3 Ways To Give Back Via Travel

Want to know how you can give back on your next trip?

1.  Pack For A Purpose // Small Space. Little Effort. Big Impact

Pack For A Purpose is a non-profit based in Raleigh, NC that encourages you to make a difference around the world by using available space in your luggage to provide supplies to the communities you visit.  You can visit www.packforapurpose.org for specific supplies needed for each country the organization services.  The Sandals and Beaches Resorts sponsor Pack With A Purpose initiatives at their locations in the Caribbean.

2.  Cruises for a Cause

Several cruise lines offer opportunities to give back while on shore.

Fathom, Carnival’s new brand, sails roundtrip from Miami to the Dominican Republic, offering passengers on the Adonia a chance to work cooperatively with the locals. The first two sea days are used for orientation and training to prepare for the volunteer opportunities in the Dominican Republic.  During the 3 days on shore in the Dominican Republic, volunteer activities range from working cooperatively with the locals in a chocolate factory, assisting a small co op with paper making, teaching English, creating and distributing water filters for houses, reforestation, or assisting with the cultivation of the cocao plants. Parents and grandparents, Fathom offers a great opportunity for you to share the art of giving with your children and grandchildren.

Royal Caribbean and Holland America lines both offer opportunities to give back on their Alaskan voyages.  Guests can play marine biologist by measuring ocean temperatures, gathering plankton samples, gathering water samples, and documenting humpbacks and orcas!  How cool is that!  And if that is not cool enough, Lindblad Expeditions offers a range of projects that support wildlife — such as counting penquins in Antarctica!  Sign me up!

3.  Sustainable Tourism

When we travel, the goal should be to have the lowest impact on the environment and the local culture.  We can make a positive impact on the communities we visit, generating future employment for residents, as well as helping to preserve cultures that could one day be extinct.

G Adventures is a supplier we use that is dedicated to Sustainable Travel. G Adventures states that, “When you travel with us, you’re giving back as much — if not more — than what you take away, often in ways you’d never expect.” The founder of G Adventures, Bruce Poon Tip, also founded Planeterra, a non-profit organization “to direct travel dollars into vulnerable and underserved countries around the World.”

Please take the time to watch this incredible video that is at the heart of one of Planeterra’s endeavors with the Women’s Weaving Project of the Inca Indians in Peru.

(Click, then scroll down to find the video on the G Adventures Site!)

There are many more choices available to give back when we travel.  Let’s keep traveling the World and enriching our lives — making an effort to change the lives of the beautiful people in the communities we visit! So,  just GO!

“Giving back involves a certain amount of giving up.”

— Colin Powell