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Local Runner Raising Money For Cambodian Students
NewsTalk 1530 KFBK
Tuesday 08-31-2010 2:55pm PT
A Sacramento native is combining her love for running and her desire to help underprivileged children.
Jane Price has run marathons before, but Sunday will be the first time the 50-year-old will participate in an Ultra Marathon. The trek through the Sierra Nevada Foothills, known as the Run on the Sly. Price is running to raise funds so that five students in Cambodia can attend college.
So far Jane has raised $10,000. The funds will cover the students for four years of school.
Price got the idea after spending a month in the South East Asian country. The sponsorship is through the Journeys Within Our Community organization.
Go to NewsTalk 1530 KFBK and listen to the interview by clicking here...
Newburyport girls making a difference in Cambodia, By Sara Brown
BLAST Magazine
July 2010: Most 13 year old girl’s lives revolve around school, friends and the boy that sits across from them in math class they have a crush on. Life doesn’t seem to go much further then the latest sale at the mall.
Leah Petty and Claire Miller are not like most 13-year-old girls. For the past three years, the Newburyport girls have been raising money for the children of Cambodia.
Petty, who lived in Singapore at the time visited, Cambodia for the first time and was touched by what she saw.
“It really struck me how people were living here,” said Petty. That fateful visit made Petty want to do something to help. She contacted a group in Cambodia called Journeys Within Our Community, and contacted a friend back home in the US, Miller, and that’s when the ball was in motion.
View the complete article on Blast.com
Journeys Within Our Community & VolunTourism
TalkShoe - The VolunTourist
April 2009 On TalkShoe.com with David Clemmons: Gerry & Judy Laird, voluntourists, Joanne Majewski, Alternative Breaks Coordinator for the Center for Service and Action at Loyola Marymount University, and Andrea Ross, Founder of Journeys Within Tour Company (JWTC) and Journeys Within Our Community (JWOC), will join David Clemmons to discuss the following: 1) How has JWOC integrated the tourism knowledge of JWTC with service to the local community? 2) When considering voluntourists' needs in juxtaposition to the needs of communities, how has JWOC been able to maintain a balanced perspective? 3) As voluntourists (Gerry & Judy) and past voluntourists (Joanne), what advice and constructive feedback are you providing and have you provided to JWOC before, during, and/or after your trip? Listen at talkshoe.com.
Download the interview in MP3 format (21.3 MB).
Socially-Conscious Travel
ABC News Money Matters
November 2008 See Andrea and Narla discuss Journeys Within, JWOC and the potential of philanthropic travel live on ABC News Money Matters.
2008 World Savers Awards
Condé Nast Traveler
September 2008 The 38 companies celebrated on these pages are turning the travel industry's enormous potential to improve the planet into reality. Travel worldwide will generate $8 trillion in revenue this year, and these, our annual World Savers Awards, are one indication of how the industry is measuring up to that opportunity. The trend is striking: We received applications from 142 companies this year—a record during the 14 years of the awards, and a twofold increase over 2007.
The 17 judges—academics, activists, CEOs, and philanthropists (see page Jeffrey Sachs)—looked at five areas: poverty alleviation; cultural and environmental preservation; education; wildlife conservation; and health. But the process of arbitrating the awards belies the human drama of the achievements themselves. From building schools and furnishing much-needed medical supplies to restocking wildlife reserves and dispensing micro-loans, these World Savers are models for their peers—each story an inspiration for others to follow. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, here's hoping that this year's winners are flattered by every other airline, cruise line, hotel, and tour operator on earth.
WINNER IN HEALTH
Journeys Within Our Community
When Andrea and Brandon Ross moved to Cambodia in 2003 to start a tour company and a bed-and-breakfast, they discovered that nearly two-thirds of the population lacked access to clean water, contributing to serious health problems. Little by little, the Rosses are changing that. They launched Journeys Within Our Community (JWOC), a nonprofit that offers scholarships for university students, holds free English classes, provides micro-loans for small businesses, and builds village water wells. Puzzled by the recent fad of Americans doing construction work on volunteer vacations, JWOC instead hires locals, helping to solve unemployment problems, as well. "You don't use someone with a Harvard degree to build a well," says Brandon. So far, JWOC has added more than 180 wells to the landscape around Siem Reap, helping nearly 4,000 Cambodians to escape water-related disease. Travel tip: For $300, you can pay for the construction of a well that will supply about 20 people with water and then visit the families and communities it benefits.
HONORABLE MENTION IN POVERTY ALLEVIATION
Journeys Within Our Community
Journeys Within Our Community runs a Village Microfinance Fund with profits from its tour business and guest contributions. Once a recipient has paid back the original loan (beginning at $100) and interest, he or she can take out another, larger loan.
HONORABLE MENTION IN PRESERVATION (ENVIRONMENT/CULTURE)
Journeys Within Our Community
This Southeast Asia company builds cultural experiences into all of its trips—visiting a Khmer dance class in Cambodia, a rice paper producer in Laos, or a weaving village in Vietnam.
View the complete article on Concierge.com
Help Cyclone Victims in Myanmar
Condé Nast Traveler
July 2008 Remember the devastating cyclone that hit Myanmar (also known as Burma) back in May? Just vaguely, right? While the news media quickly moved on to cover the riots in Tibet and the Democratic primaries, those in Myanmar are still trying to pick up the pieces, with little help from their ruling junta. More than 138,000 people are listed as dead or missing. The tourist season is approaching, and a drop in visitors could devastate the country's already battered economy.
That's where you can help: Consider planning a trip to Myanmar through Journeys Within. This tour operator has just announced that, from December 2008 to December 2009, it will funnel much of its profits from Myanmar itineraries to that country's relief efforts. Specifically, Journeys Within will donate ALL of the profits from the first ten trips that it plans to Myanmar, and half of the profits from the rest of the trips during the year. Journeys Within owner Andrea Ross told me, "Most of the country has not suffered any damage but is now struggling because the tourism industry has essentially collapsed. Guides, drivers, and hotel staff are all facing uncertain futures." I can personally vouch for the high quality of Journeys Within's tours: I traveled to Cambodia with them last December, and wrote an article about my voluntourism experience that appeared in Conde Nast Traveler's May issue.
The company's nonprofit arm, Journeys Within Our Community, has already been instrumental in Cyclone Nargis relief efforts. Director Jesse Wolfe was among the first aid workers let into Myanmar after the disaster, and you can read his assessment of the situation on JWOC's Web page.
You can also read a paean to Myanmar that was published in Conde Nast Traveler before the cyclone hit, and check out the suggested itineraries from Journeys Within.
View the complete article on Concierge.com
Guilt Free Tripping
Condé Nast Traveler
May 2008 You don’t have to wear a shirt to do good. Brook Wilkinson goes luxe in Southeast Asia and figures out how to give back, too.
You took the helicopter ride around the temples of Angkor Wat? How much does that cost?” the monk asked, his eyes showing an incomprehension that his shaved eyebrows could not. Appearing daily in his saffron robes, he was a standout student in the advanced English class that I was helping to teach. “Two hundred and fifty dollars,” I replied, staring ashamedly at the wooden desk in front of me. Over the course of my thirty-minute joyride, I realized I’d doled out more than many Cambodians earn in a year.
I had come to Cambodia on a luxury volunteer vacation arranged through Journeys Within, a tour operator run by an American couple based in Siem Reap. I’d be spending about half of my time – as most visitors to Cambodia do – exploring Phnom Penh and the cultural relics of Angkor Wat, staying at high-end hotels and touring with private guides. On the other days, I’d be volunteering with the tour operator’s nonprofit Journeys Within Our Community (JWOC). At best, I hoped to alleviate some of the guilt that comes with being a moneyed traveler in the developing world. Read more…
Journeys Within: Cultural Support in Southeast Asia
Elite Traveler
March/April 2008 The Mission: Brandon and Andrea Ross’ boutique Southeast Asia tour company Journeys Within strives to give guests authentic experiences in Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.
The couple also formed the nonprofit Journeys Within Our Community orgazination to spearhead such projects as: microfinance fund that has loanded over $17,000 to give the poor an opportunity to start or expand a business; a water project that creates wells to provide a safe, dependable water source year round; the Killing Fields Pagoda language school that offers classes in Thai, Japanese, Korean and English; the Dollars for Scholars Fund that gives students university scholarships; and the Than Xuan Peace Village shelter that helps victims from the Vietnam War, To really make a difference, join them on a giving tour of Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam while enjoying some of the region;s finest accomodations and experiences, as outlined below. Read more…
How to Positively Impact the World Through Travel
February 2008 Whether through volunteering or making donations, find ways to make a difference as you travel. An inside look at how to change lives in the places you visit.
International Effort Bears Fruit for Killing Fields Pagoda School
Park Record
October 2005 Journeys Within Our Community’s projects include the school, a clean water project, and an effort to help advanced students get higher levels of education. The Rosses also facilitate volunteer work in Cambodia by tourists.
“Our guests that have participated have loved it and the projects, especially the school, have benefited so much from the Western input, Brandon said. Read more…
