January 17, 2011 marked Martin Luther King’s Day of Service. What did you do on this day? Did you volunteer at the soup kitchen for the day, went to the beach for a clean-up, or helped the needy at your local homeless shelter?

This new initiative aims to “continue Dr. King’s legacy” by extending this day of service to a full semester. Now imagine how much impact this can make! Students K-12, with the help from educators and community partners, will be using the knowledge they learned in school to address tough issues in hopes of rebuilding their community.

Read up on this article and  hear about how these students are empowering their communities this semester!

http://www.serve.gov/stories_detail.asp?tbl_servestories_id=457

We’ve all heard it before—the way you spend your New Year’s Eve will decide how you spend the rest of your year. So, if you spent Jan. 1 watching Ryan Seacrest, expect a steady dose of Seacrest for the next 364 days.

Whether or not there is any scientific data or statistics to back this up remains to be seen.

But—what if your mission for social good gets in the way? Could a less-than-ideal New Year’s in the name of social change mean a less-than-ideal rest of the year?

This is the question posed by an awesome service volunteer named Hannah Spiegel from George Washington University. I won’t ruin her story, but let’s just say that she definitely is dispelling the myth: despite not having the greatest NYE, she sounds amped for the year ahead.

Check out Hannah’s post here: http://www.globalbrigades.org/blog/?p=2227

And for future reference, here’s the awesome blog from our partner, Global Brigades. Doing a great job telling the stories of their service missions from abroad, it’s really worth bookmarking when you need a good read: http://www.globalbrigades.org/blog/

I recently just spent a month traveling throughout Central America over the holiday season meeting many new faces and experience many different cultures. This trip I did was a very unique one. I had the opportunity to work directly with students from all over who are providing sustainable service to under-served villages in Honduras. Whether you call this a vacation or volunteering, I call it an experience of a lifetime!

I went on this trip to work on a documentary video and also a photographer for the different Global Brigades programs. So I had a very unique prospective of the the interaction between students and the community they are serving. Every shot that I obtained contained genuine smiles and great passion behind each student volunteers and also the  community members themselves. This, in my opinion, is a powerful movement that I think can later help these communities towards a great future.

Not only did these students had the opportunity to help rebuild water system and run mobile clinics, they also experienced the local culture. Many people who these students help serve opened up their homes to them. One community member even cooked the group a traditional Honduran desert while they were passing out donated water containers!

These service trips, or if you want to call it vacation, is a very unique way to experiencing a different country while helping those who really need it. I think everyone should take a chance and do a trip like this. Whether you end up enjoying it or not, it will definitely be an unforgettable experience.

To learn more or get involved with Global Brigades, visit www.globalbrigades.org.

http://matadornetwork.com/bnt/2011/01/06/how-people-plan-change-world-2011/

What is your New Years resolution for 2011? Would it be hitting the gym more frequently? Giving up your love for chocolates? Or trying to learn something new? This great article talks about how many people plan to change the world in 2011. Check out this great new years resolution from the article!

“…intends to enrich her understanding of the world and different cultures through travel in order to build stronger bonds with others that she believes leads to peace.” – Susan Miller