Travel On Purpose: Volunteer Opportunities

We want our trip participants to get direct exposure to the work we're doing together.

In the U.S., that means traveling to engage with our 4Relief and 4EveryKid partners. Internationally, we travel to countries with established 4Opportunity partners. Currently, that includes Honduras and Guatemala, although we may expand as we develop stronger 4Opportunity operations in Africa and other regions.

Soles4Souls trips are five days long on average, and we current visit Guatemala, Honduras, and the United States. Trips include direct service and cultural immersion with an emphasis on pillar programs: 4Relief, 4Opportunity, and 4EveryKid.

Yes! In fact, it's our favorite part of our work: getting off the beaten path and working directly with people and communities. In every volunteer location, we work through local vetted partnerships and teams to serve responsibly. Our partners are either native to the country or have lived there for 7+ years, so they know their communities, language, and culture best! We work with them to build our itinerary in the most intentional manner, identifying the greatest needs and understanding our group abilities.

Yes, we offer customizable, private group trips.

Volunteers are able to earn trips by collecting 10,000 or more pairs of shoes in one year or raising $20,000 or more in one year. Anyone else is considered a “paid traveler.” For more information about earning trips through shoe drives and/or fundraising, please contact communitypartnerships@soles4souls.org.

We post available trips here.

We pride ourselves on excellent customer service and take care of every last detail. We’ve taken more than 2,500 people on over 200 service trips around the world. You can trust us to take care of the details. We’ll be with you every step of the way!

The health and safety of our travelers are our highest priorities throughout our journey together, therefore we take every precaution:

• We carry medical and evacuation travel insurance.
• We book safe, secure accommodations.
• We provide private transportation for the entire duration of our experience and make every effort to be off the roads after dark.
• We register all travelers with the State Departments’ STEP program.
• We operate based on a thorough risk and crisis management plan and train our leaders based on this protocol.
• Through our network of local partners, we follow current events on the ground where we stay and work, so we can make real-time and appropriate decisions.

We recognize that the pandemic isn’t completely over. Due to the fluidity of the situation, we’re ready to pivot and pause travel if the safety of our travelers, trip leaders, and people we serve are at risk. We are following CDC and U.S. Department of State travel requirements and recommendations and will continue to do so, evaluating each trip before we go. Your safety, as well as the safety of the people we serve, is our top priority. Access our complete COVID policy.

You'll find our COVID-19 policy here.

Those under 18 years old must be accompanied by an adult and/or a parent/guardian must sign both a parental release form and a travel agreement on behalf of their minor(s). We ask that travelers be at least 13 years old to withstand the emotional and physical demand of our experiences that can be relatively challenging. If you want to travel with someone younger than 13, they must be well traveled and accompanied by a guardian. For these reasons, Soles4Souls does reserve the right to disapprove of a traveler under age 13.

For all youth travelers, we require them to be respectful and open to learning from our Soles4Souls team and partners throughout the experience. We cannot be responsible for disrespectful behavior during such a meaningful, cross-cultural experience.

We welcome all travelers from around the world. There are no restrictions/fees from our end! You'll be required to check whether a tourist visa is required to travel to your preferred destination given your citizenship/status, as well as letting your travel leader know your status so they can assist you. You'll be responsible for any additional fees incurred to secure a visa/additional paperwork to travel with us.

Please visit the State Department website to check requirements specific to your destination. If a passport is required to travel and you don't have one, or if your passport will expire within six months after your travel dates, please apply for or renew your passport. Standard processing time for your first passport is minimum 6-8 weeks, and routine passport renewals are estimated around 2-3 weeks. We encourage you to take care of this immediately upon booking.

Absolutely! Soles4Souls travel leaders communicate, prepare, and travel with you.

Yes! We have an online fundraising platform that's free, customizable, and easy to use. You can create your own fundraising page and share it with your family and friends via social media/email. It’s a great tool for others to help you, allowing them to be part of your journey. All donations go directly to S4S and are credited to your account to offset your total amount due. No fundraised money will be refunded directly to the traveler.

NOTE: Do NOT fundraise through Facebook, because there’s no way we can trace donations back to you to credit them to your travel account.

No worries! Download our Travel Policy for more trip information.