Glenn Blumhorst: This Is About So Much More Than Building a Park
Glenn Blumhorst: This Is About So Much More Than Building a Park
Dear Supporters,
Growing up as a farm kid in Missouri, there was no way I could even imagine the places my life would take me. But from the very beginning, my parents taught me the values that continue to fuel me today. My dad used to tell me that, for every dollar I earn, I should save some, spend some, and give some away.
My father was also a Marine. He believed in the importance of serving your country and that same commitment to service was always expected of me. When I took my first trip to Washington, D.C. in high school, I was impressed and inspired by the American story and the monuments to the heroism and sacrifice of those who died serving the cause of freedom.
But I knew that military service was not the best fit for me. While I later discovered the Peace Corps in college, I know that if I had seen anything during that formative trip to D.C. that promoted the ideals of peace and partnership it would have resonated with me deeply as a different route from the military.
This is the unique opportunity of the Peace Corps Park project – to tell a different side of our story as a nation than anything else you’ll encounter in our nation's capital – and I hope you will help bring it to life with a generous contribution.
Peace Corps service dramatically changed my worldview. My wife and I served together in Guatemala – our son was later born there – and when we got back to the U.S. I knew that my life would not be the same. I was bilingual, bicultural, and driven to continue applying everything I knew in service of others.
I had a meaningful and rewarding 19-year career with ACDI/VOCA, which included 10 years in Bolivia, before I was asked to lead the National Peace Corps Association (NPCA) as its president and CEO. It was at NPCA that I first learned of the initiative to build Peace Corps Park, and while I helped mobilize the advocacy effort to secure congressional authorization, it wasn’t until I recognized the educational potential of the project that I became so deeply committed to helping it become a reality.
It was a privilege to lead NPCA for those 10 years, and I am even more honored to now have a major leadership role in bringing Peace Corps Park to fruition. But it is the lasting educational impact that the project will have that has inspired me to put so much enthusiasm and energy into this flagship Peace Corps community initiative.
Building the park is the first step. Building the educational components of the digital visitor experience will truly have a snowball effect by forever inspiring generations of people who come to the site. There they will understand the enduring values and ideals of the Peace Corps and the importance of service and community partnership both at home and around the world.
We seek broad community participation. Your generosity in supporting the project with a contribution in your year-end giving plans will allow us to get started sooner on the timeless storytelling that will mobilize and motivate all those who experience Peace Corps Park either online or during an in-person visit to Washington, D.C.
Thank you for your support and partnership; we literally cannot do this without you.
Yours in service,
Glenn A. Blumhorst
Chief Advancement Officer
Peace Corps Commemorative Foundation
President and CEO, National Peace Corps Association (2013-22)
RPCV Guatemala (1988-91)
PEACE CORPS COMMEMORATIVE FOUNDATION
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