Thanks to the Gottlieb's for opening their home to 18 people.  

Welcome to several first timers.  Barry spent a fulfilling career in health and social services with HIV/AIDS, seniors and persons with disabilities and is now considered PC.  Marian Adomakoh & Paul Eduah of the Ghana Association told us about the work their group is doing in connection with other organizations in sponsoring scholarships to the African community and an orphanage in Accra (see below).  And a returning returnee, Cecelia Skott, who had been an active member before starting work at the Center for International Development, presented work that SUNY is doing with PC's MI program (see below).  

Missing members included Joan & Harry Thornhill who just received the books that Wendy collected and sent off last month.  

Other people notes of interest:  Pat Doherty was notified 24 years ago that she will be serving in the Peace Corps, but hasn't gotten her assignment yet.  This could be a record.  

The documentary film, American Idealist: The Story of Sargent Shriver, has arrived.  It's available through our archive for presentations, outreach, classrooms, or just to enjoy.  You can watch clips on the movie's website or check out discussion questions for use in classrooms.  

Thanks to Wendy, our poster board has a carrying case.  Great!

Jeanette gave the numbers.  We have $2254.54.  This past year, 2007, was the first year that we gave out more money than we took in, with a net of -$164.  This was due to our contributions to several projects.

We again discussed strategies for giving.  
We used to support Thanksgiving Dinner, but now most of the dinner is covered by donations.
We used to donate to Peace Corps Partnerships.  Do we want to consider this again?
Cecelia related her experience on the receiving end of PCPP.   The amount she received made a huge difference.
Bill suggested we'd do better to support individuals or organizations with whom we have a personal connection.
Diane suggested we set a percentage of our intakes for giving, support known efforts first, but assess our balance at the end of each year and donate any remainder of our outreach target to Peace Corps Partnerships.
Joe will look into Peace Corps Partnerships and give a summary at next meeting.

Amie will be in the area again April 15 - 16.  Her schedule, here, includes Crossgates, the Albany Public Library and the Honest Weight Coop... so, we can stop to say hello.

Our next meeting is Tuesday, April 1st at 6pm the Kathy Sanderson's.  Jeanette will invite the People to People participants from Iran.  

The Ghana Association:  Marian Adomakoh & Paul Eduah presented the 51st Ghana Independence Day Celebration.  The celebration will feature a catered dinner, traditional Ghanaian dance & drums and a talk by Albany County District Attorney David Soares.  

Marian provided traditional Ghanaian recipes to the caterer, and she approves of the result!  The Ghana Association works in association with other community groups, including the Nigerian Association, the Liberian Association and the Westminster Church, on projects that support scholarship programs and an orphanage in Accra.  Proceeds from the dinner will go to a book scholarship.  

When:  Saturday, March 15, 2008, 7pm to 2am
Where:  The Ballroom in the Campus Center at SUNY Albany's main campus, 1400 Washington Av, Albany
Tickets:  Call 518-433-1655 or 518-330-2933.  $35 (adult), $25 (student), under 16 free.  

Hopefully, Marian will post a flier to the mailing list, but if not... all the info is above (without the pictures).  


The School of Public Health:  Cecelia Skott presented a proposal that SUNY will submit to Peace Corps in effort to gain inclusion of the School of Public Health as a Masters International Program.   The program would allow perspective PCV's to apply for PC and for SPH simultaneously, and PC service would be a part of the degree program specialty in International Health.  The SPH current has a Health Policy, Management and Behavior Department, in which an International Health is appropriate.  

One of the conditions of the proposal is that SUNY needs to show a track record for recruiting PCV's, the potential for continued recruitment, and an established relationship with RPCV's.  We shared names of RPCV's with connections to SUNY, SPH or NYS Dept of Health and renewed our support of recruitment events, as well as offered a weblink to the program and announcements about the success.  Augusta will sign a letter of Letter of Support outlining our potential involvement.