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Blog
Our New “35 and Up” Webpage
2012-04-24
Have you noticed anything new about the VFP website? We’ve added a new “35 and Up” tab to our homepage!
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“Try to Be a Little Kinder” III
2012-04-20
In fact, until this trip, it hadn’t occurred to me that my twenty-something grandpa might have been seen or remembered as a hero or even liberator. What did he do in the war? Where had he been? I asked him once, back in eighth grade, after that talk. My only grandfather, always soft spoken and gentle towards me, looked straight into my eyes and in a curt, stern voice I didn’t recognize, replied, “It was a terrible time. Never ask me about it again.”
Interview with K. Tremel ~ VFP Volunteer to Kenya, 2011
2012-04-17
This 3-week work camp helped open my eyes to the need in the Developing world. I was inspired and challenged daily during my volunteer trip. I gained an understanding of the needs of a different type of at-risk population. I was humbled by these Kenyan women; their struggles and accomplishments. Not a day goes by I don’t think of the work I did and how this small Kenyan village changed my life…
Feeding the Community, Eugene, Oregon
2012-04-07
By Tessa Fancher, US Program Coordinator
As I work to put together the Program Announcement Guide for 2012 I am happy to report there are a lot of hosts from last year signing up to run a work camp again this summer! A particularly exciting project that we will definitely have again this year is Food for Lane County in Eugene, Oregon. Food for Lane County is a non-profit food bank that fights hunger in their area by growing, preparing, packaging and distributing food to those in need.
“Try to Be a Little Kinder” II
2012-04-03
Our synergy was so inspiring, felt so good, that when the night cooled down, I resisted running back to the tent for my jacket. I did not want to miss a moment. Though eventually, in the early morning hours, we did force ourselves to say good night. We needed rest for the next day. Reluctantly, I crawled into my tent, and slipped silently into my sleeping bag, so as not to wake the dozen or so others. I fell asleep, content and exhausted. No one had ever understood this part of me so completely before. I’d found my tribe…
Four Years Go
2012-03-27
I am so excited to tell you that all of our US Programs have been finalized and are now on the website! We started accepting volunteers on March 19th!
This year, many of our US Hosts have chosen to participate in the Four Years Go campaign. 4YG is an environmental movement that operates under the belief that the next four years will determine the quality of life for the next 1,000 years. By committing to make simple changes in our daily activity each one of us can contribute to a healthier, sustainable planet. The 4YG campaign challenges individuals and groups to explore the possibilities we have to change the trajectory of our planet over just four years.
“Try to Be a Little Kinder”, Part One
2012-03-20
I was twenty-four when I quit a promising job at a Fortune 100 company in Silicon Valley and gave myself permission to backpack across Europe for two months to see the places where the Holocaust happened. I signed up for two service-learning projects in Germany through an organization in Vermont called Volunteers for Peace. The projects were related to Holocaust history and each lasted two weeks. In between, I traveled on my own to explore memorials, former concentration camps, museums, cemeteries, castles, churches and sites where synagogues once stood…
Narrowing Down Project Possibilities
2012-03-19
VFP Highlighted Projects: Week of 3/18. Highlighted projects for 18+, Teen, Family and Multi-age! Search our Volunteer Project List for more options, email us, or call 802-540-3060 to begin your volunteer adventure!
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1989: The Cold War and “A Victory for Citizen Diplomacy”
2012-03-18
By Dillon Sturtevant, VFP Intern
In 1989 the Cold War was rapidly coming to a close. The powers behind the Iron Curtain were in economic trouble, Hungary held free elections unopposed, and the Berlin Wall was torn down. The Gorbachev policies of perestroika (restructuring) and glasnost (openness) were leading to gradual dissolution of Communism in Eastern Europe and Russia.