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Ryan to Walk Across Death Valley to Raise Money for Burmese Refugees

July 29, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The following is a guest post by IVC founder, Ryan Skoog, about his upcoming hike across Death Valley. Why would any sane person do this in the depth of summer? We encourage you to find out more and join the cause.

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I am walking across Death Valley in the Summer to raise $20,000 to get 250,000 meals to Burmese Refugees.

Here is where you donate.

And here is why:

After visiting Thailand/Burma border I could not shake the story of Steven. (I have several posts about this) He and his brothers were fleeing to Thailand when three of his brothers were shot right before they made it to the border. Steven is one of hundreds of thousands of refugees doing death marches across Burma.

Ever since that trip I’ve been praying and looking for a way to help. Fortuitously, I did not have to look past the next town. In Eagan, MN there is an international feeding ministry called Feed My Starving Children who make fully fortified meals for millions of starving kids around the world. We formed a partnership, tested their meals in several places, and are raising funds to distribute 250,000 meals to the border through Venture Expeditions. This is the headline, I’ll be posting more details in the days to come…

Please join us and spread the word! Thanks!

Filed Under: About Volunteer Card, Causes

Things You Should Know About Making a Claim

July 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment
This original post was written for Go! Overseas.com and can be found here. You will find excerpts below.
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What you need to know:
  • Travel insurance can give you peace of mind while volunteering abroad
  • If something goes wrong it’s very important to keep any and all receipts and expense reports

THE BASICS:

If you have a problem:
1. Call Travel Guard as soon as possible. The international collect number is provided on the back of the Volunteer Card. Travel Guard will provide personal, situation-based assistance and help you through the claims process.
2. Keep all receipts and documentation.

TRIP DELAY
Experienced travelers know that delays happen much more than we’d like. Most travel insurance plans provide coverage if you are delayed for a certain amount of time – with Volunteer Card, your delay must cause you to arrive 12 or more hours late. You should plan to travel with a credit card to cover your extra expenses up front. The most important thing is to keep your receipts. You can only be reimbursed for proven purchases related to your delay.

What you need to know:
Notify Travel Guard as soon as you discover your trip will be delayed more than 12 hours.

LOST OR STOLEN BAGGAGE

Checking baggage is always a risk, but it’s easier knowing you’ve got some coverage. Before you leave, consider taking a photo inventory of the contents of your bag—this saves you a lot of headache later trying to remember everything you lost. Use TSA-approved locks and keep your most valuable possessions with you. Volunteer Card insurance will pay up to $2500 for baggage and personal effects loss.

What you need to know:
1. Notify Travel Guard as soon as possible.
2. Take immediate steps to protect and recover the property.
3. Give immediate notice to the carrier who may be liable.
4. Notify the police or authorities in the case of theft within 24 hours.
5. You will be asked for proof of loss – this includes police reports or documentation from the responsible party – that must be filed within 90 days.

PASSPORT REPLACEMENT
The last thing you want to lose while traveling is a passport, but it does happen. First of all, try not to panic. Volunteer Card insurance will pay up to $500 for passport replacement costs. You can call the 24/7 assistance hotline and speak to a person who will help you find the nearest embassy or police station.

What you need to know:
Make sure the loss, theft, or damage to your passport is documented by a police report.

MEDICAL EXPENSE
Of course we hope that you never have to experience a serious accident or sickness while volunteering abroad. But if you do find yourself in that situation, you’ll receive help on locating the nearest, safest hospital, and be sent a cash advance if needed. If you receive care for an injury or sickness that occurs while on your trip, follow-up treatment can be covered for up to one year. Physician services, hospital charges, X-rays, and local ambulance services are all covered up to $100,000 for both sickness and accident.

What you need to know:
You must provide Travel Guard with all medical bills and reports for medical expenses claimed and a signed patient authorization to release medical information.

EMERGENCY EVACUATION
Worst case scenario: you need a med-evac. With a Volunteer Card, if you suffer an injury or sickness while on your trip that requires emergency evacuation, expenses can be covered up to $500,000. Note that your attending physician must order this emergency evacuation. All transportation arrangements made for evacuation must be by the most direct and economical route possible.

What you need to know:
You or your traveling companion can contact Travel Guard to help arrange the emergency evacuation.

Filed Under: About Volunteer Card, Travel insurance Tagged With: , ,

Your Travel Favorites

July 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment

In the world of travel, we’re never without an abundance of options.  When it comes to picking an airline, travel companion, or even shampoo, what gets you?

Here’s how our staff answered, and we’d love to hear from you!

Q. What’s your favorite travel-size item?
A. Does my Kindle count? – Lacy
Those little deodorants. I mean, I generally have to buy one for each armpit, but they’re so cute, it’s well worth it!- Paul
I’m in love with the mini toothpaste! Sometimes I use mine at home… just for kicks.- Lacy

Q. What’s your favorite airline?
A. Delta, their iphone app is the best.- Katie
Southwest. They’re the most connected on social media- Lacy

Q. Who/what would you choose as your ultimate travel companion? 
A. Probably the little travelocity gnome… he’s a really great listener.- Jason
I would have to say my younger brother. He’s always up for having adventures but still knows how to relax. – Megan

Q. What is one item you cannot travel without?
A. A picture of my daughter. – Angie
I can’t go anywhere without my journal.- Megan

Q. What’s your favorite Volunteer Card perk?
A. Concierge service! – Lacy
I love being able to use my Target discount!- Katie

We can’t wait to hear your answers to these questions and any other traveling practices, routines, or favorites that are a part of your travels.

Filed Under: Uncategorized, Volunteer Abroad Tagged With: , , , , ,

Gaming for Good

July 15, 2011 By Leave a Comment

As of 2010, twenty million players have spent 17 billion hours on Xbox live, which is just one of several online gaming systems in this 15 billion dollar (and growing) industry.

With numbers like these, it’s exciting to see social and environmental programs tapping into the game industry to use it for causes. Maybe you’re not much of a gamer, but admit it, you’ve at least given solitare a spin. So here’s few sites you can check out and start gaming for good.

Our Suggestions

1. Freerice.com gives players a word and list of possibly synonyms. If they get it right, ten grains of rice are donated to children in Cambodia. Though ten grains of rice doesn’t seem like much, it increases quicker than you’d expect, some players donating thousands of grains a day, all the while increasing their vocabulary skills.

Cambodia is recovering from decades of civil conflict and economic stagnation. Recently, rising food prices are making it more difficult for Cambodian families to survive.

2. Freepoverty.com is similar to freerice, but (in my opinion) when it comes to the games, a bit more of a challenge! Players are presented with a city and country to locate on a map within only a few seconds. If you hit it right on the nose, freepoverty donates 10 cups of water to donated one of several nations worldwide. Often times, I was more than a little off the target, but the the closer I was to correct, the closer to ten cups of water I donated. Again, the water adds up quickly, and before you know it, you can win gallons of water to donate to needy nations.

3. Games for Change brings together organizations, individuals, game designers and nonprofits, to educate and inspire players on how to bring about social change. Games like Peacemaker challenge players to complete tasks that will establish peace in the Middle East. The game has even been used to help students of both Israeli and Palestinian descent understand the crisis in the MIddle East, and view the conflict from a different vantage point.

Are These Sites Really Legit?

With websites like these, I always wonder if they are really donating. Well, with Freerice there’s no question. The website is supported by the United Nations World Food Programme, the world’s largest humanitarian organisation fighting hunger worldwide. Since it’s birth in October 2007, here’s what Free Rice has accomplished:

  • In Bangladesh, to feed 27,000 refugees from Myanmar for two weeks. Watch Freerice being distributed in Bangladesh.
  • In Cambodia, to provide take-home rations of four kilograms of rice for two months to 13,500 pregnant and nursing women.
  • In Uganda, to feed 66,000 school children for a week.
  • In Nepal, to feed over 108,000 Bhutanese refugees for three days.
  • In Bhutan, to feed 41,000 children for 8 days.
  • In Myanmar, to feed 750,000 cyclone affected people for 3 days.

Freepoverty  has also done a lot of good, donating 294,711,345 cups of water since it’s inception. They are currently looking for a non-profit to collaborate it’s efforts with; for more information, contact contact guk@freepoverty.com.

Games for a Change is definitely legitimate, making a big splash in the gaming world and receiving support from many respected foundations like the Knight and MacArthur foundations. At their annual festival this year,  Vice President Al Gore was the keynote speaker. For more information watch the ABC News feature or visit their website.

I’m not much of a gamer. In fact, freerice may be the first online game I’ve played in my adult life. But gamer or not, knowing I’m doing something for another person (even something very small) makes spending a few moments on one of these websites well worth it.

Filed Under: Causes, Volunteering Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Microvolunteering: Effective or Not?

July 8, 2011 By 1 Comment

In our last post on microvolunteering, we presented some aspects of it and a few easy ways to get involved. Since then, we’ve noticed a lot of buzz about surrounding this trend, so we thought we’d offer you some critiques and responses.

But first a quick refresher:

Microvolunteering is used to describe the notion of volunteers (both online and off) completing bite-sized tasks for non-profit organizations, foundations, and causes. Websites like Sparked, Brightworks, Spots of Time, and the Do Some Good smartphone app. act as a bridge between these microvolunteers those wanting help.

Things to Consider

As this new trend takes off, a lot of questions are being asked and a few potential issues have sprung up. As critics pose their questions and concerns, microvolunteerism proponents have passionately responded.

Here’s both sides of the conversation:

Critique 1. Microvolunteering reinforces the belief of some that they simply don’t have the time to volunteer.

Rob Jackson, a consulting Ltd, says ”… if we don’t tackle the root causes of people’s lack of engagement with volunteering – for example, the reasons for their perceptions of time poverty in regard to volunteering – then we can develop all the whizzy tech tools we want but we won’t ultimately solve the problem.”

Response 1. Actually, microvolunteering is battling the no time for volunteering belief.

Ben Rigby, one of the founders of Sparked, says, ”I think this is exactly the problem that microvolunteering solves…microvolunteering will help you discover that you can give back at almost any moment throughout your day. You may think you’re too busy, but there’s a lot you can do in the same time that you’re spending on Facebook or watching YouTube videos.”

Critique 2. Microvolunteering doesn’t lead to macrovolunteering.

Response 2. Whether or not micro leads to macro is not the point.

Sometimes those involved in larger scale volunteer projects will find the ease and mobility of micro volunteering as an additional and innovative way to help. Sometimes those who (believe) they only have tiny slots of time to microvolunteer may consider more large-scale projects.

“Micro will absolutely lead to macro. It also won’t. And macro will lead to micro. But any way you slice it, micro shouldn’t be critiqued as a function of how many macrovolunteers it converts.”- Ben Rigby

Critique 3. Microvolunteering is simply slacktivism spiced up.

Response 3. Microvolunteering is not the same as simply clicking “like” or “donate.” It’s real and affective volunteering.

“Creating a logo for a nonprofit, translating a document, or brainstorming fundraising ideas is not slacktivism. It’s honest to goodness volunteering.” – Ben Rigby

** for more  critiques and responses click here

An On-Going Conversation

Conversation surrounding microvolunteering is bound to continue. Some are sold on it, others more skeptical. Despite  all the buzz though, these little ways of giving and helping are making a big noise in the volunteer world. Today on Sparked, there were over 3,000 challenges awaiting the masses of microvolunteers. Along with those challenges come countless thank-you’s, “success stories” displayed from hundreds of those who’ve have been helped.

BASE Camp Children’s Cancer Foundation wrote to their volunteers, “Thank you for the time you donated, I can not tell you how much you have helped our organization and hope you will continue to do so on future challenges.”

Filed Under: Volunteering Tagged With: , , , ,

July Snapshot: GEEO

July 6, 2011 By Leave a Comment

WHO THEY ARE

July’s Snapshot organization is GEEO.org. Volunteer Card has formed a partnership with GEEO and we’re excited to tell you more about this great organization and the opportunities they provide!

GEEO, Global Exploration for Educators Organization, is dedicated to helping teachers explore the world, further their education, and share their experiences with their classrooms. They provide a inexpensive travel opportunities to a variety of countries, and not only are teacher’s immersed in a different country and culture, but they are also given the opportunity to earn graduate level credits.

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW

  • Trips are open to all K-12 teachers, school administrators, and soon-to-be teachers pursuing their teaching certificate.
  • Explorers have the opportunity to earn up to 3 graduate credits and a professional development certificate upon completing the GEEO program.
  • This summer, GEEO will travel to ten different countries.  Trips last anywhere from 2-3 weeks.

HOW TO GET INVOLVED

  1. Join a Travel Program. Visit Nepal, Costa Rica, Egypt, or South Africa with a group of 10-16 other teachers. For the full list of locations and how to get involved click here.
  2. Become a Partner or friend. Like all non-profits, GEEO is always looking for people like you, sponsors willing to help send teachers overseas.
  3. Contribute. Do you know of awesome overseas teaching programs? Geeo wants to know. Email jesse@geeo.org and they will add your recommendations to their list of other travel opportunities.
  4. Follow and Share. Follow GEEO on twitter and talk to the teachers you know!

For more information visit GEEO’s website or read this article featuring their organization.

Filed Under: Snapshot of the Month Tagged With: , ,

4 Ways to Give Back for the 4th of July

July 1, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The 4th of July is about more than hot dogs and fireworks. Here are 4 Ways to give back and show your support for our troops.

1. Help out a military family. Most of us have some connection to a military family. Think about simple things you could do help them out: watch their kids, mow the lawn, wash the car, make a meal, buy them groceries. Little things mean a lot and are a great way to show your support.

2. Write a soldier a thank you letter. Anysoldier.com helps you find soldiers and gives you on instructions on how to send letters. Another option is to join the letter writing team on Solider’s Angels.

3. Put together a care package. AdoptaPlatoon.org will give you all the information you need to know about sending care packages to troops overseas. As you can see from the photo on the right, the troops really appreciate it!

4. Volunteer at your local 4th of July celebration. Our friends at Volunteermatch.org have volunteer opportunities for you to help out with 4th of July celebrations in your neighborhood.

You could help recycle at the independence day celebration in DC or help with the 4th of July event at the Indiana historical society or volunteer at Arlington Cemetery for Let’s Roll…America.

Just go to Volunteermatch.org and type in your zip code to find opportunities in your area.

Filed Under: Causes, Volunteering Tagged With: , , , , , ,