The Peace Corps ramps up recruiting of boomer retirees

Ten days after his 50th college reunion, John Baker joined the Peace Corps.

The Collinwood, Ohio, resident was 70 years old. His wife, Kathy, who also signed up, was 61.

The Bakers became part of a small but growing cadre of Peace Corps volunteers over age 50. This summer, the organization created by President Kennedy ramped up recruiting of the 50-plus crowd, covetously eyeing millions of baby boomers approaching retirement.

"They have life experience and skills. They bring so much to the table," said Christine Torres, a spokeswoman for the Peace Corps' regional office in Chicago.

To many, the Peace Corps is a band of Birkenstock-shod 20-somethings, full of idealism and free of encumbrance. But about 5 percent of the more than 7,700 current volunteers are 50 or older, with an undiminished desire to serve.

"Playing golf in Florida was not our idea of a good time," said Kathy Baker.

Instead, the Bakers volunteered for a 27-month stint in the Peace Corps and were sent to Romania in 2001. John, who used to run the executive MBA program at Cleveland State University, served as a business adviser; Kathy taught mostly middle-schoolers in Romania.

Friends back home sent donations that helped the Bakers set up a domestic-violence shelter, and since returning, the couple have sponsored three Romanian teens so they could attend high school in Northeast Ohio.

Jamie Diatta, a Peace Corps recruiter for a six-state region that includes Ohio, said older people interested in volunteering have a completely different set of questions from the much younger: They want advice on how to handle their property and belongings while they're gone. They wonder about the impact on their financial affairs.

Joe Topoly, a retired teacher, caught the Peace Corps bug in the 1980s when he heard the agency's director speak at his daughter's commencement ceremony at Ohio University.

By the mid-1990s, when he was 63, "I just wanted the adventure," said Topoly. "And at that point in my life, I decided if I was going to do it, it had better be now."

Four months after Topoly began serving on the Eastern Caribbean island of Antigua, his wife, Doris, joined him as he taught and coached. He still goes back every year and for a time brought young athletes from Antigua to compete here.

"It was a wonderful ride," said Topoly, recalling his Peace Corps service. "If I could do it again, of course I would."

Linda Somers, chief executive of the Care Alliance Health Center in Cleveland, also was over 50 when she served in the Peace Corps.

She had wanted to work in a different culture, helping the poor, since her days as a young teen. But after marriage, kids and a career, there never seemed to be enough time.

When the opportunity finally presented itself, she was a senior executive at a hospital in the Washington, D.C., area.

Beginning in 2000, she worked in the Dominican Republic with a nongovernmental organization dealing with the HIV/AIDS crisis, taught English and helped women set up microenterprises such as a catering service.

Even as an accomplished executive, she fretted about whether any of her skills would be useful in another country.

"You don't know what you have to offer until you're there," said Somers, who has returned to the Dominican Republic five times.

The Peace Corps' Torres said it's too early to tell whether the boomer campaign is paying off, but there is evidence it has been well-received. For instance, after a recent informational meeting in Westlake, Ohio, several people 50 and older followed up for more information or indicated an interest in applying.

Torres said regional offices now are dedicating recruiters specifically to work with prospective volunteers 50 and above. The Peace Corps also is adopting new language training methods aimed at older people and tries to place them in areas without temperature extremes and close to appropriate medical care.