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For honeymooners and vacationers, tanning on beaches, touring Europe, or hitting the glitz of Las Vegas is often the way to go. But some Mainers are putting philanthropy ahead of fun and opting to use their downtime to benefit others.
Take Jena and Kris Douglas, for example, a young Bar Harbor couple who both work in the restaurant field. When getting married two years ago, their honeymoon plans were simple: the beaches of Belize. They envisioned sipping exotic drinks and basking in the sun.
But when the 20-something couple watched the news coverage of the tsunami in Southeast Asia, it dawned on them that they could put their honeymoon time and money to better use. Instead of Belize, the couple booked a trip through Global Volunteers, a Minnesota-based organization that promotes its outreach programs in 20 countries as “travel that feeds the soul.”
“When people gave us wedding money, it was a way of taking their gift and making it bigger,” says Jena, a restaurant manager at the Bar Harbor Inn. Donations helped the couple cover the $4,000 program fee and, with donated frequent flyer miles, the Douglases headed for farmland country in India a half hour from the city of Chennai, where they would spend much of their two and a half weeks teaching kids English.
They arrived with basic medical supplies and educational materials, books like Winnie-the-Pooh and Dr. Seuss’ Oh the Places You’ll Go. In an open classroom, they and 10 other volunteers paired up with a pupil for 45 minutes, before switching to another pupil.
“We really got to know these kids, not necessarily all their hopes and dreams, but the little quirky things they do, and their strengths,” Jena says.
The volunteers focused on teaching the kids English, the language they will need to learn in order to get ahead in a global economy.
Many of the children had a rudimentary understanding of English, but they varied widely in terms of academic achievement. When it came to mathematics, Arun, 7, was sharp, reading and solving advanced math lessons.
“Give him a math problem and he was done like this,” says Kris, snapping his fingers. “He was leagues ahead of even the older kids when it came to math.” Both remember another pupil, Lokesh, who, with their help, overcame a difficulty in identifying colors. To Lokesh, the name for the different colors was always the same, green.
The Maine newlyweds also used games, such as Red Light, Green Light, to mix fun and learning. Sometimes fun came in what we would consider the most mundane ways. Lip gloss, the sparkly kind, fascinated the kids, many of whom simply walked around with a dab of it on their fingers, not wanting to waste it on their lips. Hand sanitizer was potpourri, something to be smelled and enjoyed, not rubbed on your hands.
As memorable as these moments were, it is perhaps the warm feeling that the Maine couple helped make a difference, and all the hard work it took in planning lessons and teaching, that they brought back with them.
“In the end, we both agree that it was an amazing experience,” Jena says.
The Douglases are part of a growing movement of travel volunteerism, a twist on what churches and other benevolent organizations have been doing for years. More and more, conscientious Mainers are using their precious vacation time, not to “veg,” but instead to lend a hand.
“We’re seeing a trend upward,” says Kim Gauding, a public relations representative with the Maine Commission for Community Service, which tracks volunteerism in the state.
Maine ranks 16th in the nation when it comes to helping out and second in New England, behind Vermont. About one in three Mainers volunteers, up from about one in four just a few years ago. Through the state’s website www.voluteermaine.org, people can locate places where they are needed, even narrowing it down by zip code.
Increased interest in volunteering is being seen across the country and has prompted Internet travel agencies like Travelocity to sit up and take notice and offer tours with this volunteering in mind. David Clemmons, a leader in the volunteerism movement and a founder of voluntourism.org, an online volunteer tourism resource, says the resurgence of volunteerism—like that seen in the 1960s with the emergence of the Peace Corps—is essentially three fold. The media, influenced by the next generation of journalists, has helped focus attention on the many problems in the world and the need for changes.
“We know more now about what is going on in the world,” says Clemmons. A sense of immediacy has been bolstered by the Internet, which not only serves as a major source of news for some, but also provides a venue for finding the answer to the question “How can I help?” and a way to act on altruistic impulses—with a credit card.
Though the Internet is a big driver in voluntourism, it’s not just the younger demographic that is pushing the changes. Women as a whole have been leading the charge. Clemmons says that recent research shows that three out of four participants have been women.
Mainer Amy McPheter, formerly of Brewer, is one of them. Two years ago, she, like the Douglases, was shaken by news of the death toll and destruction of the tsunami. So McPheter cashed in all her vacation time from her work as a licensed clinical counselor, and with vacation time and money donated by coworkers, flew to Sri Lanka in March 2005. The violent storm had hit three months earlier, but though some of the flooding had subsided, the emotions and fears hadn’t.
“People were still in panic mode, they were still in shock and in disbelief,” says McPheter, who now lives and works in southern Maine. “They were still unsure how their lives would be affected.”
McPheter found that service agencies were also in disarray. She focused her efforts at St. Vincent’s Boys Home in Maggona, which had swelled from housing 60 orphaned youths to nearly 200 after the tsunami. As it was inland, the home also served as a shelter from those dislocated by the flooding. During her three-and-a-half-week stay, McPheter helped the dispossessed cope with their losses and reunited families torn apart by the disaster.
Like others who have volunteered, once is not enough. McPheter is eager to return. Jena Douglas already has. In early 2007, she and her mom spent five weeks in Tanzania providing food, education, and economic development help to a small community by the base of Mount Kilimanjaro.
Take Jena and Kris Douglas, for example, a young Bar Harbor couple who both work in the restaurant field. When getting married two years ago, their honeymoon plans were simple: the beaches of Belize. They envisioned sipping exotic drinks and basking in the sun.
But when the 20-something couple watched the news coverage of the tsunami in Southeast Asia, it dawned on them that they could put their honeymoon time and money to better use. Instead of Belize, the couple booked a trip through Global Volunteers, a Minnesota-based organization that promotes its outreach programs in 20 countries as “travel that feeds the soul.”
“When people gave us wedding money, it was a way of taking their gift and making it bigger,” says Jena, a restaurant manager at the Bar Harbor Inn. Donations helped the couple cover the $4,000 program fee and, with donated frequent flyer miles, the Douglases headed for farmland country in India a half hour from the city of Chennai, where they would spend much of their two and a half weeks teaching kids English.
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They arrived with basic medical supplies and educational materials, books like Winnie-the-Pooh and Dr. Seuss’ Oh the Places You’ll Go. In an open classroom, they and 10 other volunteers paired up with a pupil for 45 minutes, before switching to another pupil.
“We really got to know these kids, not necessarily all their hopes and dreams, but the little quirky things they do, and their strengths,” Jena says.
The volunteers focused on teaching the kids English, the language they will need to learn in order to get ahead in a global economy.
Many of the children had a rudimentary understanding of English, but they varied widely in terms of academic achievement. When it came to mathematics, Arun, 7, was sharp, reading and solving advanced math lessons.
“Give him a math problem and he was done like this,” says Kris, snapping his fingers. “He was leagues ahead of even the older kids when it came to math.” Both remember another pupil, Lokesh, who, with their help, overcame a difficulty in identifying colors. To Lokesh, the name for the different colors was always the same, green.
The Maine newlyweds also used games, such as Red Light, Green Light, to mix fun and learning. Sometimes fun came in what we would consider the most mundane ways. Lip gloss, the sparkly kind, fascinated the kids, many of whom simply walked around with a dab of it on their fingers, not wanting to waste it on their lips. Hand sanitizer was potpourri, something to be smelled and enjoyed, not rubbed on your hands.
As memorable as these moments were, it is perhaps the warm feeling that the Maine couple helped make a difference, and all the hard work it took in planning lessons and teaching, that they brought back with them.
“In the end, we both agree that it was an amazing experience,” Jena says.
The Douglases are part of a growing movement of travel volunteerism, a twist on what churches and other benevolent organizations have been doing for years. More and more, conscientious Mainers are using their precious vacation time, not to “veg,” but instead to lend a hand.
“We’re seeing a trend upward,” says Kim Gauding, a public relations representative with the Maine Commission for Community Service, which tracks volunteerism in the state.
Maine ranks 16th in the nation when it comes to helping out and second in New England, behind Vermont. About one in three Mainers volunteers, up from about one in four just a few years ago. Through the state’s website www.voluteermaine.org, people can locate places where they are needed, even narrowing it down by zip code.
Increased interest in volunteering is being seen across the country and has prompted Internet travel agencies like Travelocity to sit up and take notice and offer tours with this volunteering in mind. David Clemmons, a leader in the volunteerism movement and a founder of voluntourism.org, an online volunteer tourism resource, says the resurgence of volunteerism—like that seen in the 1960s with the emergence of the Peace Corps—is essentially three fold. The media, influenced by the next generation of journalists, has helped focus attention on the many problems in the world and the need for changes.
“We know more now about what is going on in the world,” says Clemmons. A sense of immediacy has been bolstered by the Internet, which not only serves as a major source of news for some, but also provides a venue for finding the answer to the question “How can I help?” and a way to act on altruistic impulses—with a credit card.
Though the Internet is a big driver in voluntourism, it’s not just the younger demographic that is pushing the changes. Women as a whole have been leading the charge. Clemmons says that recent research shows that three out of four participants have been women.
Mainer Amy McPheter, formerly of Brewer, is one of them. Two years ago, she, like the Douglases, was shaken by news of the death toll and destruction of the tsunami. So McPheter cashed in all her vacation time from her work as a licensed clinical counselor, and with vacation time and money donated by coworkers, flew to Sri Lanka in March 2005. The violent storm had hit three months earlier, but though some of the flooding had subsided, the emotions and fears hadn’t.
“People were still in panic mode, they were still in shock and in disbelief,” says McPheter, who now lives and works in southern Maine. “They were still unsure how their lives would be affected.”
McPheter found that service agencies were also in disarray. She focused her efforts at St. Vincent’s Boys Home in Maggona, which had swelled from housing 60 orphaned youths to nearly 200 after the tsunami. As it was inland, the home also served as a shelter from those dislocated by the flooding. During her three-and-a-half-week stay, McPheter helped the dispossessed cope with their losses and reunited families torn apart by the disaster.
Like others who have volunteered, once is not enough. McPheter is eager to return. Jena Douglas already has. In early 2007, she and her mom spent five weeks in Tanzania providing food, education, and economic development help to a small community by the base of Mount Kilimanjaro.
