Bonnie Jean Campbell, 57, says she toyed with the idea of joining the Peace Corps in her youth. Instead, she had children and a busy job as a research librarian. Her children are now grown, and Campbell, of Port Huron, Mich., is packing to leave for Azerbaijan on Sept. 20. "I wasn't sitting around waiting to join," said Campbell, who owns a consulting firm. "But about a year ago, I started thinking about it. Now, it's my turn." Campbell is among a growing number of Baby Boomers applying to serve in the Corps. An Internet marketing campaign begun last year targeted at the 78 million Americans born from 1946-64 is fueling that growth, says Christine Torres, a public affairs specialist with the Peace Corps recruiting office in Chicago.
Bonnie Jean Campbell fulfills her Peace Corps wish years later in Azerbaijan
Peace Corps wish fulfilled years later
By Korie Wilkins and Andrew Seaman, USA TODAY
Bonnie Jean Campbell, 57, says she toyed with the idea of joining the Peace Corps in her youth. Instead, she had children and a busy job as a research librarian.
Her children are now grown, and Campbell, of Port Huron, Mich., is packing to leave for Azerbaijan on Sept. 20.
"I wasn't sitting around waiting to join," said Campbell, who owns a consulting firm. "But about a year ago, I started thinking about it. Now, it's my turn."
Campbell is among a growing number of Baby Boomers applying to serve in the Corps. An Internet marketing campaign begun last year targeted at the 78 million Americans born from 1946-64 is fueling that growth, says Christine Torres, a public affairs specialist with the Peace Corps recruiting office in Chicago.
Peace Corps spokeswoman Josie Duckett says the number of applications from those 50 and older has increased more than 50% since the campaign was launched in September.
She said that 406 of the 8,079 Americans serving in the Peace Corps — 5% — are 50 and older. Amanda Beck, press director for the Peace Corps, says the goal is 15% by 2010.
The Peace Corps was established by executive order of President Kennedy in 1961 to encourage college students to spend two years in developing countries, teaching English and helping locals in other ways.
The title of the current campaign — "Still Asking What You Can Do for Your Country?" — is meant to resonate with the Baby Boomers who grew up during the Kennedy administration, Duckett said.
"JFK was a role model for everyone I knew back in the early '60s," said Loyci Stockey, 64, who left Seattle last week to begin her work as a volunteer with the Peace Corps in Uganda. "He'd spoken passionately (during) my high school graduation year about some new program he was starting called the Peace Corps. I never forgot his message, and I tucked it away in the back of my head to act on someday. Today is my someday," she added.
Lois McNulty Hill, 58, and Scott Hill, 57, of Amesbury, Mass., leave for St. Lucia, an island nation in the Caribbean, on Aug. 25.
"I had deferred Peace Corps service for about 30 years, and have always wanted to do it," said Lois. "So then, I met Scott, and he independently mentioned that Peace Corps was something he always wanted to do, so that is kind of what brought it alive for me again."
Even those past the Boomer era are signing up.
Michael Fieman, 77, of Olympia, Wash., will be leaving for Macedonia in late September.
"I've had a pretty good business career and good life, and I thought it would be a good thing to give something back," he said.
Wilkins reports for the Detroit Free Press. Seaman reported from McLean.
