Years of Peace Corps Service:88-90

Country of Service: Ecuador

Education:B.S. Biology, from Eastern Mennonite University.  MBA Environmental Management from Florida Atlantic University

Professional Experience:Ten years of Shrimp Aquaculture pond managment in Ecuador.  Currently owner of Rainforest Carpentry Inc of Sarasota, eco-friendly wood decor.

Personal: My goal in life " to save the Amazon Rainforest"

Passion/Interest: Birdwatching, Rainforest life, Sustainable Design,

Who I am :

- Proud spouse of a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer who served in the Philippines.

- Recent transplant to the state of Florida from the midwest.

- Started in the teaching profession as a career path and migrated to the nursing profession.

-  Firm believer that if at all possible, we can choose to think globally but still act locally. Everyone can be a change agent in their own community.

Why I joined the board:

The Peace Corps service was a pivotal period in my husband’s life that forever changed his world view. I help celebrate the Peace Corps because it has impacted the lives of the Peace Corps Volunteers and the communities they served. I joined the board with deep gratitude for all the meaningful things that Peace Corps has done for the world.

Susan recently re-joined the RPCVGCF board, after a ten-or-so-year's hiatus. I have been living in Florida since 1997, and in the Sarasota-Manatee area since 2000.  I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Costa Rica from 1985-1987,  and I now enjoy a fulfilling a private psychotherapy practice, which includes writing evaluations for immigration.  I am so grateful for my peace corps experience, which stays with me to this day.  I joined the RPCVGCF board because I want to be a part of our group's impact on environmental sustainability and social justice, both locally and globally.

Years of Peace Corps Service: 1993-1995, Rural Community Education Advisor; Village Literacy Program Coordinator

Country of Service:  Solomon Islands, West Pacific

Education: B. A. Sociology, UMass-Amherst, MA; Graduate Certificate in Administration/Management, Harvard University-Extension Program; M.A. Pastoral Theology, Barry University; Completed Teacher Certification Education Courses, USF; ESOL Endorsed.

Professional Experience: Social Work, Program Development/Coordination/Management, ESOL Instruction, K-8.

Personal: Fan of British Mysteries; Medieval Mysteries; Cozy Mysteries; Enjoy reading about the Blue Butterfly in various habitats across the world.

Passion/Interest: Peace and Social Justice Causes; Fascinated by Social Movements.

Agriculture volunteer

Mali West Africa 2000-2003

Education: Chaminade University, Honolulu Hawaii

Career: 24 years in the U.S. Armed Forces. Retired as a Navy Supply Officer.

Licensed Dispensing Optician

School teacher, currently I am teaching 6th grade science at Manatee School for the Arts in Palmetto Florida, where I have been for the last 11 years.

I Have 3 sons and 8 grandchildren.

Leita Kaldi Davis worked for the United Nations and UNESCO, for Tufts University Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and Harvard University. She worked with Roma (Gypsies) for fifteen years, became a Peace Corps Volunteer in Senegal at the age of 55, then went to work for the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in Haiti for five years. She retired in Florida in 2002, and wrote a memoir of Senegal, Roller Skating in the Desert, and of Haiti, In the Valley of Atibon, as well as several travel memoirs.(amazon.com or lkaldi@hotmail.com). Leita received the Lillian Carter Award in 2017. 

PhD. University of Pittsburgh

MPH  West Chester University

Peace Corps II, Ethiopia 1963-1965

Worked 43 years in higher Education.

West Virginia University 1965-1966

University of Pittsburgh, 1966 – 1994

Illinois State University 1994 – 1997

Cleveland State University 1997-2000

West Chester University of Pennsylvania 2001 -2008

Participated in Journals for Peace 11-22-88

Visited Ethiopia and Eritrea in 1995 as part of a thirty year Peace Corps Reunion

Spent two weeks with daughter Molly, a Peace Corps volunteer, in Niger in 2001

Was a leader of a team that took West Chester honor students to South Africa to conduct HIV AIDS research in 2004

Participated in several projects in Iquitios and Madre de Dios province in Peru with ACEER – the Amazon Center for Environmental Education and Research. 2004 -2008

Participated in Habitat for Humanity project in Bahr Dar, Ethiopia in 2009

Led Habitat for Humanity team to Debra Berhan, Ethiopia in 2010

Led Habitat for Humanity team to Bodaa, Ghana in 2011

Penn State Master Gardener