TAKE A SABBATICAL... MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE

Longer-term, full-time volunteering offers opportunities to participate in projects throughout their lifecycle, from start to finish. This continuity allows unparalleled rewards both for you and the community being served.

A longer-term commitment also encourages non-profit agencies to invest more time in your training. With that training, you can lead teams or provide highly-specialized services, such as on-site disaster relief.

There are two paths available to people who dedicate an entire year to volunteer service.

Independent-minded individualists may prefer the path of doing their own thing, without the need or desire for a lot of structure and advice. If you're like that, just pick your cause and get started. You can do a lot in a year. You will definitely learn a lot. (In fact, CharityGuide.org was started by a single individual who was granted a one-year leave of absence from his employer.)

On the other hand, most people prefer the support, efficiency, and interpersonal contact available by working through an established volunteer agency, such as The Peace Corps or AmeriCorps.

Either way, you can make a big difference in your own life, as well as in the lives of others, by dedicating an entire year to volunteer service.

• The Peace Corps, known for their slogan "the toughest job you'll ever love", offers two-year placements in over 90 countries.
• AmeriCorps, sometimes called the "domestic Peace Corps", offers a variety of programs, some of which help volunteers pay for their education in exchange for one year of service. Either way, representative placements include:

• shelters for abused or battered women
• health clinics for low-income families
• disadvantaged schools
• organizations that help people move from welfare to work
• organizations that introduce technology to underserved neighborhoods

• Institute for International Cooperation and Development trains and sends groups of volunteers to countries in Africa, India, and Latin America to work on sustainable community development projects. Volunteers work for 6 to 20 months with an international development aid organization.
• Volunteers for Peace provides a directory of international workcamps, with projects as wide ranging as: archaeology, arts, agriculture, child protection and development, culture, construction, environmental, festivals, maintenance, manual labor, renovation, social work, teaching, and yoga; as well as assisting the elderly, disabled, mentally handicapped, and physically handicapped.
• Catholic Network of Volunteer Service connects full-time volunteers to over 200 Christian member programs.
• Teach for America is a national teacher corps of recent college graduates of all academic majors who commit to teach for two years in under-resourced urban and rural public schools.