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Volunteer Vacations Provider Creates Memories
By Carolyn Chapman
Not that long ago, volunteer opportunities may have been limited to projects spearheaded by church groups or other organizations with contacts and ties to a specific geographic area or mission plan. Now, short-term volunteer vacations, also known as "voluntourism," are attracting many who desire an opportunity to provide service to others during their personal vacation time.
Reaching out to those in need has long been an integral part of the William Jewell College experience. For alumnus Eldo Miller '92, living out the Jewell ethos of service has led to a rewarding career in international travel planning.
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Eldo Miller
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Miller serves as a travel planner
at Golden Rule Travel, which specializes in arranging trips for missionaries
and others to hard-to-reach international destinations. Miller, who has
been with Golden Rule for the past 9 years, says the company was established
by a family member in the late 1980s. The agency now has three offices—one
in Ohio and two in Kansas. "We specialize in international humanitarian
work," says Miller, who works out of the agency's Hutchinson, Kan., office. "We've
got a unique niche." |
Inspired by their faith and seeking to grow the company, Golden Rule's founders
began arranging spring break service trips for college students.
Miller also grew up with a personal value of serving others. He was born and raised in the Canadian mission field, where his parents taught school to native Indian children. While at Jewell, Miller was an Oxbridge music major. "Pretty ambitious for a country boy," he remembers with a laugh.
Miller fondly recalls Dr. Arnold Epley as a "brilliant choral conductor." After graduation, Miller taught choral music at an East coast high school for six years. When he returned to the Midwest, he sang in a couple of choirs and directed a Mennonite singing group as well as a choir for home-schooled students.
Ironically, Miller has never visited the exotic destinations that he sends other people to explore. "While at Jewell I spent a year in England and went to the continent over holiday break, but that's the only international travel I've experienced," he says.
Miller's specialty is arranging travel related to international adoption, specifically in Eastern Europe and Russia. In addition, his agency arranges short- and long-term mission trips for a variety of groups. He has worked with youth mission agencies and mission boards for the Mennonites and Anabaptists. The company also works with some for-profit groups arranging travel for ex-patriots returning home. "We work really hard to get the lowest fare," he says.
Even with the proliferation of Internet-based personal travel planning, Miller says specialty agencies like Golden Rule offer more economical options. Airlines can offer the agency humanitarian fares not usually extended to the public. Missionaries coming home on furlough or going to the field receive discounts, too.
Because they're familiar with remote parts of the world, Miller and his colleagues know when to fly. "Some locations only receive air service twice a week, so we know how to plan for that with convenient routing options," he explains. In addition, airlines will often permit his agency to make last-minute itinerary changes. If a group wants to extend its stay to complete a service project, for example, Miller's agency can usually arrange that with no penalty.
For groups contemplating a service trip, Miller suggests going off-season to cut costs. "If a group is dead-set on going to Jamaica for spring break, there's not much discount I can offer. But if they're willing to go someplace not as warm, I can get them a better deal," he says. The company can arrange hotel and rental cars if needed.
When Miller is not at work, he's busy with his family. He and his wife, Dorcas, have seven children, ranging in age from 15 years to 6 months. "We just try to keep up with them," he says with a laugh. His wife recently battled Lyme disease, which forced Miller into full-parenting mode. Fortunately, she made a full recovery.
Miller says he's seeing a growing interest in humanitarian travel. "Increasingly, people want to invest in their vacation, not just spend a week soaking up the sun at the beach," he says.
Miller can be reached at eldo@goldrule.net
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