[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Page 3906]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  45TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE PEACE CORPS

  Mr. COLEMAN. Mr. President, this year we celebrate the 45th 
Anniversary of the Peace Corps. It is with immense pride that I send my 
congratulations to Peace Corps volunteers as they commemorate this 
anniversary throughout the year with events across the country and 
throughout the world.
  In 1961, President John F. Kennedy established the Peace Corps to 
promote world peace and friendship. Since then, more than 182,000 Peace 
Corps volunteers have made significant contributions to the cause of 
peace and human progress in 138 countries around the world.
  Today, we are at a 30-year high in terms of the number of Peace Corps 
volunteers in the field. In 2005, there were nearly 8,000 volunteers 
serving 75 countries, in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America, 
Eastern Europe and Central Asia, North Africa, the Middle East, and the 
Pacific Islands.
  Throughout its illustrious history, the Peace Corps has been 
committed to helping the people of interested countries train their men 
and women to work in education, community development, agriculture, 
health care, and public works. Peace Corps volunteers are also 
unofficial ambassadors of goodwill, promoting both a better 
understanding of America throughout the world, and a better 
understanding here at home of the world around us.
  Today, the Peace Corps' mission is more important than ever. Peace 
Corps volunteers are a critical part of the global fight against HIV/
AIDS. The Peace Corps was also part of America's response to the 
tsunami, deploying Crisis Corps volunteers to Sri Lanka and Thailand to 
assist with rebuilding tsunami devastated areas. And when Hurricane 
Katrina hit here at home, some 272 Crisis Corps volunteers answered the 
call to assist with relief efforts along the gulf coast in partnership 
with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA.
  It is with great pleasure that I join with Peace Corps volunteers, 
past, present and future, to congratulate the Peace Corps on its 45th 
anniversary.

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