Returned Peace Corps Volunteers think their service helped foster a better understanding of the U.S. in the communities they served, and 93% think the Peace Corps has improved America's image globally. They responded that the least achieved goal was helping fulfill the communities' needs for trained workers.

“What works so well about Peace Corps is that it’s not a development organization,” Goyal said. “It’s really more about cultures, languages, and people.”

Thank you, Aaron. And thanks to all of the volunteers past and present for answering the call to service. I’m honored to be part of the Peace Corps’s golden anniversary and to celebrate all its contributions to the world.

Peace Corps Director Aaron Williams and Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Judith McHale will host a reception in celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Peace Corps on Tuesday, March 15 at 4:30 p.m., in the Benjamin Franklin Room at the Department of State.

Armed with a bachelor’s degree in home economics from the University of Georgia and a heap of idealism that only a 20-something could have, Debbie Manget traveled to the Caribbean island of St. Lucia as a Peace Corps volunteer in 1978. She planned on sharing her homemaking skills with villagers.

On March 1, 1961, President John F. Kennedy founded the Peace Corps to fulfill its promise. He set forth the radical notion that a nation should have as its primary foreign policy objective, not to conquer, not to colonize, but to serve. Peace through service.

The Peace Corps has endured a rough month. On Jan. 18, the Corps lost Sargent Shriver, its charismatic architect and first leader. The previous Friday, ABC News ran a grizzly story on violence against Peace Corps volunteers.