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Fairfax County has honored Returned Peace Corps Volunteers for decades of service abroad—and for bringing that commitment home—as the Peace Corps marks its 65th anniversary.

More than two dozen former volunteers representing every decade of the program attended a March 3 recognition by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. Chairman Jeff McKay and Supervisors Dalia Palchik and Walter Alcorn praised their volunteerism, community leadership and public service.

“Today we see domestic dividends here in Fairfax County,” Oakton resident Sara Holtz said on behalf of the group. “Service moved home and service is the backbone of our community.”

Holtz also invited the supervisors to consider joining the Peace Corps, offering the group’s help to any member interested in applying.

Congress, the Virginia General Assembly and the Board of Supervisors have recognized the anniversary and the contributions of Returned Peace Corps Volunteers. Since the program was created on March 1, 1961, more than 240,000 people have served.

The Peace Corps began by sending volunteers to six countries, with Ghana as its first destination. Its reach eventually expanded to 144 countries. Today, roughly 3,000 volunteers serve in more than 60 countries, and 178 Virginians volunteered in 2025.

More than 300 volunteers have died during service or after returning home from service-related causes.

The organization continues pursuing the mission associated with President John F. Kennedy: advancing peace and friendship by strengthening understanding between Americans and people of other cultures.

Reston Volunteer Found Lasting Change in Costa Rica

Jean Wintemute of Reston served in Costa Rica from 1980 to 1983. Her interest began during a high school trip to Venezuela, where she met Peace Corps volunteers.

“That was my goal in life—get my bachelor’s degree and then apply to the Peace Corps,” she said.

Wintemute and her husband worked in community development and health education on a Bribri Indigenous reservation. The Bribri, the largest of Costa Rica’s eight Indigenous groups, live in isolated mountain and coastal communities in the country’s south. The area where she served had no electricity or roads.

Her projects included school gardens and women’s groups centered on nutrition, basic health practices and crafts. She demonstrated ways to use and preserve local foods, including making breads, brownies and banana bread. Some women began selling banana bread for additional income.

One lesson never got started. Wintemute planned to teach residents to make jam from local apples but could not obtain enough fruit. She later learned of a belief that cooking apples taken from the trees would cause the trees to die, leaving residents unwilling to contribute their harvest.

A weaving project had more enduring results. Wintemute brought a small loom for her own use, sparking interest among women who remembered stories of their ancestors weaving. Together they developed a simple loom and organized classes. The women sold their woven bags, creating another source of income.

When Wintemute returned in 2025, she saw a young man carrying one of those bags, still in good condition decades later.

During her service, she missed electricity, refrigeration and the selection available in American supermarkets. Back home, she now misses Costa Rica’s fresh tropical fruit, which she considers far better than what she can find locally.

An Early Volunteer Taught in East Africa

Reston resident Stephen Cristofer answered Kennedy’s call during the Peace Corps’ earliest years. He served from 1962 to 1964 in what was then Ethiopia and included present-day Eritrea.

Cristofer was working as a federal examiner when a sense of adventure led him to join. In Africa, he taught English and geography to students at the primary, middle and high school levels.

Adapting to everyday customs brought unexpected lessons. At his first assignment, the headmaster warned him not to place toilet paper in the toilet because it could block the system. The wastewater also flowed into a garden near the outhouse.

Cristofer most missed his family, friends and the comforts of home. Northern Virginia’s large Ethiopian and Eritrean community now helps him remain connected to the region’s culture and food, and he frequently visits Ethiopian restaurants.

Eritrea, located along the Red Sea, has substantial agricultural and mineral resources but remains among Africa’s poorest countries. Landlocked Ethiopia is Africa’s 10th-largest country and its second-most populous. It is also associated with some of the oldest known remains of a human ancestor.

A Friendship from Togo Crossed Decades

Holtz served in Togo from 1995 through 1998, spending three years promoting community health. Her work focused on safe motherhood, child survival and reproductive health.

Although she missed friends and relatives, two Togolese colleagues, Henou and Adjoua, welcomed her into their families. Holtz and Henou maintained their friendship for 23 years through handwritten letters in French.

Then, in 2021, a WhatsApp voice message arrived from an unknown number. It was the first time Holtz had heard Henou’s voice since leaving Togo in 1998.

She also remembers fufu with peanut-sesame sauce and tchouk, a home brew made by Kabye women and served in a calabash while still fermenting.

Togo is a West African country between Ghana and Benin, with Nigeria farther east. It is known for palm-lined beaches and hilltop villages, but Holtz said it continues to face poverty, deforestation, political instability, gender inequality and a need for better roads and greater economic diversity. She also cited the threat of jihadist incursions.

“Serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer was the privilege of a lifetime, instilling in me a lifelong commitment to service,” Holtz said.

She said the experience gave her more than she contributed, inspiring her to continue volunteering. Her recent work in Fairfax County has included habitat restoration, youth development and refugee resettlement.

Peace Corps volunteers do not receive salaries. They are given monthly living allowances intended to let them live at a level comparable to people in their host communities. Depending on the location and season, balanced meals can be difficult to obtain, food choices may be limited and Western-style products may be rare.

For Holtz, however, the strongest memory is not a particular dish.

“Truthfully, I miss the sense of family and community found in a communal bowl more than the food itself,” she said. “Today I try to recreate that feeling by inviting friends to gather and eat together, honoring the lesson that the meal’s best ingredients are the connection and time we share.”