LPCA HISTORY
The Louisiana Peace Corps Association was started about the year 1995-96. The National Peace Corps Association in Washington hosted a reception at the International Hotel in downtown N.O. that year and over a hundred people showed up. Tuey Murdock and Dave Wessel met that night and talked about starting a local group of RPCVs. A year later, Murdock and Wessel planned the first RPCV gathering. About 25 RPCVs showed up and it was agreed to get a group organized. Tuey & Dave had obtained a list of RPCVs in the area. We met several times and eventually voted on officers: Tuey Murdock was elected as LPCA’s first President and Dave Wessel was the first Vice President.
One of the first things the group discussed was planning a community service project. Andrew Palmer, an LPCA member at the time, mentioned that his sister-in-law worked for "Christmas in October" (now: Rebuilding Together) and perhaps we could do something with that organization. LPCA sent 5 members to participate that year. The following year, the Christmas in October organization gave LPCA an entire house to do – fully aware that LPCA had only sent five volunteers the year before. However, LPCA managed to bring 40 volunteers split between two Saturday workdays.
That was really the beginning of the local group. LPCA started a newsletter called, “The Cajun Corps Chronical," which received a National Peace Corps Association award for its quality. As word about LPCA spread a subgroup formed in Lafayette. Activities such as Ethnic Dinners, group picnics and an annual crawfish boil down on the bayou at the Boulet Crawfish farm and family home of RPCVs Melanie and Virginia Boulet.
Community involvement in the area of "work projects" became a big focus for our group. RPCVs from the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine joined our efforts in making these projects successful and meaningful. The following projects became part of our "modus operand: Community Vegetable Gardens and Cemetery Clean-ups in cooperation with the City of New Orleans’s Department of Parks and Recreation, bayou clean-ups in Lafourche Parish and invasive vegetation removal in Jean Lafitte National park. Due to the hard work and organization of Mike Sloniker the LPCA won recognition from the City of New Orleans’s Mayor's office with a "Golden Hammer Award" for LPCA’s contribution to rebuilding the city in 1998.