Change the World While Taking a Vacation
Doug Cutchins, co-author of Volunteer Vacations: Short Term Adventures That Will Benefit You and Others, explains how a volunteer vacation can transform your life.
Commitment: Please explain for our readers what a volunteer vacation is.
Doug Cutchins: While there’s no one definition of a volunteer vacation, I generally think of them as an opportunity to go someplace interesting and do work that helps other people or the environment – basically, to do good in the world. One of the best things about volunteer vacations, though, is that there are so many different kinds of opportunities out there that regardless of where you want to go or what kind of work you want to do, there is probably an organization that is right for you.
Commitment: The subtitle of Volunteer Vacations is Short-term Adventures That Will Benefit You and Others. At a time when people are working harder than ever, how would a person benefit by using his/her hard-earned vacation time to perform volunteer work rather than relaxing on a beach?
Doug: Volunteer vacations aren’t right for everyone, and if what you want is to go relax on a beach, then you should go relax on a beach. But increasingly, we’re hearing from people that laying out in the sun on a beach isn’t as satisfying as it once was – that in a world where there is so much need, and at a time when so many people struggle to find time to make a difference in the world and connect with others, they want to do more than go to the beach. They don’t want their only contact with the local population to be with a taxi driver or a waitress. For people who feel like they want to more thoroughly explore some part of their country or the world, or who want to use their time to help effect change, volunteer vacations are a great opportunity.
Commitment: As director of service and social commitment at Grinnell College, have you seen an increase of interest in public service and volunteerism?
Doug: One of the great things about working at Grinnell is that I get to interact every day with really dedicated and caring students who do want to make the world a better place. We’re a bit of an outlier in this regard, but we typically see 12% to 15% of each of our graduating classes go straight on into a full-time service program, such as Peace Corps or Americorps or Teach For America, and much higher percentages of students participate in volunteer work during their four years in college. I’m also seeing higher percentages of students who partake in volunteer or community service projects while they are studying abroad, which also certainly helps lead them into volunteer vacations.
Commitment: Who is the ideal candidate for a volunteer vacation?
Doug: Honestly, anyone who has the desire to use their talents and labor to make the world a better place, and who has some amount of time to dedicate to that idea. I do see a lot of retirees and recent college grads getting involved, but that’s mostly because they tend to have more time than others might. But the growth I’m seeing in volunteer vacations is across all age groups and income levels, and more and more organizations that host volunteer vacations are starting to cater to different targeted populations, whether those are seniors, high school students, all-women’s groups, families, etc.
Commitment: How would a person who is first considering a volunteer vacation get started?
Doug: People tell me that they use our book in one of two ways. The first is to just pick it up and leaf through it or actually read it, and to wait for inspiration to strike – for that one organization that leaps off the page at you. With so many different opportunities and ways to get involved, most people find something that really grabs them. But many people have limitations that they have to keep in mind – they can only be gone from work for a week, or they can’t spend more than $1,000, or they only want to go somewhere where they can speak Spanish or do archeology, for example. For those people, they should start with the indexes in the back of our book, because there they can find lists of the organizations divided into all sorts of different categories. We also have a list of 10 questions everyone should take into account when selecting a volunteer vacation organization in the foreword to our book.
Commitment: The organizations listed in your book offer opportunities as varied as constructing schools, supporting women's rights in Tanzania, serving as a counselor in a summer camp for kids living with HIV/AIDS, and teaching deaf adults in Jamaica. How did you choose these organizations?
Doug: My wife and I have been writing editions of this book for about nine years now, and we’re building on the decades of work that Bill McMillon put into previous editions. While we can’t visit all 150 organizations in the field, we do think that we get a real sense of who is out there and the work that they do. Over time, we have built a real rapport with many organizations, and have had a huge number of conversations with people who have gone on trips with these organizations. But we also look at how organized they are, how well they respond to our requests for detailed information, and how easy they are to work with. We figure that if they aren’t responding to our requests in a timely way, then they may not be an organization that we would want to trust taking us to a new community.
Commitment: What kind of volunteer vacation or project would you recommend for families?
Doug: One of the biggest factors is the age of the children and how independent they are. I think it is understandable that organizations don’t want to provide babysitting, they don’t want to put kids in unsafe situations, and they do want to get real volunteer help from the parents, who shouldn’t be distracted by running after small children. That said, this is an area where we have perhaps seen the most growth in the last three to five years – more and more parents want to instill a volunteer ethic in their kids, and want to show them a different part of the world. That’s why, in the latest edition of the book, we started including information about family volunteers with each of the 150 organizations. Overall, I would say that if someone wants to volunteer with their family, they should identify an appropriate organization that meets their needs, and then call them to discuss their specific situation. In my experience, almost all of the organizations will make it work if they possibly can.
Commitment: Many of the organizations listed in your book welcome adults of all ages. Would you recommend volunteer vacations for retirees?
Doug: Absolutely! Retirees are a huge part of the volunteer vacations market. They have time to take on some really interesting opportunities, they may have some money they can put into it, and most importantly, they have a lifetime of skills to draw on. Volunteer vacations organizations usually love retirees because they have such a good perspective on what is possible, and they have decades of experience.
Commitment: What can a person expect to experience during a volunteer vacation?
Doug: Since there are so many different places to go and kinds of work to be done, it’s hard to make generalizations about what anyone’s individual experience might be like. But, overall, I would say that we consistently hear from people that their volunteer vacation helped them impact a community, whether it is their local, national, or international community. Nobody is going to solve a global problem during a volunteer vacation, but it is indeed possible to make a substantive difference in someone’s life. The other change that people tell us about is on a personal level; people are able to practice old skills, alter how they see the world, build ties to other communities, and have fun.
Commitment: What would you recommend for a person who wants to volunteer but doesn't have the time and/or resources to take a volunteer vacation?
Doug: First, if you don’t have time or money to take a volunteer vacation, please get started by volunteering in your local community. You might start by calling your local United Way to find out about volunteer opportunities or agencies that need help. Second, don’t assume that taking a volunteer vacation means that you have to have a month off of work or several thousand dollars. There are lots of organizations that offer short-term opportunities, like a weekend building trails in Colorado, or opportunities for people on a limited budget. Again, the indexes in the back of our book are key in helping you find these organizations. Lastly, think creatively. Can you link a volunteer vacation to work travel? Are there ways you can set a medium-term financial goal of taking a volunteer vacation and save for it? Or is there someone you can responsibly borrow from to take a volunteer vacation? For students, who might have fewer financial resources, look into whether or not your college might offer credit for this experience, which might make you eligible for other loans or grants.
Commitment: Many organizations offer the opportunity to volunteer in exotic locales such as Thailand, Bolivia, Costa Rica and Nepal. If a person is interested in visiting a specific country or region, would it make sense to start by looking for organizations with volunteer opportunities in that location?
Doug: Definitely. Anyone who has a specific destination, or length of time, or time of year, or budget, or type of work that they want to do, or other desire should consult the indexes in the back of our book. One of the best things about volunteer vacations is that there are so many different opportunities, so really all you have to do is find the one that is right for you.
Doug Cutchins is the Director of the Office of Service and Social Commitment at Grinnell College.
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