ThirdEyeMom is a fellow Minnesota blogger who is also using her blog to make a difference. She writes about her volunteer vacations (among other things) and recently wrote about her journey to becoming a global volunteer that inspired me to write about today’s organization.
Sarah and Oliver Ehlers took a trip to Chile, South America where they saw the overwhelming needs of the children in the local orphanage and the incredible difference volunteers could make in a short time. After they returned home to the United States and researched a variety of service organizations, they were stunned at how costly and restrictive many volunteer travel programs were. They utilized their backgrounds in hospitality management, tourism, and business to create an affordable, safe, and worthy program so that anyone can travel and volunteer to make a difference in the world.
A Broader View is a 501c3 non-profit organization based in Pennsylvania. They were founded on the belief that one person can make a difference in the lives of others. They offer volunteer travel opportunities to many countries supporting local organizations in low income communities. These community based projects allow volunteer travelers to live and work side by side with local people in a range of fields such as orphanage work, daycare, community development, teaching, and much more. These projects offer travelers the opportunity to explore a new country while doing meaningful and rewarding service work.
A Broader View allows volunteers to customize each program by choosing when they want to travel, where they go, and how long. The programs offered allow for a full immersion in the culture and language within a developing community to allow volunteers to see “a broader view” of the world.
You can read the stories of the many volunteers that have traveled with A Broader View on their website, watch videos from volunteer experiences on YouTube, and you can read about ThirdEyeMom’s recent trip to Honduras with A Broader View on her blog.
Last year, A Broader View, in a partnership with the Baird Foundation, donated $40,000 to their partners in Bulenga, Uganda to complete construction on the community center, expand volunteer housing, provide a holiday party for over 500 people in the community, and buy clothing and supplies for over 300 orphans. In 2012, they also organized over a dozen university and medical groups to travel to Peru, Honduras, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Nepal to provide medical and dental care to hundreds of people who would have gone untreated otherwise. Over the last four years, they have donated over $1 million.
How can you help?
- Be a volunteer traveler. There are a variety of customizable programs for individuals and groups including teaching, orphanage support, social welfare programs, medical/dental care, sea turtle conservation, animal rescue, community development, women’s support projects, youth programs, and more. Go to their website to start exploring the opportunities.
- Donate a tweet a day to help them spread the word about their program. You can sign up at JustCoz.org.
- You can use the share options at the bottom of this post with others who may be interested in a volunteer vacation.
- Make a monetary donation via their Guidestar page.
You can learn more about A Broader View on their website, abroaderview.org on contact them via phone at 866-423-3258. You can also connect with them on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, Google+, Pinterest, or Instagram.
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