Every Day With Rachael Ray

Vacations
That Give Back!

Rack up frequent-flier miles and good
karma by organizing a volunteer vacation
with friends or family. Consider these for
your next adventure-seeking holiday.

DIG FOR ANCIENT REMNANTS in Cortez, Colorado

Crow Canyon Archaeological Center

( crowcanyon.org)

Volunteers work alongside researchers to excavate and examine pottery shards, arrowheads and stone tools of the Southwest’s ancestral Pueblo people. The cultural artifacts are eventually curated at an approved facility. After a full workday, participants can explore nearby nature trails, listen to scholarly lectures or rest up in a shared Navajo-style cabin (called a hogan). Prices for the weeklong family program, including room and board, are $1,475 per adult and $1, 125 per child (ages 10 to 17).

CARE FOR
ANIMALS
in Kanab, Utah

Best Friends Animal Sanctuary ( bestfriends.org)

Located within 90 minutes of the Grand Canyon, this no-kill shelter handles about 1,700 animals a day and needs volunteers to help feed, groom, walk and play with its rescued cats, dogs, birds, bunnies, parrots, potbellied pigs and horses. Volunteers can stay in one of eight guest cottages (starting at $125 per night) or two-person cabins (starting at $82); reservations are highly recommended. The website also lists hotels that offer Best Friends discounts.

HELP REBUILD A CITY in New Orleans

HandsOn New Orleans

( handsonneworleans.org)

Even six years after Hurricane Katrina, HandsOn New Orleans hosts hundreds of volunteer projects per year; good Samaritans can choose a range of ways to help, such as revitalizing blighted properties or organizing food drives for families affected by the BP oil spill. Would-be volunteers can search projects by attributes online, so it’s easy to find the ones best suited to kids or families. Participants get two meals a day and can stay in a 40-person communal bunkhouse for $25 a night.

foodies who make a dif f ere n ce

JULIE DARLING Just Call Us Volunteers

This San Diego caterer started feeding the homeless after going through a rough patch in her personal life. “The more I volunteered, the better I felt,” she says. In 2005 she founded JCUV, which serves about 7,000 meals to needy people every year. That quantity doesn’t affect quality: From the stuffed pork loin with pan gravy to the apple streusel, she makes food similar to the dishes she’d prepare on the job. “Everyone deserves a healthy, lovely meal—whether they can afford it or not,” she says. justcallusvolunteers.org