Vt. leads Peace Corps per capita
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By Josh O'Gorman STAFF WRITER - Published: December 12, 2009
This state might be small, but its residents have big hearts.
Vermont has the highest rate in the nation of people signing up with the Peace Corps, with 9.7 volunteers for every 100,000 residents.
The distinction came as no surprise to Erin Mone-Marquez, regional manager for the Peace Corps in Boston.
"I think Vermont is leading per capita just because of the lifestyle of its residents," she said. "People are very interested in volunteering and public service in their communities and that carries over to their work with the Peace Corps."
Since the Peace Corps' inception in 1961, 1,380 Vermont residents have been among the 200,000 volunteers who have worked in 139 countries.
Currently, 60 Peace Corps volunteers call Vermont home.
The Peace Corps has recruiters who visit college and job fairs around the state.
The University of Vermont has its own recruiter — the only campus in New England to have one — which is a contributing factor in the Burlington area ranking seventh nationwide for metropolitan areas for volunteers per capita, with 9.1 volunteers per 100,000 residents.
While recruiters have long reached out to recent college graduates — the Peace Corps was born out of a speech delivered in 1960 by then-U.S. Sen. John F. Kennedy to students at University of Michigan challenging them to volunteer in developing countries — many people are volunteering later in life.
"We're not only getting those people coming out college, but also people in mid-career in their 50s and 60s," said Mone-Marquez.
Two such people are Jim and Julie Moulton.
In August, the former Weston residents returned to the United States after volunteering for 27 months in Mongolia.
"It's something we had been thinking about for a long time, since college really," said Julie Moulton, 46. She was teaching sixth-grade English at Flood Brook Union School in Londonderry when she brought her class to hear a presentation by a former Peace Corps volunteer at nearby Green Mountain Union High School.
Moulton was so inspired, the next night, she and Jim went to a Peace Corps informational meeting to learn how they could volunteer.
Once they hit Mongolia, Julie continued to teach English, while Jim, a bookkeeper, worked with a nongovernmental organization teaching small business development.
"Coming out of the Soviet system, the Mongolians don't have the skills to work in the private sector," Jim Moulton said. "It took me a little while to realize I was making a difference. Everybody goes there thinking they're going to change the world and that's not the case. I learned the best thing I could do is teach them the best lesson I could for them."
Since returning, the Moultons have lived with Julie's mother in Chesterfield, N.H., as they make plans to volunteer again.
"Like in Mongolia, we're staying with extended family," Jim Moulton said.
And for the time being that extended family includes one of Julie's former students from Mongolia, who is on Christmas break from college in Colorado.
Julie Moulton urged anyone thinking about volunteering overseas to check out one of the Peace Corps' informational meetings in the area.
"If you have an adventurous spirit and an open heart, it could be the right experience for you," she said.
For more information about the Peace Corps, visit www.peacecorps.gov.
josh.ogorman@rutlandherald.com
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