People of all ages and from all walks of life serve on Global Volunteers programs. You’ll find active retirees with a wide range of skills to share; all uniting in a common vision of global possibility.
Ellen Shenkarow decided to spend her time in retirement helping where necessary through volunteer work. She volunteers with Catholic Social Services helping refugees and asylum seekers in Tucson, Arizona. This summer Ellen, a retired ESL teacher, wanted to spread the spirit of “doing good” with her family and teach her grandson what life is like […]
Four-time Global Volunteer Doris Sweet describes her service projects and some of the logistical aspects of her service program in Cuba in September 2019. She writes about the lodging and meals she enjoyed while volunteering in Havana with her grandson. Read on if you are wondering what a day in service in Cuba looks like […]
Personal referrals account for more than 40 percent of Global Volunteers’ team members, on average, each year. Not only do “word-of-mouth” recommendations lend credibility to our work, but they help us engage needed numbers of team members for each service program. Who do you know that would love to experience the fulfillment of volunteering with […]
“So how was your trip?” is a common question friends and family ask volunteers upon their return from a service program. How do you summarize in a few words – or even a few sentences – what waging peace through people-to-people service means? Anticipating this question near the end of his Peru service program, Mike, […]
In this guest post, Ecuador volunteer Gordon Smith takes us along on his step-by-step discovery of service abroad with preschool children and their teachers in our partner community. Secure as a father and grandfather, he knew he’d relate well to small children – even if they spoke a different language from him. In surrendering to […]
Alumni volunteer Peter Dykstra stood on the southernmost point of Key West, Florida and imagined he could reach out over 90 miles of water and touch the Cuban coastline. But the country remained a mystery to him while it was “off limits” to Americans. Now, through Global Volunteers, Cuba travel is fully legal and was […]
Septuagenarian Maggie Caison is a retired middle school teacher who, since retiring, finds herself busier than ever. Apart from volunteering internationally with Global Volunteers, she also volunteers with several organizations in her home town of Lenexa, Kansas. “I feel it’s an honor to give a little of what I can. I love teaching and volunteering […]
Global Volunteers Tom and Kathy Kromroy had already served together in the Cook Islands, India and St. Lucia when they decided their “gift” to each other would be to mark their 40th wedding anniversary volunteering in West Virginia. They said the opportunity to reflect on important moments together while they helped youth and adults brought […]
Alumni Karen Isaac had just retired from 30 years of teaching elementary school when she saw “the most amazing photos” of Global Volunteers in St. Lucia posted on Facebook by her friend Gila Cohen-Shaw. A Global Volunteers alumna, Gila has advised other volunteers to “crowdsource” their service program. What has followed is a heart-centered commitment […]
Global Volunteers Alumna Maggi Gallaher said retirement has liberated her to indulge her appetite for volunteering. For her fourth service program, she served at Sagrada Familia, a community in Peru serving 1,400 at-risk children, from one month to 17 years. The community shelters about 600 homeless and abandoned children and provides nutrition, healthcare and education. […]