Dear Houston PCA,

As the winter season continues to bring tangible evidence of progress in the construction of Peace Corps Park, I am reminded that, no matter our specific role in this historic effort to create a new federal monument in Washington, D.C., we are all builders.

In Lithonia, Ga., the Silver Cloud granite that will form Peace Corps Park’s trademark benches has been quarried, cleaned, split, and readied for transport to the fabricator in Wisconsin. In Virginia, the Virginia Mist granite that will be cut into pavers and textured for the Park’s world map centerpiece has been purchased and readied for transport as well. 

Most recently, a ⅔-scale mockup of the granite benches' hand details was crafted in plaster to guide the robotic shaping process. It’s a great example of the human touch needed to ensure the highest quality for this landmark project, and you can read more about it later in this newsletter.

So while the building process moves along, my own efforts to build Peace Corps Park through our fundraising campaign move along with it: We’ve now raised almost $7 million, and I’m fully dedicated to building the coalition that will get us to the finish line.

Our communications team is building the Park by sourcing and sharing the stories of our notable advocates; our development team is building the Park by enlisting an ever increasing number of fundraising partners; our Board of Directors and Advisory Board are building the Park by relentlessly donating their time, resources and expertise to the effort.

Most importantly, every single person and every single group that has donated to the initiative is building Peace Corps Park by demonstrating the broad community of support for this important symbol of our nation’s story. 

We’d like that community to include everyone who shares the ideals and values represented by the Peace Corps, so thank you for anything you can do to spread the word (like forwarding this email) and grow the Peace Corps Park footprint as we build momentum toward groundbreaking.

Yours in service,

Glenn A. Blumhorst
Chief Advancement Officer
Peace Corps Commemorative Foundation

GBlumhorst@PeaceCorpsCommemorative.org

Construction update: A human touch

Details matter when operating on the larger-than-life scale (in both the physical and symbolic sense) of a new national monument, and when details matter, there’s no substitute for the human touch of a skilled craftsperson. 

While the Silver Cloud granite that will make up Peace Corps Park’s trademark benches will be carved and shaped by robotic machines, the critical ingredient in faithfully bringing artist Larry Kirkland’s and his design team’s design to life remains the artistry of the human hand.

Models of the benches have been created at various steps in the process to refine the designs themselves and to inform other aspects of construction, like visualizing how to cut the granite blocks to optimize for the direction of the grain pattern. 

As Peace Corps Park gets closer to taking its place among the national monuments and memorials in our nation’s capital, the models have similarly gotten closer to the actual size of the finished product.

This latest step in the process is a set of ⅔-scale models of the open hand forms that will become the end segments of each of the Park’s benches, mocked up in plaster by expert sculptor Christopher Collins. With his careful eye shaping the specific angles and depths of every crease, every fold, every ridge represented on the open-hand design, the full-size version is sure to make a memorable impact on all those who visit.

The models will now travel from Collins’s studio in Pennsylvania to the Quarra Stone Company in Madison, Wis. where they will be scanned with a 3-d scanner to create the digital files that will guide the robotic carving tools that will actually shape the stone.

An image of the three scale models in sculptor Chris Collins's studio (photo by Larry Kirkland)

The symbolism of the human hand, and the many human hands going into making this project happen, are fitting for a permanent tribute to the values of peace and friendship that unite our community of hundreds of thousands of Americans and our partners overseas.

Richard Swarttz named Peace Corps Acting Director

Richard has a long track record as a dedicated leader across his numerous senior roles in both the public and private sectors during his 35-year career. He spent three years as CFO of the Peace Corps during the first Trump administration, after which he joined Lead for America as its chief financial and administrative officer.

He returned to the Peace Corps in September 2025 to work alongside the senior management team to chart the path forward for the agency, and will hold the Acting Director role until the Senate confirms a permanent nominee.

That said, he has already had an impact, with one of his first initiatives being the recently launched Tech Corps, designed to recruit, train, and deploy skilled Americans to support the adoption of artificial intelligence in Peace Corps host countries participating in the American AI Exports Program. 

Tech Corps volunteers, targeted to begin their service this Fall, will work with host country partners to harness American AI to solve real-world grassroots problems in key sectors including agriculture, education, health, and economic development. Swarttz has framed the initiative as a natural evolution of the Peace Corps mission, stating that volunteers have always been innovators and that AI represents the next frontier for the agency's global impact.

Daniel Dayton joins the Peace Corps Park team

As a consultant supporting the Foundation’s fundraising campaign, Dan brings his deep and diverse expertise to reach new audiences and donors, and to reach existing audiences in new ways. We have long been inspired by the example he and his team set in their $50 million campaign to build the WWI Memorial and its Virtual Explorer app and are looking forward to his contributions to Peace Corps Park.

Help the Park, help yourself at tax time

It’s tax season again, which reminds us that supporting Peace Corps Park through an individual retirement account (IRA) can be a great way to make a positive impact on the world while reducing your overall tax burden.

The two key items every donor should know about are Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs) and Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs):

• QCDs: A Qualified Charitable Distribution allows people age 70½ or older to donate up to $100,000 per year directly from their IRA to a qualified nonprofit like the Peace Corps Commemorative Foundation. A QCD can count toward your required minimal distribution (see below), and because it goes straight to charity, it is excluded from taxable income.

• RMDs: If you are over 73, you are required to withdraw a certain amount from your Traditional IRA every year, and that amount is considered taxable income. Depending on that minimum (determined by your age and the balance in the account), you can use a QCD to meet that requirement and thus decrease your taxable income accordingly.

You can find more information on the Ways to Give page on our website, but we hope you will consider including Peace Corps Park in your tax planning to ensure your finances have the greatest impact possible. And if you have already done so, thank you very much for your support!

Include the Park in your long-term planning

After the construction of Peace Corps Park, the Peace Corps Foundation will continue to pursue its mission of elevating the Peace Corps brand and upholding our community’s shared values of service and global partnership. Donors looking to include a gift to the Foundation in their legacy planning can be confident that no matter when their gift is made, it will support the entire Peace Corps community for generations to come.

Thankfully, it’s very easy to include Peace Corps Park as a beneficiary in a Will or retirement account, and it’s a great way to make a commitment with no immediate cost. 

Learn more at the Ways to Give page on our website, where you can also download a simple form to notify us of your planned gift.

Fundraising Update

The Peace Corps Commemorative Foundation gratefully acknowledges the following donors, who have made generous new contributions and/or pledges since January 29, 2026:

See our digital donor wall showing all cumulative gifts to Peace Corps Park!

Where is Glenn?

If you or your group are interested in learning more about the construction of Peace Corps Park, Glenn regularly travels to meet with stakeholders across all 50 states and is always happy to share the vision in person—and there’s a good chance he’s already planning to be in your area! Just reply to this email and let him know if you’d like to arrange a meetup. Up next:

And be sure to follow us on social media at the links below!