardens/nutrition. As the campus representative, Justin offers a monthly information session and has regular office hours to talk to interested students and applicants. Justin is a graduate student in the U of O School of Business. The UO Peace Corps office is in the Career Center (2nd floor of Hendricks Hall). You can contact Justin at pcorps@uoregon.edu or 541-346-6026.
12. Dorothy Soper taught high school French in a rural setting as a PCV in Ghana. She's maintained friendships with students, colleagues, and townspeople since then and enjoyed visiting them in Ghana this summer. She's a retired Eugene public schools teacher and has been secretary and vice president of WCPCA in recent years.
13. Wayne Thompson was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Peru and has visited his Andean village twice in recent years. He taught social studies to junior and senior high students for 31 years at Roosevelt MIddle School and South Eugene High School in Eugene. Wayne and his wife Rolly, also an RPCV of Peru, own Fox Hollow Farm and Fiber. Along with Beryl Brinkman, Wayne co-chaired the 1990 Returned Peace Corps Association's national convention held in Eugene and has been an active member of WCPCA for a long while including several recent years of board service.
14. Bob Watada worked as a PCV in Peru in rural community action. He worked in government in Hawaii for 31 years, the last ten monitoring politicians. He's a retired executive director of Hawaii's Campaign Spending Commission. Bob and his wife, Rosa, moved to Oregon in 2007. They own an alpaca and filbert farm in Pleasant Hill. Bob has served on the WCPCA board in recent years.
WCPCA to present a panel discussion to OLLI
WCPCA was honored with an invitation from the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI), the continuing education program of the U of O, to give a presentation on the occasion of the PC's 50th anniversary. A WCPCA planning committee has organized a program that includes presentations of four panelists and a discussion period for the audience and the panelists to exchange views on the history and future of the Peace Corps. The presentation is entitled:
"The Peace Corps at 50:
Will you still need me when I'm 64?"
Howard Schuman (Thailand, 1968-70) will be the moderator of a panel of four that includes Tom English (Nepal, 1966-70), Laura Massengale (Senegal, 2007-09), Nancy Meyer (Mexico, 2006-08), and Justin Overdevest (Dominican Republic, 2002-04 and Peru, 2004-06).
The presentation will be on Friday, February 11, 2-4 pm, at the OLLI headquarters, 975 High Street (the old R-G building), Eugene. The OLLI staff extends an invitation to all WCPCA members to attend the presentation but would like to know how many to expect in advance. Some parking vouchers will be available. If you are interested in attending please let us know at .
Many thanks to the planning committee who developed ideas for the presentation and worked with the panelists. They are Keith Beyer, Nick and Julie Bosustow, James Cloutier, John Hannah, Jack Meacham, and Howard Schuman.
Dorothy Soper, Chair
Computer Classes
In the past, the WCPCA has offered computer classes, and we plan on doing so once again. The first class, "Gizmos and Gadgets", will be held in January and will cover everything from iPods to ebook readers to smart phones. This class will probably be mostly show-and-tell with additional information from the instructor. If you are considering buying an ebook reader (or would like to know what one is), want to ask some questions about a device you got as a present or are wondering if an iPad is worth the money, join us - and bring your gizmoes. If you are interested in attending, please contact info@westcascadepca.org and we'll find a date and time that works for everyone.
Treasurer's Report
Balance in the WCPCA accounts at OCCU are the following:
- General fund: $1192
- Savings account: $5024
- Beryl Brinkman Memorial funds (restricted use): $2155
- Balance in the Beryl Brinkman Memorial Fund at the Oregon Community Foundation: $24,438
This June 30th OCF balance reflects an investment loss and a June distribution to WCPCA of $562.
October potluck
We gathered at the Many Nations Longhouse on the U of O campus to welcome RPCV students and also students who are prospective PCVs. The event was on the Friday of the week of the U of O Street Faire at which the PC Recruiter on campus, Justin Overdevest, set up a booth to talk to students and distribute PC literature. We were pleased that about 65 people including at least 15 students attended.
Maggie Keenan and her daughter presented the program describing their recent visit to Maggie's PC site of twenty years ago in the Philippines. We learned about Maggie's program in agriculture in a remote rural area and the friendships that she made and has nurtured since leaving. Before and after photos of both people and places were fascinating. This was an excellent program for our audience.
Changes Coming For The Newsletter
Over the next few months, the WCPCA's electronic newsletter will be changing hands. I have been working on assembling the newsletter since January 2008, but I haven't had a whole lot of time to put creative energy into it. Keith Beyer has volunteered to take over, and I am hoping that over time and with the help of the WCPCA community the newsletter will continue to evolve. Thanks, Keith!
Felicia Kenney, Communications Coordinator
Membership
WCPCA now has approximately 120 members including several who have joined in the last two months. Note that members who live out of Lane County usually have joined through the NPCA.
Our new members are:
Miriam Aiken (Eugene)
Philippines, 1965-67
Heather Caturia (Olympia, WA)
Ukraine, 2008-10
Chris Chaplin (Eugene)
Kazakhstan, 2007-09
Jonathan Decker (Seattle, WA)
Philippines, 2007-10
Patty MacAfee (Eugene)
Cameroon, 1989-91
Lisa Main and Steven Babkirk (Cottage Grove)
Poland, 1999-2001
Dale Morse (Eugene)
Nepal, 1969-71
Serena Parcell (Corvallis)
Swaziland, 2008-10
Henry Schmald (Eugene)
Gabon, 1963-65
