An alternative break with Global Volunteers enables you to serve others around the world within your school schedule... allowing the flexibility to travel where and when it works best for you. Teams of college or high school students frequently volunteer with us to experience comprehensive community service and contribute to integrated development programs during Summer, Fall, Winter, or Spring breaks.

Our local partners will engage you to assist in delivering the 12 Essential Services in a variety of ways, including teaching conversational English, caring for at-risk children, planting and maintaining school and household gardens, teaching nutrition and public health, modeling hand washing and painting and repairing community buildings such as school houses.

This gives you the opportunity to learn about literacy, poverty, racism, hunger, homelessness, cultural differences and the environment. At the same time, you will have the chance to journal or blog your team's experiences, share with family and friends, and learn through discussion about local issues.

Alternative breaks help youth learn lifelong citizenship and make the world a much smaller place. Volunteers report that our programs are life-changing experiences involving heightened self-awareness, in part due to our unique team-building approach and debriefing/analytical processes during and after the program. Global Volunteers, as a non-sectarian organization, gives students a real life view of communities abroad without imposing bias. It does so in a structured program where safety is always first, leaving you to fully enjoy the experience.