“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, […]
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 […]
It might be that there’s no farther point from the Cook Islands in the United States than Maine. But, that didn’t discourage University of Maine Honors College student Lucie Bonneville from traveling to the South Pacific with Global Volunteers. Undaunted by the 7,000 mile journey, she sought to help others in the global community and […]
A student volunteer group from the Wegmans School of Pharmacy at St. John Fisher College discovered their week of service on the Rosebud Reservation of South Dakota really does make a difference. Learn from their experience here! Just one week. Would that be enough time to truly have even a little impact on people’s lives […]
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 […]
Four-time Global Volunteer Gemma Lewis has always been passionate about supporting children and their families. As a Children’s Care Coordinator with the National Health Service in the UK, she works with families of children living with severe disabilities to ensure they receive appropriate physical and emotional interventions. It was with this focus on practical support […]
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. […]
Returning from a service program can make you itch for more meaningful travel. Deciding where to volunteer next can be challenging, however. But maybe you don’t have to make the decision all over again. LeAnn Plinske and Jennifer O’Neill are alumni who chose to return to where they originally served. Here they share their experience […]