Interested in a doing good abroad on vacation but don’t actually want to travel abroad? Well, there are plenty of other options that don’t require travelling overseas but will still take you on an adventure, a bit of travel, and give you that fuzzy feeling inside.
Volunteer vacations are considered ethically controversial and some people don’t believe that the money they pay for the trip will really be going towards the community in which they visit. If you feel torn about the morality of ‘voluntourism’, why not plan your own local volunteer trip? There are a number of benefits to this:
- Overall, it may be cheaper than flying abroad and paying a company to organize it.
- It’s more feasible for you to go back to the project over time, which means you potentially could devote future trips to the project.
- It may seem less daunting for you to plan a volunteer trip in your own country, which will hopefully increase the likelihood of you actually doing it.
Ironically, it can be harder to organize a volunteer trip in your own country than abroad. Volunteer abroad vacations are usually carefully organized by a company to maximize your time. But volunteer trips at home tend rely more on you taking the initiative. Don’t see this as a defeat but rather as a need to organize yourself to travel with more freedom. It’s also tends to be cheaper this way.
For example, the American Red Cross is always looking for volunteers and they even suggest for people to fit in volunteering around vacations. Contact them with the dates you want to volunteer and see how you can help, make sure that you specify that you would be interested in volunteering out of state.
Of course, there are organizations that will help you out with the logistical aspects of volunteer vacations. American Hiking Society organizes volunteer treks. You can search their site by date or state. Hikes involve walking a trail and working on it to ensure usability. The work ranges from clearing overgrown brush to installing proper drainage pipes, so plan on getting your hands dirty. Considering there are programs in most states, you can choose how far you want to travel.
Also, if you already do volunteer work for a large non-profit, see if they have branches in different areas. This will save you time in finding an organization you want to give your time to, and will also be easier to jump right in if you already know how the organization works.