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July/August 2007 Newsletter

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Announcements:

Meeting Information

Mark your calendars! Our next meeting is a swim party, potluck and business meeting scheduled for Saturday, July 21 starting at 3:30pm. Come join us at Pam and Phil Lopes' home with family, friends and a dish of food to share. Their home is located at 1421 N. Camino de Juan. To get there, drive west on Speedway, pass Greasewood and just as the road merges to two lanes you will come to Camino de Juan. Take a right and the Lopes' house is the last house on the left.

August Ethnic Dinner

The next ethnic dinner will be held at Sinbad's on August 18 at 6:30pm. The restaurant is located at 810 East University, across from La Salsa. Parking near the establishment is limited; you may need to resort to the garage to the southeast of the establishment on Tyndall.

RPCV-SA Activities:

From the Prez, Catherine North:

Dear Fellow RPCVs,

We had fun picking out a project to fund at the last meeting, and I hope that you can all come for the next funding selection. It’s so rewarding.

I’m in New York for an internship, so I’ll miss seeing you all at the July meeting. The rest of the crew will run that meeting, and I look forward to catching back up with you in September.

I hope you’re all having a wonderful summer!

peace,

catherine

 

From the Trea$urer, Courtney Martin:

Our current checking account balance is $871 and our savings account balance is $720. I know it seems early to start thinking about calendar sales, but we received our order of 300 calendars this week. Since this is the largest order to date, we will need everyone’s support in identifying venues to sell the calendars. We will also discuss possible pricing strategies at our next meeting.

As a reminder, we continue to provide an alternative to joining the National Peace Corps Association. For local members interested in paying dues directly to the RPCV of Southern Arizona group we offer the low annual rate of $15/person. If you do choose to join the NPCA, please identify RPCV of Southern Arizona as your local affiliation and we will receive a portion of your membership dues. ($22.50)

All proceeds from our fundraising events and membership dues go directly to Peace Corps Partnership projects.

 

From the Community Services Coordinator, Jennifer Dederich:

AIDSWALK 2007 has been confirmed for Sunday, October 14th. Historically we have organized a team for this great event. In order to participate as a group we are looking for someone who is willing to organize the team logistics. Please contact Jennifer Dederich (jdederich@yahoo.com) if you are willing to take the lead on AIDSWALK.

 

From the Website Manager and Peace Corps Partnership Coordinator, Casey Boettcher:

We received a letter of thanks from Washington indicating that the $1200 we donated reached the projects we selected in Cameroon and Tanzania.

One thing about the donation process that has improved is that Peace Corps is now sending emails confirming the online transaction, whereas before, the donor was left to wonder whether the exchange of funds had completed properly.

Tony Knapp contacted us with the results of his water project in Panama. If you'll recall, we partially funded Tony's project prior to the last round of Partnership donations.

National RPCV News:

Call for Maps Made During Service

From the Friends of Benin Yahoo! group: 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: 
> To: 
> Sent: Wednesday, March 14, 2007 7:18 PM 
> Subject: Is there a Peace Corps map in your past? 
> 
>

Chris Delcher (RPCV El Salvador, 1998-2000) is trying to find the maps and mapmakers of the Peace Corps. Many Volunteers are trained to make community maps while in service. These maps range from the hand-drawn variety that live in tattered journals to very sophisticated maps created with digital Geographic Information Systems. Chris' own hand-drawn maps focused on pubic health by displaying the problem of minimal latrine coverage in his town but volunteers from all Peace Corps programs are using maps for many reasons. No matter the size or sophistication, if you have a map (or even a picture of you next to a map that you have created) from your service or know an RPCV that does, please contact Chris at:

cddelcher at comcast dot net

 

NPCA Advocacy ListServ

For more information on NPCA Advocacy, visit the Advocacy Network webpage. Our thanks to those of you who contacted your Congressperson yesterday to oppose an amendment filed by Representative Hensarling (R-TX) to reduce funding for the Peace Corps.

As House action moved forward yesterday on the Foreign Operations spending bill, Rep. Hensarling decided in the end not to offer his amendment for consideration!

Among amendments that were offered and defeated were several calling for across-the-board reductions in the Foreign Operations spending package. These defeats were important for maintaining proposed funding levels for Peace Corps and other key development and humanitarian assistance proposals.

Attention on Peace Corps funding now turns to the Senate, where in recent years, spending levels approved for Peace Corps have been less than the House request. You should expect similar action alerts to the Senate on the FY 2008 $333.5 Million Peace Corps funding request in the coming weeks and months.

Next week, we hope to send out our regular monthly advocacy update, just in advance of NPCA's Capitol Hill advocacy days. Until then, have a good weekend and thank you!

Late on Thursday, the full Senate Appropriations Committee approved a Foreign Operations bill that includes a recommendation of $323.5 Million Fiscal Year 2008 funding for Peace Corps. This would represent a nominal (roughly 1.5%) increase in funding. It is $10 Million below the recommendation of $333.5 M approved the previous week by the House of Representatives.

With the tremendous help of volunteers participating in our Capitol Hill advocacy activities, we took an immediate first step in responding to this news. Advocates stopped by 90 Senate offices on Friday, hand-delivering letters from the NPCA expressing disappointment in the Committee recommendation and urging Senators to support the funding level earlier approved by the House.

We will be assessing next steps in the coming days, as the process continues. The full Senate will still need to approve the Foreign Operations bill. Eventually, the Senate and House will have to come together in a "conference committee" to iron out differences.

More details on this and action opportunities you can take on other key issues will be coming next week in our regular advocacy update.

Jonathan Pearson (Micronesia 87 - 89)
Advocacy Coordinator
National Peace Corps Association
1900 L Street NW, Suite 404
Washington, DC 20036
202-293-7728, ext. 21
fax: 202-293-7554
advocacy@rpcv.org
http://www.rpcv.org/advocacy

More from the NPCA

In the past month we've launched new ways to stay in touch with the Peace Corps community and the National Peace Corps Association. We hope you'll check them out and let us know what you think.

But with the weather turning warm, who wants to stay glued to a computer screen? It's time to get outside and what better way to strike up a conversation than by wearing a new t-shirt or toting a bag with a Peace Corps-related slogan or logo? You can find a big selection of apparel and gifts in our online store.

With appreciation for your service and thanks for your support,

Kevin Q.
President


NPCA
1900 L Street NW, Suite 404
Washington, DC 20036
http://www.peacecorpsconnect.org