“‘Holiday with a Heart’ enables individuals and groups to take part in one day volunteer excursions tailored to make the ‘one day’ experience as fulfilling as possible…”

Charity work abroad seems to have become the occupation of those on a ‘gap year,’ or those who have chosen to dedicate their lives to it. The reality is, a lot of us have too many commitments such as mortgages, children and partners to just ‘get up and go’ no matter how much we may wish to make a difference. So our charitable efforts become a direct debit every month, along with a bi-annual update on the children, animals or water pump we helped support.

Further to this, because of the very commitments which prevent us from ‘getting up and going’ we usually have to work, and negotiate what to do with our few holiday weeks every year. We have others to please and finances to think about. No matter how much effort we put in to educating our children, they understandably have little to no grasp of just how lucky they are. They are thankful for that new iPad though. We take a ‘once in a lifetime’ trip to Goa, and consider doing some charity work while we are there. After laborious hours spent on ‘Google’ and a few fraught conversations with the remarkably unhelpful hotel concierge who would much rather book you a massage or recommend a restaurant than direct you to a local charity, you give up on searching and consider the local water park instead. This is where ‘Holiday with a Heart’ gallops into our lives like a knight in shining armour.

The brainchild of 29 year-old Claire Atkinson, “Holiday with a Heart” offers tourists the chance to pay £99 to volunteer for one day in charitable projects during their holiday in India, Gambia, Thailand, Morocco and more destinations worldwide. For example, when you volunteer in Bangkok with Holiday with a Heart, you are picked up from your accommodation in the morning and go to restore biologically diverse forests gaining practical conservation skills and knowledge, meeting inspiring locals engaged with the program and helping offset your own carbon footprint.
Research into travel preferences have unanimously shown that people now want more from a holiday than just sitting by the pool, especially if they are choosing to travel far.

‘Holiday with a Heart’ recognises the pressure of time on families and individuals, as well as the financial cost often associated with volunteer work.

‘Holiday with a Heart’ enables individuals and groups to take part in one day volunteer excursions tailored to make the ‘one day’ experience as fulfilling as possible, whilst also meeting the needs of the local charity, so that both parties benefit significantly from the experience.

When volunteering with ‘Holiday with a Heart;’ a representative will meet you at your hotel and take you directly to your chosen programme where the charity will take you on board for the day. Holiday volunteers are given essential tasks to ease the day to day running of the charity and also to enable the volunteer to learn and take something from what they are doing. In each destination the customer can choose either a “people” or a “planet” project. The “people” projects deliver educational play to children who have little or no access to education. Volunteers can take part in running a basic English lesson, an arts and crafts session and a sports event during the day. The “planet” projects focus on protecting the environment and animal conservation. Activities range from creating community forests, to caring for rescued animals. Group sizes vary between 2-12 people, making the experience perfect for families seeking to add that extra meaning to their holiday, or for companies seeking to enhance their CSR profile.

The main goals of ‘Holiday with a Heart’ are to make the volunteering experience accessible to any individual who wishes to make a difference but is put off by the shortcomings of short term volunteer work. Through structured programmes, Holiday successfully bridges the gap and makes sure that the benefits of volunteering are realised by both the volunteer and the charity. Through encouraging socially responsible travel, Holiday seeks to educate volunteers about the country they are visiting, and about the local people in a way that cannot be achieved ordinarily.

‘Holiday with a Heart’ does not operate a ‘west is best’ agenda, rather favouring the sustainable approach. Not only does ‘Holiday with a Heart’ seek to enable the volunteering experience for anybody who wants to get involved, the ‘Holiday with a Heart’ Trust works towards helping the charities involved achieve sustainability, and is always looking to develop new sustainable partnerships, and to learn from the charities themselves. People already often spend £70 – £280 on a range of tourist excursions while abroad. ‘Holiday with a Heart’ believes many would prefer to spend that on taking part in something that touches lives whilst enabling them to have a ‘real’ cultural experience.

Claire Atkinson, ‘Holiday with a Heart’ founder sums up the ‘Holiday with a Heart’ appeal “We are confident that those who choose this volunteer option over a day in the desert or at a water park will come back with a glow that’s warmer than any sun tan.” For more information, visit www.holidaywithaheart.com or telephone 0844 409 7805.

This articles was written for BestVolunteer.org by Sarah Megarity.