The Center for Health Communication at the Harvard School of Public Health has launched an effort to promote volunteerism among baby boomers — the more than 75 million Americans born between 1946 and 1964 — as they near retirement, the New York Times reports.

"With the oldest of the boomers turning sixty less than a year from now, we're planning toward a nationwide party for them: 'Happy birthday. What will you be doing the rest of your life?'" said Dr. Jay A. Winsten, associate dean of the Harvard School and the center's director.

The effort will include advertising, special events, the publication of a book, and a public relations campaign. Television commercials featuring the likes of John Glenn, Quincy Jones, Martin Sheen, Cal Ripken, Jr. have already begun to appear. According to Winsten, Senator Glenn's participation was especially prized because he evokes nostalgia in boomers for the "ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country" spirit of the Kennedy administration of their youth.

The project grew out of a survey sponsored last year by the school of public health and the Metropolitan Life Foundation, which has donated almost $1.7 million to fund the early stages of the initiative. The campaign will promote the theme "Share what you know. Mentor a child!" in an effort to leverage the "boomers' optimistic and positive attitude toward the future," said Susan Moss, deputy director at the center. It's also a message designed to "overcome the barrier that people put up when they say, 'I don't have any special skills,' by telling them, 'You have this life of experience,'" said Moss.