(And Religious Mission Trips – Where Your Group Brings the Religion!)
ILI Travel offers non-religious mission trips & religious mission trips. Much of our program is similar for both groups, but religious mission trips involve your group bringing the ties to your faith. For faith-based groups, we seek opportunities to work with schools or organizations that also adhere to the tenets of your faith.
ILI Travel trips are available for those in and near:
- Bucks County, PA
- Burlington County, NJ
- Essex County
- Montgomery County
- Orange County
- Chester County
- Warren County
- Union County
- And much more!
If you are looking to help those overseas, get in touch with us to learn more about the opportunities that are available to you.
Non-Religious Mission Trips
Many groups are looking for the service and volunteer goals of a mission trip – but are not looking for a faith-based program. Our service learning programs provide opportunities for non-religious mission trips and can be used with non-religious and interfaith groups alike.
Each day, we will provide meaningful service, and after-dinner reflections will be facilitated by a local field director and, if you choose, your leader can co-facilitate. During these sessions we will work with the group to understand how these issues have a unique impact on the country in which we are providing service.
Religious Mission Trips
These volunteer opportunities will be run much like the non-religious mission trips, but in these cases, we will be looking for your team leader to integrate your religious mission with the overall trip. Your clergy or team leader can co-facilitate reflections. Our Field Director will be an expert in the local culture. Your clergy or team leader will be the expert in the ways in which this ties to your faith-based mission.
A Typical Day for a Non-Religious Mission Trip Includes:
7 a.m. – Breakfast
8 a.m. – Boarding the bus to visit our volunteer site
9 a.m. – Running our service learning program
12:30 p.m. – Break for lunch
1:30 p.m. – Return to service learning program
3:00 p.m. – Leave program for the hotel, supermarket, or beach time
6:00 p.m. – Dinner
7:00 p.m. – Reflections
For a religious mission trip, we can accommodate time for prayer and/or service as desired by your team leader.
We can also schedule a day to take in some of the natural beauty of the country we are visiting. It could include a beach day or another endeavor. If you choose a trip near a beach, we can also visit the beach after the volunteer site shuts down for the day.
Even when having fun, we are constantly working on contributing to the local economy. We will visit the local stores, eat in family-owned restaurants, shop in locally owned stores, and more.
More Than Service
When you experience these trips, most find that their service changes them for the better. Do you want to grow from crossing cultures? Do you want to get to know a part of a local community that few tourists have the opportunity to become familiar with? Do you want to be a part of a group offering fair trade wages? Do you want to contribute to their economic sustainability?
When we serve, we pay careful attention to the footprint we leave behind. We give to the local schools or non-profits with which we work, and we give according to their needs. We stay in a locally-owned hotel and eat in locally-owned restaurants so that the money we spend stays in these communities. We pay fair trade wages to our team in the countries we visit, and we insist that every trip we take helps to create local jobs. We also provide Dominican Republic volunteer opportunities and Haiti volunteer opportunities.
What Does Service Look Like on Your Trip?
Groups tour prisons and meet with nonprofits working with the formerly incarcerated. Non-religious mission trips from meet with groups dealing with sex trafficking. Groups from PA, NJ, and beyond have worked with us on a variety of projects in these countries.
We can partner your group with a non-religious or religious organization. Our work will come from locally-identified needs, and we provide fair trade wages to the individuals with which we work. At the heart of our efforts, we focus on economic, educational, and environmental sustainability.
In the event of an emergency in which a country becomes unsafe for travel, we work diligently to provide a Plan B for your group. One group from Montgomery County was once scheduled for Haiti volunteer opportunities, but when there was unrest in the country, we switched with less than 3 weeks to go to our Dominican Republic volunteer opportunities.
Some groups volunteer at home and abroad. For example, they can volunteer in a US-based soup kitchen and the Dominican Republic, or a PA literacy center and Haiti. ILI Travel is dedicated to supporting our neighbors both at home and abroad.
Reach Out Today!
If you are located in one of the following counties, reach out to learn about our local programs in: Bucks County, PA ; Burlington County, NJ; Chester County, PA; Essex County, NJ; Montgomery County, PA; Union County, NJ; Warren County, NJ; and additional locations.
We are also working with organizations from coast to coast. Contact us to learn more.
Our volunteer abroad programs can bring out the best in those who travel. Many say that their view of the world is never again the same.
We encourage you to look around our website and call us with your questions today!