How you can help!

Between the costs of donations to each organization, travel, accommodations and insurance, the cost of a trip like this is significant. So significant, that we’re relying on the kindness of friends and strangers to help out.

Your contribution will help build affordable housing for families in need in Hungary, assist victims of the Tsunami in Thailand to rebuild their communities, provide food and shelter to Cambodian orphans, support organic farming practices in Costa Rica, teach children English in Belize and continue to respond effectively to the urgent needs of the survivors of Hurricane Katrina.

There are many ways to help.

You can donate to this experience by going to our secure Paypal account here, or by clicking the ChipIn link at the top of the side bar.

If you'd like to designate your donation to a specific program, please include that in the comments line in Paypal.

Have a website? Please link to Voluntourists on your site and we’ll be sure to return the favor.

Have a blog? Blog about us! (But only if you’re going to say nice stuff).

Would your company be interested in supporting us and/or do they provide matching donations? We’re happy to add a company logo to our site, wear a company t-shirt while we toil in the fields and/or talk to people about how their contribution is being put to work.

Gonna buy something on Amazon? Well, please make your purchase through the link at the bottom of our sidebar. No extra charge for you, but a contribution will go to Voluntourists.

Make a donation in memory/honor/celebration of someone. We’ll be sure to make a special recognition of them on our travels.

Say something mean to a co-worker but too chicken to apologize? Cut off someone in traffic this morning? Balance your karma with a donation to Voluntourists.

Have a fundraising idea that we didn’t mention? Share it with us! And please forward our website link to everyone you know!

Thank you so much for stopping by and thanks in advance for your help.

Why are we taking this trip?

For those that don’t know, the two of us met 15 years ago on a college volunteer service trip to Appalachia. The group went on a hike and we all sat down on the trail to take a quick break. Someone further up the trail kicked a rock, and it came rolling down. It was headed right for Mary, and Kristen reached out and caught it. That little life-saving moment, started us talking and was the beginning of quite a friendship.

It was later that week, that Mary got to witness Kristen eat the first PBJ of her life.

After college, we both did the Jesuit Volunteer Corps, coincidentally both in Missoula, Montana (we're two years apart and both had different preferences where we wanted to go, but the powers that be sent us to Missoula). While in JVC, Mary worked as a Case Manager at a YWCA Women's Shelter and Kristen worked at the children's program at that same shelter and also worked at the Missoula Food Bank. JVC is a program in which people commit a year to living in community with other volunteers, work for social justice, and live on a small stipend. We both had incredible experiences during JVC and that year had a strong influence on Mary's decision to pursue a career in Social Work and Kristen's decision to become a teacher.

That first trip to Appalachia set the bar for travel because we quickly realized the most fun and most memorable trips are those where we’re contributing positively to a community in some way. Between the two of us, we’ve since done volunteer trips to New Orleans, Tanzania, South Dakota, Peru, Oregon, and Mexico.

These trips have helped shape who we are and how we see the world. This is what led us to plan what we expect to be the trip of a lifetime. With no kids, pets or mortgages tying us down, it seems like if it's going to happen, now is the time. At least that's what most of our 50 year old friends are telling us.

Our goal is to not only help organizations and people that desperately need it through hands-on work and financial contributions, but to learn about the issues affecting these communities through talking to the people that live there. Given our backgrounds, we’re interested in broad issues of education, aging, and environmental concerns, but we’re also interested in things like what music Hungarian kids are listening to these days, how to make traditional Thai food, and what it smells like in the Costa Rican jungle.

We’re setting out with open minds and hope this trip is the beginning of a larger purpose in expanding our knowledge about the world, other cultures and how we can come back to the US and do our best to make a positive difference in our own communities.

Habitat for Humanity in Tanzania

Here's a video of a Habitat for Humanity's volunteer experience in Tanzania. It reminds me a lot of my own experience there. This guy did an amazing job putting this video together. Very inspiring. Plus, he's hilarious. Check it out.

Tsunami Volunteer Center

Here's video of the Tsunami Volunteer Center and some of the volunteer work that is being done there.

Cambodia

This video provides a good overview of the situation many are experiencing in Cambodia and how we can help.

Green as we go

Traveling around the world obviously involves a wee bit of waste in the way of fuel. There's no way to really limit that since neither of us is up for the swim. But we do hope to be as environmentally conscious as we can on this trip. Some of our ideas:

-Refill our water bottles whenever possible.

-Buy locally.

-Take public transportation and/or walk whenever possible.

-Pack light and don't buy stuff we don't really need.

-Learn more about organic farming from our work in Italy and Costa Rica.

-Do the 'ol leave only footprints and take only pictures.

-See what others are doing in their communities to preserve and protect our environment. Then tell y'all about it.

Any other ideas?

Lima, Peru

In 2005 I was working at The University of San Francisco in the Campus Ministry Department organizing community service trips for the students. Our Spring Break trip to Guatemala was canceled a few months before we were supposed to leave, but thankfully my co-worker, Kique, happened to be from Lima and his mother was the director of a Non-Government Organization called Generacion. She was very willing to have us come to Generacion and share in the joy of her work.

Generaction's main goal is to promote and protect the rights of street children. Each day we met up and hung out with the children that lived at and flocked to the Generacion houses. The main house was the hub of activity. Kids were studying for school, making ceramics in their little studio, playing amazing music, cooling off in a small pool, and playing tons and tons of futbol. These kids played soccer night and day...in their bare feet. We just participated in all of this with them and got a glimpse into their life at Generacion.

In the evening we visited the kids at El Rio, who weren't quite ready to come to the house, but would greet the Generacion outreach workers with anticipation and excitement. They caught them and us up on the weeks events from the River, their home . These kids ranged in age from a few months to young adults. They seemed to live as a family with various roles taken on by certain children.

We also stopped by and met the young teenage mothers who lived at a separate house that housed a bakery store front. The girls did the baking and worked the counter. They learned life skills while getting support with raising their children.

I am often at a loss of words to describe my experiences here. But I do know that the "street kids" taught me quite a bit about generosity and hope.

This You Tube clip shows a bit about Generacion and maybe Kique has summed it up for me.

http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/generacion.html