Annual Activities Report for 2019
The Mountain Laurel RPCVs of N.E. PA
Reported by Mimi Stanford (Thailand XI)


Our group is very small, with about 20 "regulars," meaning, people who show up for the monthly dinners and/or who buy calendars for our sole fund-raiser. All decades are represented, some from the beginning of the Peace Corps (early 60's). We have mainly served in African nations, but all geographical areas are represented.

We meet almost monthly at different ethnic restaurants in the Lehigh Valley, about a 50-mile radius. These dinners are normally organized by Edwin & Janice Kay (Cameroon). Interestingly, at one of the dinners, the entire $80 tab was picked up by an anonymous customer, so $80 was put into the group bank account for charitable giving.

Our only fundraiser is the selling of the Peace Corps calendars, ordered from the Madison, WI, RPCV group. This year we ordered 35 calendars (also notecards, et al.), for a profit of $390, which was disbursed in January of 2020. Last year's profits, plus other income, were disbursed in January,2019 to: Liberia Assistance Program ($100), Mali health ($100), and Doctors Without Borders ($200).

We also have ongoing micro-financing loans through Kiva.org, relending money for new projects all over the world, as others are repaid.

On Oct.23rd the film "A Towering Task" (a history of the PC), with a Q & A afterwards, was attended by over 50 people at Lehigh University.

"Our Claim to Fame": In 1991, one of our most active members, the late Marjorie D. May, received the prestigious Sargent Shriver Award at a ceremony in Washington, DC. Marge was in her 80's at the time.