Volunteering can become a way of life, but after 15 years of supporting and raising funds for the Hawaii Youth Soccer Association, Jill Trigg-Smith felt her season was over.

"My three children have all grown up to be passionate soccer players," she said. "... So my involvement with the HYSA community was whole-hearted and has given me a lot of joy. But, it was definitely time to hang up my hat."

Well, maybe not entirely.

Never one to sit at home, Trigg-Smith, a veteran traveler, set off for Cape Town, South Africa, to spend five weeks as a volunteer with Cross Cultural Solutions, a short-term international volunteer organization.

"It was a confluence of events, really," said Trigg-Smith. "... The freedom to do it, a break from community work in Hawai'i, and CCS dates which fitted perfectly."

Prior to volunteering, Trigg-Smith traveled through Zambia, Botswana and Namibia with her son and daughter on a safari. The day after waving them off at Cape Town airport, she joined a team of CCS volunteers to help care for 24 children suffering from tuberculosis, HIV and, in two cases, AIDS.

"There had been this question: How could I go to Africa and not be affected by what I saw, not give back?" Trigg-Smith said.

"I knew that I needed to go to the root of one of the biggest problems in Africa and work with orphans, children and women in difficulty, and this was exactly what I did. CCS was a good fit for me."

Google "volunteer vacations," and the list of global organizations is lengthy, ranging from one day helping sift earth at an archaeological dig in Egypt to weekends building hiking trails in Washington state, six weeks helping in an African orphanage to two years serving as a Peace Corps volunteer.

Trigg-Smith had worried five weeks would be too short. "Really, would I make any difference? But I was wrong. I was another voice, another pair of hands; I felt very much needed," she said.

"The level of care was fundamental. ... Being a mother was, in the end, the best training for what I could do," she said.

SURGE IN BABY BOOMERS

Combining volunteering with vacations is a growing trend. Global Volunteers sent around 3,000 volunteers into the field last fiscal year, said co-founder Michele Gran, though she expects the economic downturn to slightly reduce that number this year.

"Baby boomers still rule," said Gran. "... In fact they are re-energizing the program, now bringing young adult children with them. For anyone considering this, volunteering is a huge investment in our future in the spirit of President Obama's message of reaching out to help beyond our own borders."

Programs such as CCS and Global Volunteers offer from two to 12-week placements; they require no experience but can cost up to $2,500 for two or three weeks overseas (plus airfare).

Destinations include Africa, India, Europe, Asia and South America. The fees cover administrative fees, volunteers' food, lodging and sightseeing trips. They also help fund equipment, facilities and staff in the host country. Accommodations are in comfortable but basic facilities. The fees are tax-deductible.

Pat Snyder, a single mother of adopted daughters from Guatemala and India, also volunteered with CCS, traveling to Guatemala last year with her 16-year-old daughter, Ana, whom Snyder had adopted there as a baby. It was a chance to introduce Ana to her homeland and to offer help as caregivers to poor families taking in even poorer children.

Addressing the program costs, Snyder said, "Organizations such as CCS organize everything for you. If you want a structured and safe cultural experience with the opportunity to give back to the host country, volunteer vacations like these are the way to go. ... Some people would never go if they had to organize everything themselves."

Snyder recently hosted an informal meeting in Honolulu about volunteering with CCS.

Among those present was Ali Stewart-Ito, 33, a Honolulu high-school English teacher, who has volunteered with several organizations in Kenya in 2007, Tanzania in 2003 and 2005, and in Jamaica in 1995, experiences she refers to as "invaluable" and a time when Stewart-Ito says she could give of herself and become temporarily part of another culture and community.

"We complain about the most ridiculous things while much of the world is struggling to find a way to survive," she said. "... Combining volunteering and travel is a great way to be more integrated into a given community. You are no longer a tourist if you are willing to pitch in and help."

Stewart-Ito plans to volunteer again this summer. Her interests are education, mentoring, health and fitness (she coaches soccer), or a manual labor project. "CCS is rather pricey. I'm also looking into organizations such as Village Volunteers, Habitat for Humanity, Save the Children, and One World Now," she said.

ABOUT EARTHWATCH

Earthwatch Institute is an international nonprofit organization that recruits close to 4,000 volunteers every year to collect field data in rainforest ecology, wildlife conservation, marine science, archaeology and more.

Several years ago, Mary Feind, then 57, joined an Earthwatch team heading to Lake Balaton in Hungary to examine why the lake was filling with soil which depleted the fish and birdlife.

"It was such an interesting and worthwhile project with a common goal," said Feind, who spent 10 days digging soil layers for analysis and living within the village community.

"Meeting people from another country is different when you are with them 24 hours a day; you can establish relationships and bonds so much better than as a tourist," she said.

During free time, Earthwatch professors took the volunteers on side trips, and they had fun taking part in the seasonal grape harvesting at the local vineyards.

"I'd definitely sign up for another project if friends would join me," Feind said. "It's much more fun to do this with people you know."

Former Peace Corps volunteer Richard Fassler, however, suggests would-be volunteers carefully consider the merits and costs involved.

"Many organizations want to charge you several thousand dollars for a two- or three-week experience, which doesn't cover airfare," he said. "A couple thousand dollars is what an entire village will make in a year. (For that amount), I can make those arrangements myself. Do you really want to spend $2,000 painting a house in Nicaragua?"

Fassler, an economic development officer with the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, served with the Peace Corps for two years in Thailand. During service, Peace Corps volunteers receive vacation time, pay and living expenses, deferment of student loans, and transportation to and from the country of service. Obama has said he wants to double the Peace Corps by the organization's 50th birthday in 2011.

Fassler also spent one year in Indonesia independently teaching English.

Whichever organization you choose, Fassler and other volunteers advised doing a lot of research about the program you're interested in before signing up.

"If you have no transferable skills, think about teaching English for a couple of weeks; almost every school in the entire world would be happy to have you," he said.

Patti and Joe Shannon of Honolulu served as Peace Corps volunteers from 2003 to 2005 in a small fishing village in southwest Jamaica. Joe worked at a grade school, setting up and designing their first computer lab. Patti worked with a local women's group, assisting them to get their crafts to market.

"One year into our service, the eye of Hurricane Ivan ripped through our village, completely destroying the women's craft house/shop. I spent the next year rebuilding it from the foundation up," said Patti Shannon. "I promised them I would not leave until the lights went on and the toilets flushed! Gratefully, this came about the evening before our departure."

This fall the couple will spend six weeks volunteering in Puno, Peru, with the Maryknoll organization that works with poor communities in Africa, Asia, and the Americas.

"We often forget how fortunate we are as Americans, and take much for granted," Patti Shannon said. "We're fortunate, we have our home, enough money to live comfortably and our health. I believe in payback, and making small contributions that make ME feel good. It's karmic."

The Shannons, who love traveling as much as volunteering, say it's the perfect way to see the world and to understand other cultures.

"It's much better than the 'three-day tour,' " said Patti. "Living and working with the locals is much more enlightening, and I do believe we would all benefit from understanding other people and their cultures."