Letter to the Editor: The Peace Corps turns 65

The Peace Corps (PC), founded by President Kennedy in 1961 is celebrating 65 years of contributions to world peace and development. Over that period, more than 240,000 volunteers have served in over 140 countries, and many have gone on to successful careers in a variety of fields that grew out of their two years of PC service.

I am one of those 240,000, having been a PC Volunteer in Senegal, West Africa, where I worked in “rural community development” from 1963-1965. I was in my early 20s then, and my major project was to work with the “village elders” to start a “village garden,” a process I was granted the opportunity, decades later, to repeat here in Warwick, with its strong sense of the importance of community. A “village garden” in the 1960’s in West Africa led to a “Community Garden” in Warwick, now in its 17th year.

Geoffrey Howard
Warwick