We’ve posted a few times about
how travelers can head out not just on sybaritic trips filled with sweet alcoholic drinks, but how you can spend your
vacation time helping out, volunteering in a small village, working with aid organizations and so on. This is a really
cool idea, we think, and a great way to gain personal fulfillment from your travels. But matching your skills and
desires with the right organization can make the effort difficult. Nice to know, then, that there is a site to help you
navigate the world of volunteer vacations.
Idealist.org, which draws about 38,000 visitors a day, is a clearinghouse of
information for 45,000 nonprofit and community organizations in 165 countries. It was started by Ami Dar, an Israeli
army veteran who spent part of his youth in Peru and Mexico, and went on to found the New York City-based Action
Without Borders, a nonprofit whose mission is to find global volunteer opportunities for people with the time and
resources.
It is a very comprehensive site that will be very helpful to you should a “volunteer vacation” be of interest.
Check it out and then get out there and volunteer.