Y2K was another excellent year for the Chicago Area Peace Corps Association (CAPCA). Highlights included the group’s receipt of two awards from the National Peace Corps Association: the prestigious Loret Miller Ruppe Award for Outstanding Community Service for our partnership with Chicago’s Youth Guidance Connections program, and the Best Web Site for a geographical area. The awards were received at the NPCA’ s summer Leadership Conference, which was attended by NPCA liaison-to-CAPCA Kelly Brest van Kempen, immediate past President Maxine Gere, and current President Leslie Wilson.

Our continuing commitment to the Connections program helped them fund their third trip to West Africa. This year the group added Togo to their itinerary, and they returned to Ghana as well. Though the group did not connect up with a Peace Corps Volunteer or village for a hands-on project this year, CAPCA continues to support the overall mission of the program - youth leadership development that is cognizant of the importance of cross-cultural influences and understanding, and of self-reliance and personal responsibility. This year a Connections program youth leader was the guest speaker at our year-end holiday potluck, which was attended by about 100 RPCVs and friends. Among these friends was Connections program leader John Zeigler to whom CAPCA Vice President Wallace Goode presented a check for the $250 cash portion of the Ruppe Award for use in the program.

John Zeigler and his wife, Theresa, were also guests at our Founder’s Day dinner (June), following a day in which he hosted Peace Corps Director Mark Schneider on a visit to one of the neighborhoods where the Connections program has its greatest impact.

Another highlight of the year was, in fact, Director Schneider’s attendance and remarks at the Founder’s Day dinner. As in 1999, the dinner, which was Co-Chaired by Helen Haugsnes and Nancy Kramer had about 100 attendees, including two soon-to-be Trainees and members of their families and several Nominees. The dinner was held at the Field Museum of Natural History, and featured a silent auction and raffle, which, along with the sale of program ads, helped ensure proceeds of $2,860 toward our pool of funds for Partnership Projects and other community efforts, like our support of Connections. As a token of our appreciation to Director Schneider, CAPCA made a contribution to a Partnership Program project in El Salvador - the El Vado Community Center.

During 2000, CAPCA made contributions of $2,500 to Connections, $261 to the Partnership Program, and $500 toward RPCV Alissa Strauss’s participation in the NPCA-sponsored Cuba trip for public health RPCVs.

As is CAPCA’s custom, many excellent monthly dinner meetings took place in 2000. The cuisines enjoyed by groups of 20 to 50 each month were Ethiopian, Middle Eastern, Indian, Peruvian, French, Pakistani, and Greek. The August meeting was held at Chicago’s Peace Museum, where guests learned about the distinguished the 20-year history of the museum. September’s meeting featured a presentation from three members of CARE International’s Youth Corps, who talked about the impact of their three-week trip to work in one of CARE’s projects in Peru. In November, CAPCA President Leslie Wilson was the guest speaker at the Oak Park Council of Foreign Affairs annual dinner, and about a dozen other RPCVs joined Council members in celebrating their 37th year of supporting Peace Corps Volunteers worldwide through Partnership Projects. This year, the Council funded their 237th through 243rd projects. The Oak Park Council includes two RPCVs on its Board of Directors - Dawn Parsons-Feller and Margaret Rohter, and several other RPCVs among its members.

On the local volunteer front, CAPCA members worked three different times, as a group, at the Greater Chicago Food Depository, where two RPCVs are on the administrative staff. Additionally, CAPCA hosted a table at the Food Depository’s annual volunteer recognition dinner. In March, individual RPCVs - both CAPCA members and non-members - participated in Peace Corps Day by visiting classrooms throughout the City and suburbs. In August, CAPCA members volunteered with Friends of the Chicago River for a day.

This summer the CAPCA-affiliated "Culture Shocks" softball team, which has been competing for a dozen or so years now, completed its season with a record of 5 and 5. And, RPCV Ralph Mafucci welcomed Peace Corps friends to his customary summer (and winter) weekend at Camp Vista in southern Wisconsin.

Additionally, CAPCA purged its membership database this year. When the year ended, CAPCA had 200 current dues-payers. Now, to help ensure that this number increases, Nancy Kramer is working as Membership Coordinator, with responsibility for thanking renewing members and welcoming new members. Treasurer Stephanie Arnold has assumed responsibility for managing the database, and is owed a great debt of gratitude - and public recognition - by CAPCA and NPCA for her efforts in this regard.

The CAPCA Web Site now has a leadership team led by Greg Nessinger and Juliann Wilson Salinas who, in early December, unveiled a redesigned site, which is even more user-friendly than the earlier, award-winning version.

During 2000, several members left the CAPCA Board through early resignations or ends of terms, and a word of thanks goes to each of them: Anthony Bradford, Mary Collins, Helen Haugsnes, Laura Kochevar, Patricia Thompson, and Carol Wilkerson. Additionally, Marium Hussain stepped in to serve as Secretary for several months. In September, Marie Erdman, Trina Janes, Kara Malenfant, and Chuck Sheftel joined the Board, by election or appointment, and in December Ben Peeters came on board as an appointee.

Throughout the fall, the CAPCA board once again sold the Madison RPCV groups calendar, netting more than $1,000 for our support of community and Partnership projects. CAPCA is grateful to the Madison group for making this fundraising opportunity possible for us, to RPCVs Howard Raik, Noel Jackson, and Wallace Goode for buying so many calendars, and to Stephanie Arnold for coordinating this effort yet again.

Finally, in early December a cadre of RPCVs were active and informed participants in an important workshop sponsored by GROW-Chicago, a collaborative initiative to draw public attention to and interest in the need for US Government funding of economic development projects for women and girls in the developing world. Of approximately 40 attendees, about 20 were RPCVs - some had served in the ‘60s and some had returned from service within the past year.