{'html': "Washington, D.C., September 30, 1999—Peace Corps Acting Director Charles Baquet III will speak at the 1999 Iowa Governor's Conference on Volunteer Service at the Des Moines Airport Holiday Inn on October 6. During the conference luncheon, Baquet will share the vision of Peace Corps as it moves into the new millennium.
The night before the conference, Baquet will send-off the next generation of volunteers from the Des Moines area when returned Peace Corps volunteers, families of currently serving volunteers and prospective volunteers meet to celebrate volunteerism at the Airport Holiday Inn.
Baquet began his career in public service as a Peace Corps volunteer in Somalia from 1965 to 1967. After Peace Corps, Baquet pursued a distinguished career in the Foreign Service, working in Asia, North America, Africa, and Europe. Baquet assumed the position of Peace Corps Acting Director in August 1999.
The Peace Corps is stronger and more popular today than at any time in a generation. Nearly 7,000 volunteers are now living and working in 77 countries.
Currently, 81 Iowa residents are serving overseas and more than 1,500 from Iowa have served since the agency was founded in 1961.
The Peace Corps is fortunate to have broad, bipartisan support among the American people and in Congress. President Clinton announced an initiative to expand the number of Peace Corps volunteers to 10,000 in the early part of the next century. Earlier this year, Congress endorsed a four-year plan that, if fully funded, will enable the Peace Corps to achieve this goal by the year 2003.
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