I’ve always said that Peace Corps /Localise is not so much an invention as a discovery. It is not based on a theoretical plan; it’s an observation of how young people actually work. Peace Corps/Localise has very simple principles. Maybe that’s why it has been able to adapt to changing times.

If our first principle is friendship our second is work. From Day One our motto has been ‘Caring in the community’. Young people love action. So, the main purpose of Peace Corps / Localise is to empower young people, through reflection and training, to be effective work units in their own local community. In this way their talents are tapped and confidence is encouraged.  

Peace Corps was born out of the deep desire of some young people to do something practical in their community. When Christine Simpson and that first group of friends came together in Ballyfermot to do some ‘caring in the community’ they didn’t want an elaborate framework. But they did need a back-up structure to support their personal talents – a structure that would enhance their work and promote their ideals.

The core of that structure was people.  For example, Mary Donovan O’Connell so embedded training in our routine that it is still a hallmark of our organisation today.

Peace Corps / Localise is all about people. It’s about people like our Co-ordinators and adult leaders, who have faith in our young people and in our future. From the outset they have been vital. And they still are.

It’s about those people who support the Co-ordinators – like our voluntary General Co-ordinator, Seán Jevens. And it’s about those people who have taken on the full time post of Development Co-ordinator down the years from Cróna Gallagher to Teresa Heeney and Noel Matthews. And, most especially, it’s about Derek Cleary whose development of the Localise programme has been pivotal in Peace Corps.

I think too of the assistance we got from the people in the various groups and affiliations we’ve had down the years – from Glencree and Corrymeela, from NYCI and CYC – and the practical support from the people in the Youth Affairs section of the Department of Education and Science.

As our methods and structure and ideals evolved some generous people went to the trouble of pinning them down. The Peace Corps booklets  - firstly by Margaret Burns and then by Adrienne Cassidy  - and the Pat Kenny video ‘Caring in the Community’, produced by Miriam Judge, were milestones in our development. But of course the people at the centre of Peace Corps /Localise are the young people themselves – the young members of Peace Corps / Localise. They are the people we salute, applaud and recognise today.

Members of the early Peace Corps movement will recall that it was quite natural for them in those ‘olden days’ to give some free time each week to doing something for the community! “I’m free. I’ll lend a hand.”  Young people today are as generous as ever – but there have been big changes in the society around them. So the young member nowadays is almost counter-cultural. Voluntary work is almost passé. You may have noticed it’s ‘the rate for the job’ these days. I’m told that even babysitting within the family has a rate!

 Most of the changes in Irish life-style have been for the better. But it seems one of the casualties has been the volunteer. Young people don’t see many young adult volunteers anymore. Most – but not all - volunteers are middle-aged – folks of a different era. Maybe the spiritual values they were raised with gave them an instinct to give a dig-out to the underdog. But there were other factors. Because, let’s face it, the volunteer was often abused. Slave labour. No recognition. No applause. And a lot of blame if anything went wrong! If some kid hit her head at the swimming pool on a free day out, her daddy came looking for the volunteer in charge!

Then the depression of yesteryear steered paid community employment schemes into those caring areas that were normally volunteer country. And the tiger economy turn-around fuelled a hard core consumerism. Materialism if you like. And, let’s face it again, the cost of a roof over a young head costs an arm and a leg. ‘I haven’t time to help others. Time is money and I need lots of money – to live!’ And - in fairness - on the other hand, voluntary organisations have never found people as generous with money. They give giga-amounts. It’s the time that people can’t afford.

When I look at the rise-and-fall cycle of Peace Corps groups in the various communities I see that, in part, it is due to the natural ‘moving-on’ fallout but most examples of decline are due to unreplaced adult back-up. Show me a Co-ordinator and team and I’ll show you a Corps!  

We can proudly say that our young members continue to cultivate those traditions today. It is my earnest prayer that our young people, in turn, will continue to be supported – by adults who are prepared to help.  

Síocháin libh!