Dance With The One That Brung Ya To Volunteer Abroad

I had planned to write a nice "thank you" and have a happy, safe and prosperous New Decade blog post today.

Not going to happen.  Besides...everyone's doing it.  Plus, all those "predictions" for 2010 and the new decade are nothing short of annoying.

What I am writing about is "counter-intuitive" but I'm even naming names and providing links to prove my point.

There are a lot of people who have helped GeoVisions in general and me specifically.  And there are four who have played a huge role in my development and actually in helping me with our business principles and staying on target with our strategies and innovation.

Jean-Marc Alberola, Randy Sykes, Dave Clemmons and Alexia Nestora.  No particular order of mention, just that these are the four people I need to thank as I start my 2010 and my 7th decade.

I flew out to Denver a few years ago to meet Jean-Marc Alberola.  (That is me on the left with the red hat, Randy Sykes of ISV in the middle and Jean-Marc Alberola on the right.) Jean-Marc heads up Bridge Linguatec and a competitor of ours, Volunteer Adventures.  Under his guidance and leadership, Bridge and Volunteer Adventures do incredible work and I wanted to meet Jean-Marc and pick his brain.  He sat down and told me everything I needed to know and then some. Never will I forget his eagerness to share and his kindness.  If you're looking for a volunteer program and you don't find it at GeoVisions...think about Volunteer Adventures. You will find great programs and people doing this for all the right reasons.  They walk their talk.

While I was in Denver during that trip, I met with Alexia Nestora who, at the time, was President of i-to-i North America.  At that time i-to-i "owned" the voluntourism space.  And I thought Alexia would be far too busy to meet with me.  Not only did she meet with me, we had lunch.  And then we met up at a NAFSA conference and then she kept sending me ideas and help. She was never too busy to help me. And today she is Voluntourismgal and she's moving Voluntourism forward, and is always available when I call or email.

When I met Randy Sykes of ISV, I was an instant convert.  I have never seen such passion for volunteering abroad.  But his passion does not stop there.  His real passion is watching ISV's volunteers return home and continue their volunteer efforts and watching how they make a difference after the volunteer abroad experience. He lives this 7 days a week, and still has the energy to travel and look after ISV's projects all the time. He has been extra-ordinarily kind to me and to GeoVisions, and he has been very patient with me and a very good friend. He's as giving a human being as you will ever meet.  He competes with me, and at the same time he is a good steward of our friendship. If you are thinking about adventure travel teamed with volunteer abroad, ISV is what you want to check out first.

Lastly, I want to thank Dave Clemmons.  He is the Founder of Voluntourism.org.  Like everyone else, I assumed he was too lofty and too busy to deal with the likes of me. I was scared to death to pick up the phone and call him. If you look at his website and read his Blog posts you will see that he deals with literally hundreds of organizations dealing in Voluntourism and as an organization that takes no funds from Voluntourism organizations...he's very independent and neutral.

When Dave is on the East Coast, he always drops by and leaves great ideas.  He has lunch with with me and always insists on including my wife and children. When I'm on the West Coast, we take walks near the water in San Diego. And he drops me off at the airport, again with great ideas.  He's very busy, and very accessible and I thank him for his support, his encouragement and of course, all those great ideas.

Why am I thanking these people in public?  And why am I providing links to our competitor's sites?  Because if it helps anyone looking for more information to do global good, then that conforms to GeoVisions' principles.  And I think it's a better way to start 2010 and a new decade than coming out with predictions or sending season's greetings.  "Thank you" is always the right way to go. And it seems a great way to start 2010 and my 7th Decade.