Travel Elevates May UE Special Section

TRAVEL ELEVATES

FOSTERING THE POWER OF TRAVEL

THE POWER OF TRAVEL

TRAVEL CAN CREATE TRU LY MAGICAL MOMENTS, whic h is why you are most likely reading this magazine and ultimately why we have chosen careers as travel experts. As a global society, we are hardwired to roam. To discover. To learn. To connect. And while all are paramount, connection is the impetus for this new special section in Ultimate Experiences magazine, titled Travel Elevates We are thrilled to debut these new stories. Why? Because connection is a catalyst for change.

The idea behind Travel Elevates, the non-profit charitable arm of Signature Travel Network, was born when a donation-based project in Kenya, initiated by a powerful and eye-opening visit, continued until it was self-sustained. Today, Travel Elevates’ mission is to foster global empowerment via travel. How so? By leveraging global partnerships

and connecting travelers to various projects poised to empower global communities via education and economic growth.

Within these new pages you’ll find stories with a two-fold mission: showcasing the multiple projects supported through Travel Elevates, and information on how travelers just like you can identify global charities to support as you travel the world.

As your trusted travel advisor, while we continually celebrate the privilege of travel — luxurious resorts, cultural immersions, and nature’s stirring landscapes — there is ample opportunity to further elevate travel’s transformative nature. We are all agents of change. Let’s together support and celebrate travel that matters

HERE’S TO MAKING A DIFFERENCE!

CONTENTS

Volume One 2023

86 CATALYST FOR CHANGE

Meet Travel Elevates’ 2023 sponsored projects. From implementing better healthcare to fostering economic and educational growth in communities, these organizations are dedicated to moving the needle.

88 CASE STUDY

Pack for a Purpose is proof that small efforts can have lasting impact. Discover how you, too, can change the world, one small suitcase at a time.

90 GIVE & GET

Through education and economic support, communities in need can thrive. Discover travel experiences and initiatives that you can partake in to become a change agent for good.

Inspired to further connect? Contact us today or visit travelelevates.org for more.

All smiles, as a result of needed supplies being provided via Pack for a Purpose on a trip to Africa.

CATALYST FOR CHANGE

Travel Elevates’ 2023 Sponsored Projects are poised for serious momentum.

written by ERIN LENTZ

EVERY YEAR, AS PART OF TRAVEL ELEVATES’ OVERARCHING MISSION TO FOSTER PROJECTS EMPOWERING GLOBAL COMMUNITIES, it identifies and awards funding and support to multiple non-profit organizations. This year, the exciting recipients are already positively impacting local communities via education and economic impact. A snapshot of progress in motion, these four game changers define the rippleeffect: an inspired vision can lead to significant change. Here’s to further momentum!

CONSERVATION LOWER ZAMBEZI

Who: Conservation Lower Zambezi is a non-profit organization committed to the protection of wildlife and the sustainable use of natural resources in Zambia’s Lower Zambezi. Founded in 1994, its four pillars include: wildlife protection, environmental education, community empowerment, and wildlife reintroduction and research.

Why: With the mantra “Working Today to Protect Tomorrow,” it supports environmental education and humanwildlife co-existence — a symbiotic relationship critical to vibrant communities in the Lower Zambezi.

2023 Project: The Travel Elevates grant will support scholars and teachers from 65 schools, ultimately reaching 3,500 scholars annually.

EDUCATION AFRICA

Established in 1992, Education Africa delivers quality education to underserved communities. It’s mission? With 30-plus years fostering real change, it provides poverty alleviation via education. With a culture of learning and teaching, it strives to reach and uplift the most vulnerable with opportunities to improve access to relevant education, in turn enabling students to eventually participate in the global economy.

Why: Educating, equipping, and empowering communities through early education is imperative to the wellbeing of not only young students, but in turn, the vibrancy of the community at large.

2023 Project: The Travel Elevates project will address the lack of high-quality early learning opportunities available for South African children. Direct beneficiaries include 113 female educators and 70-percent of youth (ages 18-35) from low socioeconomic status. Indirect beneficiaries include up to 250,000 vulnerable children (ages three-five) over an average 30-year career span per educator.

PROJECT LUANGWA

Who: Established in 2010, Project Luangwa has constructed and built infrastructure for 12 schools, impacting 4,500-plus children in education each year. The backstory: Several of the valley’s tour operators realized the need to empower communities and show the incredible benefits that wildlife and an unspoiled habitat bring to the region.

Why: With a mantra of “community empowerment through tourism,” by using a portion of the proceeds from each visitor, Project Luangwa seeks to reaffirm the importance of tourism in action.

2023 Project: The Travel Elevates grant supports a project titled DigiLearn, which makes learning more accessible. The grant enables Project Luangwa to purchase equipment, including tablets, projector screens, solar panels, and batteries. Once the program is fully up and running across multiple

sites, it will directly impact nearly 2,000 children every year and have life-long positive results for their families and communities.

PINCC

Who: PINCC’s mission is to prevent cervical cancer in low- and middleincome countries by employing low-cost, yet effective technology. It creates sustainable programs in patient education, medical personnel training, and facility outfitting.

Why: Put simply: The disease is preventable. Most cervical cancer deaths occur in women who live in low-and-middle income countries (LMICs) where adequate screening and treatment is unavailable. PINCC workings to make cervical dysplasia treatment available to every woman.

2023 Project: The Travel Elevates grant will support HPV self-testing to conquer cervical cancer. The initiative aims to increase health access and education among reproductiveaged women via the provision of the lifesaving thermoablation device, training in technology use, training in screening, and continued long-term support for education and equipment.

Opposite page, from left: An African local supported by PINCC transports food and water from the market; Conservation Lower Zambezi protects wildlife. Above, clockwise from top: Students supported by Project Luangwa; community enrichment via Education Africa; a Project Luangwa education center.

CASE STUDY

written by ERIN LENTZ

IT STARTED WITH A BLOOD PRESSURE CUFF AND A STETHOSCOPE. WHEN REBECCA ROTHNEY, A LONGTIME SCHOOLTEACHER, COORDINATED A TRIP TO KENYA in 2008, she had an a-ha moment. As she corresponded with the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy on her itinerary, the company mentioned they supported a nearby clinic and school. “So we asked them what supplies were needed,” Rothney says. “Their response? A blood pressure cuff and stethoscope. I thought it was a joke. How could a clinic not have these? I was inspired to action.”

Since its launch in 2010, Pack for a Purpose has taken over 414,469 pounds of supplies and essential needs to 55 (and counting) countries. As a person

of action, Rothney believes small changes can produce huge impact, and after founding her global nonprofit she’s proved herself right. Working with international hotels and tour companies, Rothney created a simple yet impactful model for travelers who want to make a difference, simply by packing a suitcase.

The process? Simple: Travelers visit the Pack for a Purpose website, search for the region and country they are visiting, access the “Essential Needs” list, and then pack a recommended five pounds (travelers can pack more if desired). Needs lists are provided directly by the community-based projects that receive and use the supplies, enabling travelers to make informed decisions and only take

Pack

items that meet the needs of those who will be using them. Once travelers arrive to their destination, they have directions on where and how to drop supplies off — simple, easy, and highly effective.

“I’m proud that everything is locally curated,” Rothney says. “The needs list comes from what’s really needed in the community, and changes as community needs change. One of our key messages in the beginning was that a stethoscope weighs less than a kilo but can touch 10,000 hearts. Today, an antibiotic cream prevents 30 kids from getting an infection from cuts and bruises from playing outside.”

Supplies may be simple, yet the reach is wide. Examples of community initiatives abroad include working with Dive Munda in the Solomon Islands, where the current essential needs list for Helena Goldie Hospital includes malaria testing kits and surgical Oxford handbooks. Guests staying at the Fairmont Mayakoba can help Playa Animal Rescue by simply packing chew toys and leashes, among other needs.

Traveler Susan Sachs Lipman took school supplies to children in Costa Rica. “The school visit turned out to be one of the most special and memorable experiences of our whole trip,” she says. One boy wasn’t in school that day because he had to share a

pair of shoes with his brother — a reminder that supplying a simple pair of shoes can change a young child’s education.

“Growing up in the south, my mother always told me, if you’re going to visit somebody and accept their hospitality, you take a gift,” Rothney says. “You say thank you for the hospitality. Gratitude is at the heart of Pack for a Purpose, and when you are expressing this kind of gratitude it is also helping people who really need it.”

As a fun spin on today’s modern world of 5G networks, Rothney adds that the “4Gs” that make up Pack for a Purpose are gratitude, generosity, giving, and global impact.

“I believe in small effort, big impact,” Rothney adds. “We also don’t want travelers to Pack for a Purpose once and that’s it. My hope is it’s the beginning of a journey of conscious gratitude, in whichever way you choose to express it, whether abroad or at home. I haven’t had one person say, ‘I Packed for a Purpose and didn’t like it.’ My hope is this continues in perpetuity because there’s no reason it can’t.”

SMALL EFFORT. BIG IMPACT.

5 Easy Steps to Pack for a Purpose

• Visit packforapurpose.org and select your destination.

• Find an accommodation or tour company and a project it supports.

• Choose the supplies you wish to take from the specific items requested.

• Drop off the supplies at the accommodation or tour company.

• They will be delivered to the project. It’s that easy!

Opposite page: Helping children stay happy is part of the Pack for a Purpose mission. Top, from left: Recipients of essential needs, including educational Dr. Seuss books; a traveler makes a global difference with her suitcase.

GIVE GET &

These altruistic adventures celebrate the transformative nature of travel.

written by AMY ROBERTS

EXPERIENCED TRAVELERS ARE HYPER AWARE OF PERSONAL BENEFITS REALIZED WITH EACH PACKED BAG AND PASSPORT STAMP. Traveling makes us more independent, interesting, resilient, and adaptable. Exploring new countries and cultures also makes us more compassionate. However, it can be hard on the heart to see luxury and poverty, beauty and destruction, and adventure and desperation occupy the same space. Fortunately, seasoned globetrotters are actively seeking opportunities to reconcile disparities with travel experiences designed to support local economies, restore nature, and provide quality education for disadvantaged children.

For travelers who are ready to transition from global explorer to global citizen, these humanitarian expeditions are an excellent way to give back to the people, and the places, that inspire joy, curiosity, and awe.

EDUCATIONAL ENRICHMENT

According to the United Nations, an estimated 265 million school-aged children don’t have access to an education. Despite being classified as a human right, education remains inaccessible for roughly 10 percent of children across the planet. And when kids are denied an opportunity to learn, they’re also denied hope for a better future. Educational programs like these work to end the cycle of inequality, poverty, and marginalization.

CHILDREN IN THE WILDERNESS: Operating throughout Sub-Saharan Africa, this nonprofit organization aims to educate children in rural Africa about the importance of conservation and its relevance in their lives. Through various outreach efforts, the nonprofit identifies kids who are doing well in school, but whose parents cannot afford to continue their education. Every year, Children in the Wilderness (CITW) provides 600 scholarships to cover school fees, uniforms, and other expenses.

In addition, CITW brings school children together weekly to learn, discuss, and expand their understanding of the local ecosystem. The structured curriculum encourages youngsters to problem solve, develop solutions, and take initiative over projects that directly benefit their village. In doing so, CITW helps develop the next generation of leaders who will learn to care for their natural heritage and become custodians of wild and resource-rich areas in the future. To date, the organization has directly impacted over 11,000 kids.

Furthering education is a key component in various global travel initiatives. Opposite, from left: a child of the Sacred Valley in Peru; helping children take part in sustainable and educational community practices.

TAKE ACTION: When guests choose safaris tied to Children in the Wilderness, they are in turn helping support Eco-Club programs at local schools and supporting camps at partner properties.

CHILDREN OF THE RAINBOW: For Peruvian children living in the Sacred Valley of the Incas, simple necessities like a primary school education, warm meal, and basic medical care were traditionally unattainable before 2008 — that’s when the Children of the Rainbow school was established . The school supports more than 220 children between the ages of three and 13 and provides a “whole child” approach to

learning, which requires the entire family be committed to the process. Families from the Sacred Valley also benefit from an in-house doctor and dentist, nutritional assistance, and other social support services. Children of the Rainbow also offers a library with 2,000-plus books in Spanish, English and Quechua. Educational projects allow students to develop valuable skills like critical thinking and communication, as well as artistic and digital talents.

TAKE ACTION: Want to experience this impact firsthand? Visit Peru’s Kuychi Center to meet the children at Niños del Arco Iris (Children of the Rainbow). See how the community expands this elementary school’s outreach beyond education, growing it into an oasis of nutrition, medical care, and hope. After a warm welcome from the children, tour the school’s cafeteria, kitchen, garden, and classrooms, interacting with students and gaining insights from a local philanthropy coordinator along the way.

DID YOU KNOW? Education isn’t strictly about classrooms and textbooks. It’s also about learning how to keep a cultural tradition alive. And no place is this more evident than Japan. The country’s Living National Treasures is a designated group of artists and craftsman who have dedicated their lives to mastering an “intangible cultural property,” as defined by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology. With a maximum of 116 Living National Treasures, the designation is considered one of Japan’s highest honors. Guests to Japan can visit washi paper makers who are dedicated to the craft but need attention and sales to keep their traditional art alive.

COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT

All too often, well-meaning travelers visit a country with the hopes of “fixing” things. But this mindset can leave them disappointed because successful projects start with the needs of the community — not the intentions of the traveler. Effective nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and nonprofits enjoy a strong and ongoing relationship with local residents and have a deep understanding of the area’s culture and history. These community enrichment programs thrive because locals work closely with their NGO partners to identify challenges and ways to overcome them.

INTHA HOMEBUILDING PROJECT: Myanmar is a stunning paradise offering white-sand beaches, rugged highlands, lush jungles, and the majestic Inle Lake — the country’s second largest freshwater lake. The shores of the nearly 14-mile-long lake are dotted with floating villages and vegetable gardens, and sadly, hundreds of impoverished families who cannot afford adequate housing.

TAKE ACTION: Most Inle Lake residents belong to the Intha group, famously known for their leg rowing technique. During a visit to the area, travelers can participate in a housebuilding project, which provides new, locally constructed home for families living in perilous structures. Even those who don’t know which end of the hammer to hold can be of service — and doing so means your contribution will have a long-lasting impact on a family in need. To date, traveling philanthropists have helped build more than 100 safe and sanitary single-family homes near Inle Lake.

COMETA: It’s difficult to imagine yet another reason to love Italy, but in the event you do, consider Cometa. This nonprofit organization helps at-risk kids and their families by providing access to tutors, job training opportunities, and recreational activities after school. The program offers a community hub of sorts that boasts an educational facility, sports field, and skills development center designed to help the less advantaged learn a trade and build relationships through teamwork. And the results are impressive! Since its inception, Cometa has influenced over 1,300 kids, 75 percent of which have found work within seven months of graduation.

TAKE ACTION: Guests can visit the establishment and receive hands-on experience working alongside the kids while they learn cooking, gardening, woodworking, and more.

DID YOU KNOW? Sometimes benefiting a community is as easy as ordering from a menu. When dining out, look to support locally

restaurants

Opposite page: Cometa helps at-risk kids. Above: Myanmar, where travelers can help rebuild safe and sanitary family homes.

owned

and vendors, like a Rastafarian farm-to-table vegan experience in Montego Bay, Jamaica, or a seafood Friday night street party in the popular fishing village of Gros Islet in St. Lucia, where you can purchase arts, crafts, and local dishes from small businesses.

ENVIRONMENTAL EXPLORATION

It’s been about 65 million years since the last mass extinction — back when dinosaurs roamed the planet. But climate scientists agree we are currently facing another, and unlike previous extinction events that were caused by natural phenomena, this one is driven by human activity. According to the world’s leading conservation organization — World Wildlife Fund — the current species disappearance rate is estimated between 1,000 and 10,000 times higher than natural extinction rates.

Organizations like these understand that with biodiversity in crisis, tourism can no longer just take from nature, it must help restore it too. And in turn, environmental initiatives are critical to keeping local communities sustained economically.

RETETI ELEPHANT SANCTUARY: Historically, wildlife conservation efforts have often come at the cost of the humans who also call the area home. That’s why it’s critical for the tangible benefits of conservation to also apply to the people living in wild areas, which can positively impact the economic health of global communities. Kenya’s community conservancy model proves that humans and wildlife can coexist and thrive. There is perhaps no better example of the country’s self-governed sustainable development program than the Namunyak Wildlife Conservancy, home to the Reteti Elephant Sanctuary — the first indigenous owned and run sanctuary for orphaned elephants.

When elephant calves are orphaned or abandoned (most often due to drought or poaching), the Reteti elephant keepers, all of whom are from the indigenous Samburu community, rescue, rehabilitate, and eventually release the elephants back into the wild. It’s a symbiotic

relationship because the elephants in turn foster tourism, and the local keepers maintain important jobs. The sanctuary typically cares for 20 baby elephants at any given time, and each one requires an astonishing amount of milk.

TAKE ACTION: Guests visiting the sanctuary on a special Make Travel Matter ® Experience with African Travel, Inc. will meet the caretakers and learn about the elephants’ journey (many return to the wild). For every couple that books a trip to Reteti, two bedtime blankets and three bottles of milk are donated to the sanctuary.

READY TO MAKE A POSITIVE IMPACT ON YOUR NEXT JOURNEY? Call or email us, or visit the website on the back cover and let’s collaborate on travel that matters.

DID YOU KNOW? Forward-thinking travel experiences provide ways for guests to offset their carbon footprint. By paying a small fee based on the emissions generated by your trip, you can help fund renewable energies and other initiatives that protect endangered and biodiverse places, like South America’s Chocó Bioregion. This natural corridor spans roughly 29,000 square miles across multiple counties and is home to an astonishing array of endemic species.

The Reteti Elephant Sanctuary is the first indigenous owned and operated sanctuary for orphaned elephants.