For people who were alive to hear President Kennedy’s call to serve in 1961, but couldn’t join Peace Corps back then — there’s still hope!

Peace Corps’s mini website for 50+ applicants offers resources and support especially for people whose main concerns about joining Peace Corps include staying in touch with the grandkids (not grandparents), and how it will affect their social security (not student loans).

The 50+ site includes a Frequently Asked Questions section with topics like health and financial matters. It also includes stories (including audio) of senior Volunteers.

Warning: if you are sentimental about service, the slideshows and voice overs might inspire tears.

While the average Peace Corps Volunteer is 27, the program has no upper age limit. In my mid-20s, I served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in China alongside mid-career, retired, and even elderly U.S. citizens. Chinese students and faculty enjoyed inviting more accomplished foreigners into their communities, and I loved training and traveling with people further along in their careers and lives — it made me less homesick to be with people of older generations, and it also opened my eyes to a different experience of China.

Reaching out to citizens at mid-career and better comes at a time when Peace Corps has fewer slots to place new Volunteers, when only the most highly skilled applicants will be invited.

Peace Corps is a two-year international service experience for U.S. citizens; assignments vary widely. Volunteers earn a living allowance and receive comprehensive medical care, technical and language training, and two-way air travel.  To learn about other international service and volunteering opportunities, check out the Corps and Coalitions list on the right-hand side bar of this blog.

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