Project Salvador's Newest Board Member

Project Salvador is operated and managed by a volunteer Board of Directors. Our dedicated board members come from very diverse backgrounds, with some having served as Peace Corps Volunteers in El Salvador. Here is an introduction from our newest board member:

John (l) with friend Jerry in El Salvador.

     My name is John Kukankos, the newest member of the Board of Directors. I write these few words to introduce myself and to set forth what I hope to contribute to Project Salvador. 

     

    I was raised in the Western suburbs of Chicago where I graduated from Catholic grammar and high schools. I graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a BA in English and then received my law degree from Northwestern University School of Law in Chicago. I have three grown children and have been married to my wife Peggy for thirty-four years. We currently reside in Arlington Heights, Illinois, a suburb Northwest of Chicago.

     After I completed my first year of law school, I decided to apply to the Peace Corps and was accepted to a program in Turkey where I spent a year teaching English as a foreign language.  The Peace Corps abruptly ended the Turkish Peace Corps program a year into my 2-year volunteer service.   I managed to join another Peace Corps program in El Salvador where I spent two years working in community development. When my two years in El Salvador ended, I returned to the states to finish law school and have been practicing law in Chicago ever since. But, I never forgot El Salvador.

     As we grow older, I think we have a greater urgency to find fulfillment and to become involved in something worthwhile. My good friend Jerry and I would often talk about finding just such an endeavor, and I think we both always knew that our journey would begin in El Salvador. So, eight years ago, we decided to go to El Salvador. In El Salvador, Jerry and I looked at a number of different projects, but the project that most appealed to us involved education – especially for young women. Since that first trip, Jerry and I have helped raise funds to assist the Project Salvador scholarship program.  It is my hope that during my tenure on the Board, I can assist in fundraising efforts and continue to develop the scholarship program.