Public School Volunteers (VIPS) who participate in Cypress-Fairbanks ISD schools make a significant contribution to children`s education. Each school year, thousands of volunteers donate hundreds of thousands of hours of service to the school district. Volunteers contribute in areas such as library aides, workspace assistance, campus events, fundraisers, staff appreciation lunches, mentoring, outreach, tutoring and classroom support. Global Volunteers, an international NGO in special consultative status with the United Nations, has been mobilizing short-term volunteers worldwide for long-term development programs since 1984 – and enjoys the trust of 37,000+ volunteers, academic and corporate organizers, and faith-based organizations. Groups, families and individuals serve for one to three weeks under the guidance of local leaders, using their unique skills and interests in a variety of projects to help children and families reach their full potential. Global Volunteers runs service programs in 14 countries and engages more than 1,000 volunteers in our host communities in a typical year. In March 2020, we had to suspend all volunteer programs for 16 months. During this time, we listened carefully to our local community partners and volunteers through surveys, focus groups and in-person conversations. We have tried to balance the desire of volunteers and community partners to resume programs with health and travel advice and advice from trusted organizations such as the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization. Thankfully, we were able to resume a handful of service programs in the summer of 2021, but the resurgence of the Delta variant made many volunteers hesitate to travel again.

Our primary concern is to protect the health and safety of our generous volunteers and the children and families of the region we serve. YOU AGREE TO ABIDE BY THE RULES AND LAWS: Global Volunteers requires all volunteers to arrive at the specified location prior to the scheduled arrival date of the service program and within the arrival window. You will be the guest of the locals and the host. You agree to comply with all applicable rules, policies and guidelines of Global Volunteers and the host, as well as the laws of the local country. If you do not comply with all rules, laws, policies and guidelines, the World Volunteers Team Leader has the authority to ask you to leave the community and/or accommodation immediately. If you are asked to leave, you agree to leave immediately. In addition, you agree that Global Volunteers will not reimburse any portion of your service program fees if you are asked to leave the community and/or accommodation. Global Volunteers will help you arrange transportation to the nearest airport.

Since donations to Global Volunteers` host community projects are an important resource for our partners, we ask that you work with your contributions through us and adhere to our official project donation guidelines. Global Volunteers is a 501(C)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit. As a result, U.S. law and IRS regulations allow donors to make tax-deductible contributions to Global Volunteers for certain program purposes. However, in order to protect against possible fraud and to avoid any appearance of embezzlement, we do not allow our employees to collect donations from volunteers in the host country. However, one or more volunteers in the host country may make a monetary or in-kind donation to Global Volunteers for the benefit of the local population, provided that the donation is made to World Volunteers staff in the presence of the primary community or organization official for a purpose approved by World Volunteers. If you are the parent, grandparent or guardian of a student enrolled at the CFISD school where you wish to volunteer, you must create a CFISD volunteer portal account. The steps to volunteer are listed below.

Volunteers have the opportunity to use their construction skills as builders, construction workers or foremen. However, we are also looking for volunteers who wish to apply their unique business skills to office positions such as social media consultant, grant author, volunteer coordinator, global village assistant, research assistant, communications specialist, program or resource development specialist, as well as other administrative roles. Global Volunteers strictly adheres to IRS requirements that volunteers work an average of eight hours a day, five days a week, to ensure the legitimacy of this tax benefit. Global Volunteers is a long-time leader in overseas and U.S. security. Discounts apply to returning groups, students, families, chaperones and volunteers. Tax-deductible program fixed costs range from $1,045 to $2,995 and include orientation, all meals, accommodation, ground transportation, project materials, emergency medical evacuation insurance, a trained team leader, administrative costs and 24-hour staff contacts. This was my first volunteer experience, so I didn`t know what to expect.

Two good friends and I chose this volunteer experience because we wanted to stay in the US so close to COVID and my friend had heard good things about Global Volunteers. We proudly wore our T-shirts on the plane and, when we arrived at our connecting airport, we met two other volunteers who were going to the same location. We connected immediately! Our group „opened“ the site after it was closed for 2 years due to COVID. Peter, our fearless leader was awesome! He shared with us all the volunteer opportunities (of which there were many) and we could have the choice of what we wanted to get involved in. Every day we had a morning meeting and every evening a „debriefing“ where we shared our experiences with the group. In addition to the „work,“ we had many opportunities to learn about Blackfoot culture, meet some of the locals, and see some of the sights with a local guide. We met some of the local artists and learned a lot more about Indian culture. We had a wonderful horse ride through the mountains. What I am left with is that, away from work, family, friends and daily tasks, I was able to find who I was. This trip has given me such a sense of myself and what I can do to help others, and I will take that feeling with me for a long time. My second trip with Global Volunteers is already planned, along with 3 of the other Montana Trip volunteers! The COVID-19 pandemic has been devastating for global volunteers.

We were forced to suspend all volunteer service programs for 16 months, which is the organization`s main source of revenue. To survive the lack of contributions to the service program, Global Volunteers applied for a Small Business Administration (SBA) loan from the federal government and also received a PPP loan that allowed us to retain all staff for a temporary period. Unfortunately, we had to lay off several employees to remain viable and turned our attention to donations from former volunteers and community foundations. If you have any questions about your volunteer status, please call 281-894-3950. We inform volunteers of the host community`s needs for donations for work projects, as well as in-kind donations that can be delivered by volunteers and used during the service program.