Community Corner
North Branford Man Joins Peace Corps At Age 61
Ed Pikaart, Jr. will leave his wife, four children and job as an accountant behind to spend 27 months in Africa.
Most people who join the Peace Corps are below 30. But North Branford's Ed Pikaart, Jr. is about to break the trend.
The 61-year-old just signed up for the Peace Corps, and will spend the next 27 months in Kenya, according to The Shoreline Times. Pikaart is a married accountant with four children, but told The Times he got more and more into volunteering as he got older.
While in Kenya, Pikaart will use his business experience to be a "community economic development" expert, where he will help establish techniques such as mciro-lending, according to The Shoreline Times. He will also help fight against the rampant African AIDS epidemic and try to help empower women and children in the country, according to The Times.
"I’m looking forward to it as a sabbatical, a time for me to figure out exactly what I’d like to do with the rest of my life,” Pikaart told The Shoreline Times. “Many people when they retire just get consumed with all these little things."
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