Peace Corps Commemorative
The Peace Corps program was established by Executive Order 10924, which was issued by President John F. Kennedy on March 1, 1961. The program was legislatively authorized by Congress on September 21, 1961, with passage of the Peace Corps Act (Pub.L. 87–293). Between 1961 and 2013, over 215,000 Americans joined the Peace Corps. The National Peace Corps Association, a nonprofit organization for Peace Corps alumni, established the Peace Corps Commemorative Foundation to advocate for a commemorative to honor the mission of the Peace Corps and the values on which it was founded.
Joseph Blatchford
In the fall of 1959, Blatchford started rounding up money and volunteers to serve in South America where he started Accion, six months before Sargent Shriver started the Peace Corps. The New York Times reported on March 26, 1961 that Accion was sending volunteers to Colombia in a program designed to provide technical aid to urban centers and rural communities. Blatchford said that over 400 students had applied for the program and that screening would soon begin at the University of California, Stanford University, and the University of California at Los Angeles. After selection has been completed, the group would leave for another course of three months at the University of the Andres, then break into two man teams to serve their communities. Blatchford said the cost of the program would be $125,000 for the first year with half the money already raised and that under the program each volunteer would receive baic expenses plus a stipend of about $1,100 for fifteen months of duty.