The purpose of this newsletter is NOT to inspire guilt. It’s actually to share some exciting recent statistics about what your son or daughter’s generation is doing to help their neighbors near and far.
Perhaps you’ve heard this great Yiddish saying: If you and all your neighbors lay all of your problems on your respective front lawns, you’d look them all over, and end up taking back your own.
Well, with our lives becoming increasingly more interconnected via search engines, Skype and social media, suddenly our neighbors are not just the ones three houses down; they’re in Egypt, Mexico and India. Some of the problems out on the front lawns of these neighbors might include:
-
Lack of basic plumbing or clean water
-
Limited access to education and resources
-
Environmental threats
According to the most recent Bureau of Labor Statistics study, Volunteering in the United States, 2011, U.S. teens ages 16 to 19 are more likely than any other age group under the age of 35 to have volunteered in the past year. These teens are statistically less likely to become pregnant or use drugs, and are more likely to have a strong work ethic and to vote.
Click here to watch a brief video of teens volunteering in India and having the time of their lives.
If your teen isn’t already in this distinguished category, this summer could be the perfect time to get their feet wet with a life-changing volunteer program abroad.
If you’d like to find out more, simply reply to this email or call: 1.858.771.06455. We would love to hear from you!
Traveling abroad gives a lot of perspective on the world and how life in other places is. It made me realize how much I have and what others don’t. It additionally helped me realize that some people don’t wish to be as “progressed” as America is. For example when I went to Thailand with GLA, people didn’t seem to want or need smart phones and high tech computers. They were content with their lives. It gave me global perspective and helped me realize that people are happy no matter where they are. Not everyone wants to be like America, but what many do want are basic needs to prevent threats to their lives.