It’s been a year of many successes for United Planet and our wonderful volunteers. We’re proud of what we’ve accomplished together this year, and we’re excited to take on the new year with full enthusiasm and make 2013 even better than 2012! Here are just some of the highlights of the past year at United Planet. Thank you for all your help and support – you make so much of what we do possible!
In July, United Planet launched our Global Conversations webinar series to initiate discussion around global issues and foster relationships between motivated people all over the world. In September, we partnered with Taza Chocolate and Equal Exchange to present a webinar entitled “Chocolate and Sustainability.” Alex Whitmore from Taza and Jonathan Rosenthal from Equal Exchange shared their insights about creating and selling a product ethically, and we learned a lot about chocolate, too!
This year, United Planet volunteers came together to raise over $6,000 to support our partner orphanage/community center in Romania after an electrical fire destroyed many of its offices and its dining hall. The center is home to over 100 children and 40 adults, and many of the donors had previously volunteered at the orphanage and formed personal connections with the residents. Thanks to your generosity, they will be able to reconstruct the buildings!
Interested in nursing or medicine? United Planet was featured on the list of 100 Best Nontraditional Nursing Sites of 2012, published by OnlineLPNtoRN.org. We are honored to be featured on the list, and hope that it encourages those interested in pursuing a medical career to step out of their comfort zones and volunteer in the healthcare field. You truly can make a difference, do what you love, and learn about other cultures all at the same time.
This year, United Planet co-sponsored a Children’s Day in Cusco, Peru. The event was run by one of our partner organizations in Peru, and United Planet volunteers came together to help run the festivities! The Children’s Day brought over 600 at-risk children together for games, education, and food in a celebration of children around the world. Check out this video that our Country Coordinator in Peru, Manfred, made about the event!
United Planet is proud to announce that we published our first ebook this year! Entitled Education Beyond Borders: Organizing a Student Group Trip Abroad, this free resource is directed towards teachers and describes the process of planning a trip abroad with your students. From deciding where and when to travel to picking a partner program and asking the right questions, this ebook describes it all. We hope to publish more ebooks in the future, so stay tuned for future releases!
United Planet volunteer Nesha Usmani truly took service to the next level this past year. She volunteered at the M.I. Keji School in Indonesia for six months, but went above and beyond by reaching out to her home community to raise money to build a library for the students she volunteered with. Nesha, who won our Distinguished Alumni Award this year, exemplifies the innovative spirit and motivation that makes a great volunteer. Nesha, thank you for all your inspiring work!
To read more about United Planet’s past work, visit the Accomplishments page of our website. Or, help us make an even bigger difference in 2013 by volunteering abroad!
ABOUT UNITED PLANET
United Planet is a non-profit organization with a mission to create a global community, one relationship at a time. Established in 2001, United Planet offers volunteer abroad, virtual internships, internships abroad, gap year volunteering, and global virtual exchange in more than 40 countries.
