Welcome to CORVA

--a non-profit organization of returned Peace Corps volunteers in the Columbus, Ohio metropolitan area that serves as the local representative of the National Peace Corps Association (NPCA).

We are a 501(C)3 organization dedicated to connecting people from other countries to each other through service and conversation.                        

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 ***Contact us at 

corvapc@yahoo.com

Like us on Facebook

*2025 Meetings and Events*

Check out the CORVA Communicator our newsletter Vol 1, #2 for detailed information*

January 15, 2025, Dinner Out 

Ranchero Kitchen, Mexican & Salvadoran cuisine. 984 Morse Rd., 6 p.m.

February 18, 2025 Gateway Film Center @ 6:30 PM To see Oscar Nominated Shorts Documentary 2025. Buy your own tickets. This is $5 night.

March 2,2025 CORVA will celebrate the 64th anniversary of the Peace Corps with a screening of the documentary “A Towering Task:” The Story of the Peace Corps. Upper Arlington Public Library, Friends Room, 2800 Tremont Road, Upper Arlington. The library doors will open at 1:00 p.m., with the program running from 1:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.  

Guest Speaker: Michael Roman served in the Peace Corps in Kiribati.  He was also an AmeriCorps VISTA Volunteer and a Fulbright Fellow at Waikato University in New Zealand. 

Special Guest - The Honorable Ukeme Awakessien Jeter, Mayor of Upper Arlington. Mayor Awakessien Jeter was first elected to City Council, then selected by City Council to serve as mayor, becoming the first Black mayor of Upper Arlington.

March 8,2025, Sat. @ 11 am CORVA will meet at the International Peace Museum in Dayton, OH at 11 am for a tour of the museum and to visit the exhibit, "Experience Peace Corps." The exhibit includes Peace Corps posters since the beginning of Peace Corps. After the tour we will head to a local restaurant. If you want to carpool from Columbus, email Jamie Rhein, jrhein@hotmail.com

April 21, 2025 (Mon)- Annual Peace Corps Send-off Party for volunteers accepted for Peace Corps service. This will be held at the 4 H Center on the OSU campus at 2201 Fred Taylor Dr., Columbus. Details to follow.   

May 21,2025 (Wed)- Dinner Out 6 pm.

Silav Cafe, 330 S. High St., Columbus. This restaurant specializes in Kurdish cuisine. See review in 614

June 22, 2025 (Sun)- Potluck @ Pete and Shirley Wilms @ 1 - 4 pm Address is sent in the Evite

June 27-29,2025 ComFest Watermelon Booth!!! 

July 4- Doo Dah Parade Represent Peace Corps in this annual parade in Columbus's Short North. One year we were the Peas Corps."Give Peas a Chance." One year we were the Peace Corpses. Let's think of something memorable for this year. Meet up for the parade is at Goodale Park. Bring water!

August 10- Sharing Peace Corps Stories with Recently Returned Volunteers.

Join us in visiting with recently returned RPCVs Raven Barrera and Henry Williams as they share stories of their Peace Corps experience in Panama. Please bring guests and friends of all ages who are or might be interested in learning about Peace Corps and would like more information. Light refreshments will be served. Home of Wally and Pat Harsch. Check your Evite.

September 7- Potluck and Annual Meeting 4 to 7 pm Bring a dish to share and ideas for what you'd like CORVA to do this coming year. Find out the latest in Peace Corps news. Think about being on the board. We don't meet a lot. Home of Peter and Matina Ross. Watch for the Evite.

October 3- OSU Home Coming Parade. Join with CORVA members to represent Peace Corps in the Parade. This is one way to get the word out that Peace Corps exists. Ohio State hosts a Peace Corps recruiter. Parade will begin with step off at the Ohio Stadium on Friday,at 6 p.m. in the West Stadium Parking lot and end at the Ohio Union. Traffic and Parking

CORVA Watermelon Booth at COMFEST update! Comfest was a huge success this year!

Drum roll, please ......$4,345.62!.... is the magic number on the CORVA Watermelon Booth at ComFest ' 24

To date we've had a great time FUNdraising $56,466.56 since 2001, just sellin' melon!

Thanks to the efforts of those who helped out with the watermelon booth this June! 

A big thanks to Janice Hoegrefe who takes on the feat of organizing the booth each year.

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!SPEAKER NEEDS!

Want to pursue that ‘third goal’ of Peace Corps by sharing your experience with OSU students, staff, and faculty? Some events may be general in scope while others may focus on your program area of service. 

Contact the Peace Corps Recruiter Valerie Fronczak, RPCV Malawi at Ohio State if you can help with speaking engagements and recruiting events. 

phone: 614-292 3008; email: peacecorps@osu.edu 

OSU RANKED AMONG TOP PEACE CORPS PRODUCING UNIVERSITIES IN 2019!!

Read more here.

 

What We Do

Carry out the third goal of Peace Corps:

--Bringing the World Back Home by...

• Guest speak in schools, civic organizations and Peace Corps recruiting functions.
• Raise money for various local and overseas projects that help fulfill the goals of Peace Corps, i.e., to help people become self-sufficient and able to excel wherever they may live.
• Meet to offer support to newly returned volunteers and friendship to former volunteers who live in central Ohio. Meetings are either a potluck at a CORVA member's house or a dinner out at an ethnic restaurant.
• Help spread the word about National Peace Corps Association and Peace Corps advocacy.

Peace Corps and CORVA in the News!

Valerie Fronzcak, (RPCV Malawi and Peace Corps Recruiter), Jamie Rhein (RPCV The Gambia), and Brittany Baker (RPCV Cambodia) were interviewed and featured in this May 13, 2024, article. 

Columbus Dispatch article on Peace Corps and Ohio State University Recruiting.

**Peace Corps Connect**

CORVA is also affiliated with the

National Peace Corps Association  (NPCA)

 The National Peace Corps Association " upholds Peace Corps ideals and supports Peace Corps-inspired initiatives."

**Make Membership Official***

Put a small amount of money to major good use and take action 

To join NPCA (with a link that allows you to join CORVA, click here.

NPCA dues are free but up your level for a copy of World View magazine.

CORVA dues are a suggested $15, also for a year. CORVA dues cover cost of the CORVA website.

The Peace Corps Week

February 23- March 1, 2025

"The theme for this year, "Tales of Transformation," celebrates the changes that individuals and communities can experience when the power of human connection is shared worldwide. It highlights intercultural exchanges, big and small, that lead to positive growth and sustainable change for all involved."

Peace Corps Week commemorates President John F. Kennedy’s establishment of the agency on March 1, 1961, and celebrates all the ways that Peace Corps makes a difference at home and abroad. As we begin a new decade, we look to the future. This Peace Corps Week, we invite the world to celebrate the ways our host communities and Volunteers are innovating for the world of tomorrow.

Ways to join and celebrate during Peace Corps Week.

Support Peace Corps at the national level by taking action to protect Peace Corps funding.

Click link to see how.

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Support CORVA's Projects. Buy a calendar and sell calendars.

 ***Our supply of International Calendars for 2025 are all sold! 

The calendars are a project of the Returned Peace Corps group in Madison, WI.

Drop us a Line

We're eager to hear from you, particularly if you have just returned to central Ohio from your Peace Corps service.

Also, if you would like us to provide your organization with one or more guest speakers-- or if we can help you with your own make the world a better place endeavors, let us know.

Unique corners of the world are our specialty.

Click here to send us a message.