Family volunteer vacations, once known as voluntourism, are back in action as the global pandemic comes under control. From community service to building homes, environmental research projects and teaching, travelers are looking for ways to give back. The concept of mixing volunteer activities with seeing the world dates back several centuries to the work of missionaries. It really took hold in the 1960s with John F Kennedy’s Peace Corps as a way to see the world.
Family Volunteer Vacations for All Ages
Many organized programs focus on volunteer vacations, close to home or abroad, for the entire family. Local charities have always relied on volunteer help, of course. Now, many welcome short-stay visitors to contribute a helping hand wherever they can. Tourists are welcome as groundskeepers and chauffeurs, for example, if they plan ahead with the Orlando charity, Give Kids The World. GKTW is a short-stay residential village for children with life-threatening illnesses. Those who have “Made-A-Wish” to visit the themeparks head to Orlando. The GKTW charity relies on many volunteers each week to meet their guests’ needs.
Blaze Trails Across the US Together While Volunteering
The American Hiking Society spearheads the annual volunteer effort, National Trails Day. They also run cheap, week-long camping trips with small, friendly groups on trail-clearing and trail-blazing projects. Participants must be able to hike at least 5 miles per day and be accompanied by a parent or guardian unless over 18-years of age. They’ve also begun a popular program of alternative spring breaks for small groups of college students.
Do Conservation Projects on Family Volunteer Vacations
Elevate Destinations is a highly regarded luxury adventure tour company. Their past trip to Haiti was selected as a National Geographic Traveler “Tours of a Lifetime.” Take your family on an adventure tour in one of their fascinating destinations on an itinerary specifically tailored to fit your family’s interests, including local service. They regularly offer exciting volunteer trips, such as an African safari in Kenya where you can work with lion conservationists. Another Kenya adventure gives you the opportunity to work with tribal communities. Participants will learn about tribal skills, traditions and rituals.
Enrich Your Travels with Cultural and Humanitarian Volunteering
Global Volunteers is a non-profit, non-sectarian, international organization based in St. Paul, Minnesota. They have run short-term human and economic development projects throughout the world for over 30 years. Having worked in 32 countries on six continents, they are currently offering projects in 13 countries. A spokesperson says they “have placed hundreds of families in meaningful, educational service projects in nearly all those countries.” Typically, many ongoing projects are open to families traveling with kids under age 15 during school breaks and summer. Tasks include caring for infants and pre-schoolers, teaching conversational English and health care. Active volunteers assist in light construction, building maintenance and planting school and household gardens.
GlobeAware.com is another resource founded by Kimberly Haley Coleman, herself a mother of two toddlers. They organize and offer a variety of one-week international family volunteer vacations. These are service trips whose mission is to “encourage people to immerse themselves in a unique way of giving back.” Families can review upcoming service projects on the Globe Aware website. Get in touch with them to find out if they are appropriate for different age children. Ms. Coleman notes that many young families want their children volunteering at younger ages. Global Aware is committed to developing opportunities where even the very young can participate (such as helping to build a clay stove in a Latin village.) They note that foreign languages and cultures can be easily embraced by family volunteers.
An operator of worthwhile tours called i-to-i organizes TEFL (teaching English as a foreign language) training opportunities for travelers. There are intern trips to a handful of fascinating locations such as China, Spain, Thailand and Cambodia.
Teen Volunteer Vacation Opportunities Around the World
There’s one group with 50+ years’ experience and the endorsement of National Geographic. Because of their science research trips, Earthwatch is respected around the world. Their Teen Team Expeditions are hands-on trips that aren’t only educational. Teens on these trips make a real difference and help the places they visit. The organization offers all the tools, training, and experiences their volunteers need to make an impact. Activities range from snorkeling to tracking sea turtles, monitoring climate change and conserving wild bees. Teen Teams are exclusive to 15- to 18-year-olds and run during the summer months.
The U.K. based Projects Abroad has offered tailor-made group trips for more than 30 years. Join other students, sports teams, or simply groups of friends in traveling abroad to help others. They also offer two, three and four-week summer programs for 15 to 18-year-olds. Projects Abroad gives volunteers the option to custom-design a placement to suit their goals and interests. Groups focus on teaching projects as well as conservation, archaeology, childcare, sports, law, veterinary medicine and animal care, human rights, and other subjects.
Habitat for Humanity offers teens the opportunity to help construct and rehabilitate homes in their communities, across the US and abroad. Habitat for Humanity often has one-day volunteer opportunities as well as longer term projects.
Think Global, Act Local: Volunteer Vacations in the New York City Area
Volunteering opportunities don’t have to come from exotic locales. Often those in need are right in our own backyards. With that in mind, since our backyard is New York City, we decided to scour around for valuable work that students can do any time of year.
Is your teen interested in “learning the ropes”? The Hudson River Sloop Clearwater welcomes 2-4 volunteers for week-long stays to sail, assist and learn from the permanent crew. Participants must be at least 16 years-old during the mid-April until late October season. Since 1969, the Clearwater has offered environmental education and organized music festivals along the Hudson, while working towards the restoration and protection of the river. Once aboard, volunteers may get a taste of everything from boat maintenance and daily chores to sleeping below decks. Sailing experience is not a requirement, and this is a great way to learn.
Junior Achievement of New York is a non-profit organization that bring volunteers together with students K-12. Jobs include helping to inspire, encourage, and engage kids through in-class and after school activities. These programs are designed to prepare students for their future plans and economic success. The program offers daily and weekend volunteer opportunities.
Central Park Conservancy offers a handful of volunteer opportunities, from picking up trash to pulling weeds and painting rails. Participants ages 18 and older must sign up for volunteer gardening opportunities in advance; space is limited. On Family Days, participation age begins at 4 years old.
United Way of Northern New Jersey strives to bring the basics, education, income and health to everyone. Deliver food to elementary schools or help the program develop agendas and initiatives. It’s a way togain important skills crucial for entering the workforce.
We welcome you to share any other family volunteer vacation opportunities you find in the Comments field below.
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I poured my heart and soul into this!!! Hope you people enjoy! =)
Wow, this is wonderful! You are so lucky to have gotten this opportunity. You looked absolutely gorgeous at the show and the red carpet. Thanks for sharing this, it really made me smile. I used to have the biggest crush on Joe Jonas.. hahah!
Amazing trip!
I hope that my story will inspire and enrich your lives; even if it doesn’t touch you as much as it has touched me. I hope that this will be passed on and that people will take a few minutes just to read what I had to say and try to be in the mind of these children. Try to change your day and see your house, your possessions, your income, and those many great things that you possess and find a way to share them with others. We all need a wakeup call sometimes, a message to straighten us out and look at the life we were given. I hope to go back next year to repeat the experience all over again and try to change myself even more, I love those children and I love their compassion and selflessness. Words can’t fully express what I felt or what I witnessed but my words are clear, these people see the world much differently than us, they treat possessions differently and they know how to work as a community.
This is about when my family and I took a trip down to Central Florida for our Family Vacation.
Hope you enjoy!
This was a vacation that taught me a lot about how my religion is organzied and gave me more appreciation for it.
I will never forget the time I spent in Germany.
I hope you guys enjoyed my story!
Best luck.
South Africa is this amazing country that not only is beautiful for its animals and scenery but for its people and for its ability to overcome the greatest oppression: apartheid, the discrimination of the majority. I am so glad I was given the gift of traveling to South Africa. It is an experience I will never forget!
It was a great trip!
I hope everyone who takes the time to read The Awakening enjoys learning about my bus ride to reality.
My typed essay about my vacation in Vietnam. It seem poorly written or should I say typed :\
Bryan Gray Europe Tour.
My vacation to Panama became suprisingly meaningful, contrary to what I had initially expected.
Thank you
This was a fun and yet difficult project i truely have enjoyed sharing my vaction with you.
Mahalo,
Have you ever been to Maine? What did you like best?
This is such an amazing story and essay!!
Their were many more memories from this trip that impacted me as much as the ones that were included, but I just didnt have enough room. So, I shortened it and tried to write the best description of the trip without exceeding the word limit. But the trip was, indeed, as remarkable as I said it was.
Washington is a really nice place. It has many museums and historical places. it also has very delicious foods. Chinatown was my favorite place to eat.
Thank you for this scholarship opportunity!
IB York was a great experience, and a great opportunity to explore new ideas and innovations
So now I head to college without my classmates but i will always have this wonderful experience.
🙂
This is one of my many travel adventure stories from my trip to Europe in the beginning of the summer. Besides Prague, I traveled to Berlin, Munuch, and Nuremberg in Germany, Innsbruck in Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, and France. My favorite place was Switzerland, but my favorite story was the one I shared. I hope you enoy reading it as much as i enjoyed experiencing it!
I want everyone to be able to expericence something like I did.:) Everyone desevers happines!
I hope you enjoyed my travel blog and I hope you plan to take your mom to the Peaks of Otter Lodge for the best brunch you will ever eat. For more information click on this link:
http://www.peaksofotter.com/
Finished product. I love PERU!
This eye-opening opportunity has shaped my conviction toward making change and developing the community. It is a great pleasure to meet all those Leadership Award Honorees and other49 ANNpower fellows from 24 states in the U.S. I will continue to make change and build a dynamic community, excursively to ethnic, social, political gender aspects of advantage, as my milestone to become a great leader!
This eye-opening opportunity marks the culmination of my junior year. I am so glad to meet all those wonderful women leaders from all around the world and 49 other ANNpower fellows from other 24 states. I will continue to explore the world and make change with eagerness and confident, and overcoming disadvantage exclusively toward the milestone of a great leader!
I hope everyone enjoys my trip to Catalina and Ensenada!
This trip was the best trip regarding family time. It is unforgettable.
To see more photography from the trip, check out my photojournal: http://www.facebook.com/pages/A-Photojournal-of-My-Grecian-Travels/213497035367351.
What a testimony!! Thanks for posting. You don't know how impactful this is. Let Jesus keep using you for His glory. 😉
I was saved in August of 2009. I was in my parents's room and we all prayed for m, becuase I was tired of not having a desire for God. There I gave my life to Him and let Him be my Lord. I already excepted Him as Savior, but though it was a license to sin. Thatt day, though I wanted to repent of my sin and let God lead me. Lord and Savior go hand-in-hand. My life is changed. Now I have convictions and am learning so much about seeking God, because He is seeking me. It's awesome to live in the security and hope of knowing I will see Him one day in heaven. I am so glad He lives in me, because my goodness outside of Him is nothing. I don't know what I would do without Him.
Jesus used that park to bring you and your dad back together. How beautiful 🙂
Each place I go, I leave a peice of myself. And everyplace I go leaves a peice of itself in me. The people I have met along the way have changed me in the deepest way. Their lives have touched mine and I can never return to life as was usual. Likewise, my life has touched many along the way. It is my hope that nobody I meet along the way may return to life as was their usual. This is how each thead pulls coth and fabric together as we the people of the world cover it like a quilt. We must double stitch each peice so not to fall apart or leave holes. We need one another.
To whoever reading this, I am the person wearing blue shirt and white shorts, sligtly leaning on the panda bear statue.
My essay that talks about my experience traveling to Lima, Peru aims toward encouraging others who are not too familiar with it to visit and appreciate the fun life changing experience they're gauranteed to get.
What a great contest! Hope to see lots of terrific teen travel stories here!
It was difficult for me to type a 600 word blog about an amazing experience I had in the month of July. It was also difficult for me to choose certain pictures from the ones that I have chosen, so I uploaded the pictures of my time at NeiHu elementary school. I really wished that I could have used more sightseeing photos, but unfortunately, those were too big to upload.
This trip was amazing and it also tested who I am becoming as a person. Seeing the woman in Central Park living out her dream, to the woman selling fruit throughout the day; New York is made of dreamers and hardworking people. I loved it. Hope I get the chance to go back.
This was an amazing experience! I am so grateful for everything it taught me!!
From research, I believe the ice cream shop was called Eisdiele Eddy. More information about the exchange program can be found at http://www.aatg.org/study-trip-faq as well as at the bottom of the page at http://www.aatg.org/NGE-awards.
These Picutures are both of my own creation (one being an acrylic painting). When I took this picture at the western wall in Israel, the man in the photo was crying his heart out wearing a tattered down bath robe, I thought it would make for an intersting picture. So it did, it also inspired to me to create a painting in which I showed the world what I believe he really is. A man who is down on his luck but seems to still find peace in his life.
My sophomore year of high school I went to Donner Pass in California with a group called The Woods Project (www.thewoodsproject.org) . I had to apply to go , I was really anxious and scared that I wasn’t going to get. When I got my acceptance letter I was excited. I was also nervous because I had never been away from home for more than a week and The Woods project was going to last for two weeks. I had chosen to go to Donner Pass because I wanted to experience something new. I was going to go backpacking for one week and hiking the other. I had never gone backpacking before. When I told my friends that I was going backpacking they started to laugh because I am the smallest girl in my whole school and they didn’t think I was going to make it. Getting that response from my friends made me super scared of going to the trip. I thought I was going to die while backpacking!
My dad went to go drop me off at the airport and then he left. I was already scared and freaking out at the fact that he had just left me there and I did not know anybody! . I got in the plane to California and I was already regretting going on the trip. I was going to be with complete strangers for two weeks! When we got to California we all got split .There were three groups going to different places, one to Yosemite, another to Marine Headlines and then mine, to Donner Pass. I got in a van and that’s where I met the people who I was going to spend two weeks with. We were in that van for hours! When we finally got to our cabin we had to go up a hill to get to the door.
The first cabin we stayed in was named Clair Tappan Lodge. It was really nice . It was made out of wood, had a pool table, personal chef, jacuzzi and hot water in the showers. I loved it there! Too bad it only lasted for two days then it was time to go backpacking. They gave us our backpacking materials. I tried on the backpack and almost fell over. My backpacking week had started. We went up and down mountains, through rivers and lakes, and I thought we were never going to set up our tents. When it started to get dark we finally started cooking. The food we had was not good at all. We couldn’t bring a lot of food because of the bears and other animals. My second day of backpacking went better than the first. Everybody in my group started to know each other better and soon we became really close. We would sing while backpacking to make time pass faster and at night we didn’t want to sleep because we would play games. While backpacking I got to experience many things I hadn’t before. Even though I was the smallest girl going backpacking I was always the leader of the line because of my stamina.
When our backpacking week ended it was time to hike. I had gotten the hardest part of the trip over with so I knew hiking was going to be a piece of cake. We would hike in the morning and hanged out at night. It was the best experience I had ever had! When it was time to go back home I didn’t want to because I knew I would miss my friends.
To watch my video go to : http://youtu.be/FLd7W71EnyU
My experience as a first time camper.
i hope i win