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On a rainy early morning in 1960, then Senator John F. Kennedy challenged students at the University of Michigan to serve their country by living and working abroad. Since then, countless lives have been touched and changed by the tens of thousands of Volunteers who have answered that call and served in the Peace Corps.

Peace Corps service, however, continues long after Volunteers leave their posts. President Kennedy stated that the third goal of the Peace Corps is to "strengthen Americans' understanding about the world and its peoples." By sharing their Peace Corps experience and host country culture, returned Volunteers can fulfill their third goal commitment during Peace Corps Week 's global celebration.

Peace Corps Week is an opportunity for our returned Volunteers and their extended Peace Corps family—staff, friends and family of Volunteers, as well as friends of the Peace Corps—to partake in promoting cross-cultural understanding, world peace, and friendship by shining a spotlight on the important work of our Volunteers around the world and the continuing service that returned Volunteers bring to communities in the United States.