Program Reviews

This has been one of the best experience I've ever had in my life. I volunteered in Philadelphia, PA, in a great community, where we have been warmly received, and treated with both respect and thankfulness, as well as interest.
We got up in the morning at 9 a.m. ready to work with nails, screwguns, saws and whatever, conscious to do something useful for other people and that could also satisfy ourselves.
A great part of the camp was the time spent together with the other volunteers, eating, chatting, playing games, hanging out in the neighbourhood or throughout the city..the more we knew each other, the better we spent time together!! It's been a real pleasure to discover, that, although we live in different countries and belong to different backgrounds, we share the same ideals and in the end, we are more similar to each other than we may think..

It was my first experience abroad in a volunteer program and all I can say is that it was the most exciting experience I've ever had. Not only for the work we did (which I have to say it was really hard but I enjoyed it) also the people I met was incredible. The organisation managed everything and the work-days were useful even though we didnt have too much free time, but on weekends and some afternoon we enjoyed the cultural events of Nashville.
In my opinion, the best thing about the workcamp was the people around the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (our organisation in place) which involved with us making the experience better.

This past summer I volountered for two months in Vermont with Volunteers for Peace.
I spent three weeks in Montpelier and three in Burlington.
The first programme was in Montpelier park department where I had lot of fun exploring the nature and meeting lot of interesting people.
In the second camp we made three pessays for the local television and we had lot of meetings with the local community. VFP was supportive and helpful overall.

I have been a volunteer with Sprout, a no profit organisation located in NYC. I worked with people with delepmental disabilities. I travelled with them in USA and Canada.

The workcamp there was great. It was so much fun that I did it twice. I met wonderful people especially those from the community and the leader who is a sincerely good person. I also had the opportunity to visit the area and enjoy the food!

This is just a brief review. I loved everything about the program. Being in a remote area, in Baxter State Park was amazing. The people were all so unique, open-minded and great fun! Everybody connected so fast and we shared so many valuable experiences! Nature is so important and we should not forget that. We should live with nature rather than destroying it or focusing our life only on the city. The work was hard- in a positive way as it was so very rewarding! It was the best time of my life and I would do it again and again! It certainly changed my view on life! Thanks a million!!

The highlight of my workcamp in new hampshire was not teaching teenagers about my country for 2 weeks (which was by itself an invaluable experience). The best part about VFP is a close interaction with the local comunity you get to enjoy.
I don't think I will ever so anything that will beat holding a hand a blind lady who, even though she doesn't remember her daughter, still can give vivid accounts of working for FBI (!) under Hoover administration. Nothing can beat holding that hand and helping her write "Hello" in Russian. She apologized a million times that she couldn't really see what she was doing, but in the end I think she did great, she can now tell anyone that she mastered Russian caligraphy.
That is only one of the numerous examples of truly beautiful moments given to us by VFP, the program that sees volunteering as not only helping the community but also nurturing the inner growth of the volunteer.

I had the chance to meet different people from all over the world (Italy, France, Turkey, South Korea, Mexico and Germany). We did a good job repairing things in the house where we were living and in a church and at the same time we we made good memories having fun in every activity. We also had free time to go to the local pool, on the weekends we visited downtown, went to museums and admire the beautiful city of Philadelphia. We learned very much from the other countries talking to each other and also every night we eat the traditional dinner of each country. I will always remember it and we keep in touch so I hope that even if we live far away I could see soon my friends.

It is also a great opportunity to visit New York and Boston, when the camp ended some of the volunteers and me just take a bus and spent a few days there. It was amazing, we had a great time being in New York, one of the biggest cities of the world. And then in Boston where we saw great universities such as Harvard.

Ron, the leader of the workcamp is the best.

First things first: I had an awesome time in the United States volunteering on two programs in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Danby, Vermont. I'm very happy I took this opportunity and spent some time in the States, I would definitely recommend it to a friend of mine and, yes, I would go again. Immediately. The cotact to VFP always was pleasant, and I therefore felt safe even though being away a few thousand miles from home across the Atlantic Ocean. Do I feel like leaving some sort of impact? Well, at least partially I definitely do. Especially in the project in Vermont I felt like doing something important by maintaining the Long Trail and the Appalachian Trail. But also in Philadelphia I feel like my work might have some kind of impact, maybe not directly but through comunication with community members as well as with other group members from different countries. I feel like not only I might have changed something, also the program might have changed me. I'm feeling more sure about myself and about what I can change but also about what I'm not able to change.

Well, what did I actually do? In Philadelphia work included renovations on the building we lived in as well as community services (helping community members with some work they can not do on their own). In Vermont I was one of two VFP volunteers on a trail crew of the Green Mountain Club. Our work included clearing trees to regain view points on the trail, building puncheons (wood constructions to allow hikers to cross marshy parts of the trail without getting wet feet), building turnpikes (something like big sandboxes filled with gravel for a similar purpose as the puncheons) and clearing waterbars to get the water off the trail.
What bout food? In Philadelphia we were responsible to buy the food we needed as a group with the money provided by VFP. In Vermont the Green Mountain Club took care of that (at least during the work week) and after a long day of hard work we prepared our diner together. Food was pretty good and varied every day.
The groups in both projects were very different: In Philadelphia the group consisted of mostly Europeans, in Vermont I was one out of only two (three) foreigners whilst most of the people came from all over the US. In both places I was heartily welcomed and spent a great time with great people who became friends to whom I still keep contact.

All in all I am very happy having participated in those projects and I can only recommend it to EVERYBODY!

It was a fantastic experience, everything was great.
Everybody was concern by our objective and it was greatfull. The best moment was the meeting with the helped people.