Renovate Homes or Tutor Youth in West Virginia!

  United States

Beards Fork

Length of Position: one week
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! Tax-deductible service program fee $595-$795 for one week 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 live affordably.

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 opportunity 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 Monogahela National Forest, along the famed Appalachia Trail.

Qualifications: Everyone can offer an important service. This volunteer opportunity 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$: $595 - $795 / 1 week

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 Services Include:

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

Global Volunteers's Mission Statement: "Adventures in Service". Founded to help advance peace, racial reconciliation, and mutual international understanding between peoples of diverse cultures through short-term volunteer service on long-term community development programs. We maintain partnerships with local leaders and indigenous host organizations worldwide and mobilize up to 300 teams of volunteers annually 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.

Year Founded: 1984