Our Volunteer Mission – Help Us To Make A Difference

The challenge has been set and the goal has been decided - we want to raise money to be able to volunteer for PMGY to make a difference – we want to give our time to those that need it and to give something back. We want to raise money and know where it is going and what it is going to be used for.

Founded by volunteers for volunteers, PMGY Foundation work with local communities in the developing world towards long-term sustainable goals – from orphanages to medical centres, from elephant programmes to conservation projects, they offer volunteer programmes to keep these vital projects going.

Click Here for further information regarding the foundation:https://www.planmygapyear.co.uk/pmgy-foundation

What are We Doing to Raise Funds?

To reach our target we are going to fund raise with a variety of challenging events! Watch this space for updates on what, where, when and how!

The First Challenge - Danielle is Running the Cambridge Half Marathon!

On Sunday 5th March 2017 Danielle will lace up her trainers and attempt to run 13.1miles in the historic city of Cambridge. Danielle has been training hard for the last couple of months, through rain, snow, wind, injury and very chilly temperatures – all in aide of raising some money to get these volunteer programmes paid for. This is Danielle’s first half marathon so will be a real personal challenge as well as an achievement to be doing so for a great cause – a mixture of excitement and nerves are well and truly settled in. Keep an eye out for our next challenge!

What Project?

We are stuck. We cannot decide. All three would make a huge difference. For every donation received we would like the donator to pick which project they feel would benefit most from our time. We will then pick a programme and keep you updated with our fundraising progress and our volunteering plans.

Sri Lanka Orphanage

PMGY’s Orphanage in Sri Lanka brightens up the lives of young children, making a vital and important contribution to their daily lives. In Sri Lanka today institutional care is the fate of many children who have been abandoned by their parents. Poverty is a root cause with families feeling they cannot afford to adequately provide for the child and give them the education and start in life that they need and deserve. A volunteer’s role is to help encourage and care for those children, teaching English, undertaking educational activities, leading outdoor games and organising sports.

Sri Lanka Elephant Programme

Elephants play a big part in Sri Lankan culture and have been trained for religious, commercial and domestic purposes for thousands of years.

PMGY have created a programme that gets volunteers to work directly with this amazing animal, giving them the daily care and support they really do need. The project fees for the programme are used to fund the care of the elephants. Volunteers will work alongside a Mahout (elephant carer) to feed, walk and wash the elephants and will also be required to help clean and maintain the project site – collecting and piling dung, cleaning elephant beds, harvesting bananas and so on.

(Please note that do not endorse or allow any commercial riding of the elephant to take place at the project)

Ghana Orphanage

Like so many developing nations, Ghana has a large number of children who find themselves in the care of an orphanage. Not all children at the orphanages have lost their parents, some arrive from abusive homes and others are taken into care as their parents cannot afford to look after them. The orphanage is basic, under resourced and in need of volunteers assistance.

With limited staff resources, it is individual attention that the little ones crave so much. Providing the children with the essential skills in life will help them on their way to successful futures free from poverty and filled with the same opportunities as others. A volunteer becomes a big brother or sister to the children, working alongside local staff to assist with teaching the children, general childcare and the daily operational running of the orphanage.

How Does Your Money Help?

The money raised will be used to pay towards the following for two people:

Return flights to chosen destination

Food whilst volunteering

Accommodation

Airport transfers

Travel insurance

Visa

CRB check

Our pledge is to work extremely hard, travel across the globe and give our time to make a difference. We would like to ask if you could help get us there by donating any pennies that you may have spare. With Your help, two very grateful volunteers will be able to make a very positive impact on the world.

What happens if we don’t reach our target?

• We will try to self-fund as much as possible. If we cannot reach our target with a combination of raised proceeds and this then we will donate all raised proceeds to the PMGY Foundation

What happens if we supersede our target?

• We will donate all funds over our target to the PMGY Foundation