Archive - January 12, 2023

  A well-written, informative history of a groundbreaking 20th-century volunteer organization. Kirkus Reviews • Former International Voluntary Services workers provide insights into their organization in this detailed historical anthology.   A nonprofit organization founded in 1953, International Voluntary Services, according to former IVS volunteer and United States Ambassador to Pakistan Wendy J. Chamberlin, “occupies a special place as a pioneer for fielding volunteers” that served as a model for the Peace Corps and a host of subsequent NGOs. The anthology, divided into four sections, is a historical overview of IVS’s endeavors from the 1950s through the 2000s. While IVS was an officially nonsectarian organization, the anthology explains that many IVS members came from Mennonite, Quaker, and Christian pacifist backgrounds, and the organization offered an alternative approach to international relations in the wake of World War II and the start of the Cold War. In its half-century of activism, IVS sent . . .

  This information is from FOIA 23-0021: “A search conducted by the Office of the Chief Financial Officer provided the following information: there are 506 Peace Corps Volunteer Trainees, 345 Peace Corps Volunteers; and 53 Peace Corps Response Volunteers. In total, there are 904 Volunteers in service as of October 31, 2022. I am closing this case in our Office. There are no fees associated with this response.” I made this FOIA request on November 13, asking for the number of Serving Peace Corps Volunteers, the number of Peace Corps Trainees and the number of Peace Corps Response Volunteers, as of October 31, 2022.  I received a response today.  It is, of course, not a current count.  I received no explaination for the long delay in responding,