Global Volunteers works in partnership with community leaders on genuine development programs, creating impact in the areas of health, nutrition and intellectual development.
Ethical volunteer vacations combine purposeful service with cultural travel – to the ultimate benefit of local children and families. Global Volunteers meets 10 of 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in structuring programs respecting and assisting local people who invite our volunteers into their communities. Our philosophy of service requires serving where we’ve been invited, working […]
Peru Country Manager Daniel Salazar describes higher education in Peru; providing a context for Global Volunteers’ service projects in Lima. We all know how expensive and demanding higher education can be in the U.S. Well, in Peru, college is as challenging, or maybe more so. Read my story and then you can decide. My story […]
by Peru Country Manager Daniel Salazar When we think of the benefits of education, we can probably quickly mention the development of intellectual abilities, freedom of thought, and the increase in productivity. So education is valuable in itself (for the sake of knowledge), but also for the benefits it produces (it makes a person freer […]
Reflections by Emily, an India Global Volunteer, on the cumulative positive volunteer impact on students in Chennai. Before I made the decision to come to Chennai, India, I debated with myself over what my true volunteer impact would be in such a short period of time. I didn’t know if my time and effort volunteering […]
by Daniel Salazar, Global Volunteers Peru Country Manager. When you volunteer in Peru, you have the chance to significantly change a child’s life. It’s one thing to sight-see in Lima. But there is an opportunity to do more, to get to know the country, the stories, and also actually make a difference in a child’s […]
Global Volunteers’ Philosophy of Service guides team members on the principles of responsible volunteering. This alumni volunteer shares a practical example of how this works on site in Chennai, India and elsewhere around the world. By Fran, India Volunteer. At Assisi Illam, the daycare center in Chennai where we’re serving, we’ve just finished singing “Twinkle, Twinkle, […]
Oprah reported: “When Bud Philbrook and Michele Gran opted out of a honeymoon cruise to take a more meaningful trip, they stumbled onto a rewarding way to enrich their own lives and help thousands of children around the world.” Instead of their planned cruise, Bud and Michele spent a week in a rural village in Guatemala. After the local newspaper wrote a story about their unusual honeymoon, people started contacting them asking how they could plan a similar trip.
This unconventional honeymoon led to Global Volunteers’ founding in 1984. Since then, Global Volunteers has engaged nearly 39, 000 volunteers in over 200 communities on six continents. Watch the full honeymoon story on the Oprah Show>>
The next step is to chat online or call 651-407-6100 to consult with one of our Volunteer Coordinators. We’re ready to assist you with project descriptions, travel questions, registration guidance, and other program details.
A unique butterfly garden highlights our work in Costa Rica! You’re needed to help plant native species that attract butterflies, build walkways, lay gravel, and landscape the garden. Costa Rica’s Astounding Biodiversity While Costa Rica covers a mere 0.03% of the Earth’s land surface, it contains nearly 5% of all of the species of flora […]
On the barren hillsides of Alto Progres, Peru, you can magnify your volunteer efforts by assisting families in need! Within the district of Pamplona – one of 150 destitute communities districts of Lima – Alto Progreso’s 350 families survive amidst extreme living conditions. Within a sea of more than one million people, children and youth grow up with intermittent electricity, no […]
When I asked the community of Alto Progreso what project they needed help with and they replied a wall, I honestly was a little scared. I knew they meant a 40-meter-long wall. I knew they had no machinery whatsoever. I knew it would mean a lot of sweat. But I also knew of the importance of […]