Volunteering can look like many things. Small or big. Local or distant. How can you get started, you may ask? Well, Martin Luther King Jr.’s Day of Service had us at API asking the same question within our own community.
The Martin Luther King Jr. Federal Holiday became a national day of service in 1994. The idea was that this holiday would be “a day on, not a day off”, inspired by a man that asked us, “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is: What are you doing for others?” -Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
This year the staff at API decided to participate in the MLK Day of Service and give back to our beloved community of Austin, Texas. We volunteered at the Mary Lee Foundation, a nonprofit aimed at helping persons with disabilities have the ability to live normal, residential/vocational lives. After the Mary Lee Foundation introduced the needed services, the volunteers got to work. Members of API staff, as well as other volunteers from within our community, served by cleaning, painting and landscaping on multiple group homes around Austin. Read more about the Mary Lee Foundation here: http://www.maryleefoundation.org/.
Volunteering is the gift that keeps on giving and provides the biggest return for your time and efforts. As you can see (pictured above), it’s usually super fun too!
All API Study Programs include a day of service: “API Gives Back”. If you are looking to give, there are opportunities year-round! Volunteer Abroad with API and you will be immersed in another culture and language and have the opportunity to make a difference in a community and learn about a people with another culture and language. This can be a time to practice another language, utilize any skills or previously-learned knowledge, and connect with people far from home.
API offers programs to volunteer abroad in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Germany, and Guatemala.
Read more about how you can volunteer abroad here: https://www.apistudyabroad.com/experiential-programs/volunteer/.
Are you an API alumnus, eager to go abroad again? You are eligible for a discount to go abroad again!
