by Anne Cridler 

As a “vintage” Baby Boomer, I discovered Servas when I met a host while motorcycling   in Mexico in 1968. I've been with Servas ever since -- hosting and traveling for decades. In fact, my daughter’s LOI says she "was Servas born." When she was seventeen, she lived a dream and spent a year with hosts Andres and Lourdes in Spain playing futbol! 

In many ways, my connection to Servas also led to a lifelong commitment to volunteering which began with rebuilding the village of Ambar, Peru, after the 1970 earthquake. The crew included Cubans and Russians who brought generators which were very popular. My friends, former Peace Corps volunteers in Ambar, and I brought grit and muscle, which was also popular. Since then, I’vehad volunteer gigs in Mexico, Haiti, South America, Uganda, Ghana and South Africa. 

I lived on the Greek island of Lesbos for eight years where I assisted in welcoming refugees from North Africa. I did similar work in Pireaus, the port of Athens, with the Indian women’s group Amurtel while 4,000 families were stuck when EU countries closed their borders with Germany. I have also volunteered with All Hands and Hearts doing reconstruction projects in the wake of hurricanes in Louisiana, Florida, and the Caribbean.  

I spend the majority of the year volunteering, and Itreasure that time as well as welcoming travelers to share our common belief in celebrating diversity and humanity – building a better and more peaceful world. 

Two great projects relatively close to my base in San Diego are: 

Al Otro Lado.org which works to get justice for migrants with holistic legal and humanitarian support. 
No More Deaths.org (SW Arizona) provides humanitarian aid, search and rescue with the goal of ending suffering and deaths in the borderlands.   

Ed. Note – Might Anne be another Servas Peace Prize candidate? 

by Julie Emory 

We are looking for a Handful of volunteers to help with projects in the new year. These projects are part of the Tech Support team’s work. You don’t have to be a “techie” to make a difference. 

Projects: Refresh the membership website, analyze and archive correspondence data, document various team processes.  

Any level of tech skills will do. We’re looking for detail-oriented, organized, logical thinkers, with the ability to take direction and complete short assignments. It would be helpful if you are comfortable with standard office software (email, documents, spreadsheets) as a user OR an administrator. If you have experience with web design or programming, that’s even better,  but it isn't required!  

Time commitment: one or two hours a week, but not necessarily every week.   

Member level: must be Host/Traveler  

Questions? Interested? Click Volunteering to learn more about this or any other teams that could use some helping hands.    

by Shyla Esko Bare 

Calling friendly, welcoming, and Servas-loving members to join our volunteer team! Volunteers are vital to the success and growth of US Servas. We value our current volunteers and are looking for more. 

On October 16 we launched a new membership level – Friend of US Servas. For the new onboarding process to work, we need interviewers and people willing to be on our nationwide welcome team. If you care about Servas please consider volunteering for these roles. 

Welcome Team Members will be reaching out to new Friends of US Servas. Monthly, team members will receive a list of new members in their area. They will communicate with Friends (via email or text) to welcome them to Servas. The goal is for new members to know they are part of a thriving community. Welcome Team Members can be new or long-term members. This team will also help plan local events to further build community and spread peace locally. 

Interviewers should be experienced members who have traveled and/or hosted before. The duties involve contacting Host/Traveler applicants and reporting interview results. Volunteers in this role should be friendly, articulate, and able to speak on the phone or via video. They need to be able to discern if someone will make a good representative of the mission/vision of Servas International. Questions focus on making sure the applicant understands the Servas ethos and duties/responsibilities of being a Host/Traveler. Interviews last approximately 45 minutes. Volunteers are asked to do one or two interviews a month. 

If you are interested in these volunteer roles please send your name, email address, and the position that calls to you to VolunteerCoordination@USServas.com. If your skills lie elsewhere, just let us know how you would like to volunteer. We are looking for members on other teams too (e.g., Tech Support, Publications, Social Media, Events, and more.)