Renovate Homes or Tutor Youth in Appalachia!

  United States

Beards Fork

Duration of Program: 1-2 weeks
Typical Duration of Program: 1-2 weeks
Dates: year round

Description: Experience Appalachia from the inside and help provide safe housing for low-income families in West Virginia! Tax-deductible service program cost includes food, lodging, local transportation, team leader, project materials, donation to the community and administrative costs. Volunteers work alongside 'Youth Build' participants -- young people working toward their GED and learning construction skills. Volunteers may also be asked to tutor schoolchildren. Global Volunteers team members work under the direction of The Southern Appalachian Labor School (SALS), a private nonprofit organization, which promotes continued education and addresses local economic decline. Volunteers help to renovate former coal company houses, where low-income families can afford to live.

Highlights: Volunteers gain an excellent, first-hand understanding of life in Appalachia: the struggles and the tremendous cultural richness. The hosts strive to give everyone the chance to make a significant contribution to the work project and the long-term development of the community. The Fayette County region features a number of outdoor free-time activities including white-water rafting, mountain biking and hiking. Thousands of trails lead through the New River Gorge National River and the Monongahela National Forest, along the famed Appalachia Trail.

Qualifications: Everyone can offer an important service. This volunteer program is open to any English speaker who can assist with general light construction and building repair, painting, sanding and the like; volunteers must be willing to serve as a member of a team and take direction from local leaders.

Cost in US$: USD 995

Credit Available: yes

Experience Required: no

Typical Volunteer: USA volunteers are culturally curious and open-minded people looking to contribute to a community development project and to improve their understanding of different ways of life, and the social struggles in developing communities. They are all ages, from various ethnic backgrounds, and of all different professions, such as educators, students, laborers, medical professionals, full-time parents, computer professionals, artists, lawyers and the like.

Age Range: minors with parents through age 90

This Program is open to Families, Couples and Individuals

Participants Travel to United States Independently

Typically Participants Work in Groups of 10-12

Application Process Involves:

• Letters of Reference
• Phone Interview
• Written Application

Post-Program Services Include:

• Alumni Network
• Exit Debriefing Abroad
• Re-Entry Debriefing at Home

Global Volunteers's Mission Statement: "Partners in Development". Founded to help advance peace, rehabilitate improverished communities, and promote mutual international understanding between peoples of diverse cultures through short-term volunteer service on long-term community development programs. We maintain on-going partnerships with local leaders and indigenous host organizations worldwide. Each year, we mobilize up to 300 teams of volunteers to work alongside local people on work projects central to their advancement. We also raise funds to support our international and domestic partners and to provide child sponsorships for educational, social and medical assistance. Global Volunteers is in special consultative status with the United Nations and UNICEF.

Year Founded: 1984