Our community has grown with each passing year, beginning in rural Pennsylvania and quickly extending across the globe. In this series, we glimpse into the lives of some of the people who make up the diverse VISIONS community and hear how VISIONS fits into their bigger picture.
Do you have a VISIONS story that you would like to share? Our international community would love to hear from you! Click here to share your story!
Tim has led VISIONS programs all over the world – Mississippi, Australia, South Carolina, Dominica, Alaska, Montana Blackfeet Indian Reservation and Montana Northern Cheyenne. Today he uses the skills that he developed as a VISIONS team member to enhance his life and others’ around him.
Meet Santos Ramos, our “Saint” of VISIONS Dominican Republic. Since 1991, Santos has been an integral part of VISIONS, dedicating his life to serving communities, building schools, and providing homes. Read on to discover his remarkable story and lasting impact.
Meet Rosa Maria Espino, a devoted Community Partner in Cotui, Dominican Republic, whose love for her family and community shines through her work with VISIONS Service Adventures.
Gillian became a leader for the VISIONS Dominican Republic summer program after volunteering with us as a teen in Peru, and incorporates the experiential learning VISIONS emphasizes into her daily life as a university student in Byron Bay, NSW, Australia. Read on about her adventures!
Georgia has been leading teen volunteers in the Dominican Republic for three years running. Her passion for Spanish, Latin America and experiential learning – and her time with VISIONS – has fueled her goals and influenced her choice to pursue a Master’s Degree in International Development.
As Armeno recalls past programs, he looks back on what he’s learned from each location and looks forward to his next, back in VISIONS Spanish immersion program in Peru this summer!
Former VISIONS program director and carpenter Lee Conah volunteers in his city and is an accomplished handyman. He also writes music! Read on for more on Lee, and a link to a song he wrote about his experiences.
Molly loves creating outdoor community spaces and making her surroundings closer to nature. She reminisces about her time in BVI with VISIONS in the early 90s, sharing insights about why teen summer programs are so important.
Patrick’s love for the outdoors was fostered in VISIONS Alaska in 2008, and subsequently on a 3-month backpacking trip in Colorado. His love for wilderness shows in his desire to work to make the earth healthier, both in his community and in the job he loves. Learn more about Patrick!
VISIONS Foundation provides scholarships to teens with financial need to attend summer programs through their partner org, VISIONS Service Adventures. Meet scholarship recipient Rebecca Edwards, a senior from the Blackfeet Reservation, who attended a VISIONS program in the Dominican Republic.
“On paper, I am a teacher, but in reality the job is far more like directing a VISIONS program. It’s a thousand things at once – community-organizing, group-process facilitation, personalization, experiential design, synthesis. I love it.”
Antonia, a VISIONS alum and returned Peace Corps Volunteer is now a software engineer in Seattle, WA and plays the fiddle in a bluegrass band. Read more about how her time with VISIONS has influenced her life.