Prize Donations are Now Closed.
Posted on | December 17, 2011 | Comments Off
You can still donate directly to Room to Read here. Stand by, in a few days, we’ll notify prize winners.
Thank you — our grand total at midnight on Friday, December 16 was 89159.00.
Best Odds Prizes Valued at $1000 or More
Posted on | December 15, 2011 | Comments Off
Yesterday, Pam published a list of the PwP prizes that you have the best odds of winning. That list unleashed such a flurry of activity and donations, that we thought we’d put out a second list for people who want to win a BIG prize! And here it is, the list of best odds if you want to win a prize valued at $1000 or more.
Best act quick, though, Passports with Purpose closes this Friday, Dec 16 at Midnight PST
- 5 Day Tournament of Roses Parade and Los Angeles Tour Ever wonder why so many people move to LA? I think it’s the New Year’s day sunshine at the Tournament of Roses parade. This one is on my personal bucket list. Package for 2 includes: 4 nights hotel, reserved Grand-stand seats for viewing Rose Parade, private viewing of parade floats, city tour, taxes. (Value 1696)
- Family Getaway at the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess Sunshine AND included childcare? That sounds like a dream come true to this busy Seattle mama. Here’s a Two-night stay at the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess with two full-day admissions to Bobcat Billy’s Clubhouse for kids ages 4-12. (Value 1000)
- 3 Night Stay For A Family Of Four At Choice Of Beaches Resort In Jamaica My blogging buddy Corinne can’t stop raving about this place. Win an all-inclusive three night stay for a family of four (two adults, two children under 15) at winner’s choice of Beaches Resort in Jamaica. (Value: 3000)
- 3-night Unlimited-Luxury stay at Dreams Tulum Resort & Spa in Mexico for two people Gourmet food and drinks included? I’m there! Resort stay for 2 at Dreams Tulum Resort & Spa in Mexico, including gourmet dining & drinks, 24-hr room service, activities & more! (Value: 2000)
- 4 Day Rafting Trip for Two on the Lower Salmon River A cell-phone free rafting trip on Idaho’s Lower Salmon River seems like the ultimate way to unplug. This prize includes meals, catered camping, experienced guides and expedition equipment for a 4 day rafting trip. (Value 1814)
- Washington Wine Country Experience Round out a Seattle vacation with a Private Washington Wine Country tour in Walla Walla with IMBIBE Wine Tours for 6 adults including private wine tasting at Dusted Valley Vintners.(Value: 1000)
Best Odds on PwP Prizes
Posted on | December 14, 2011 | Comments Off
Have you been waiting around to see what you’ve got the best shot at in the long list of totally fabulous Passports with Purpose prizes? We know how you are. I’m not going to show you how many bids there are on these items, but I WILL say this: “Whoa, how can it be that there are only X bids on that one thing? HOW CAN THAT BE?”
Here’s your best odds list. You know what to do, right? Links take you to the detailed post on the prize, come back here to give. And maybe, just maybe, get.
- Pit Stops for Kids: Two Adult One Day Go Cards from Smart Destinations. Choose from one of 14 US Cities.
- Travels with Two: Shuttle Bus Weekender Bag.
- The Carey Adventures: $150 in rentals from BorrowLenses.com (a Nerd’s Eye View pick!)
- A Traveler’s Library: $100 gift certificate for audio books from MacMillan Audio. You’ve not experienced how awesome audio books are until you’ve been on a long, rough ocean crossing. I tell you what.
- Roaming Tales: Cooking class at Freestyle Escape in Queensland, Australia.
- Roadtrips for Families: Buckeye state (that’s Ohio, kids) getaway. Two nights at a state park lodge plus goodies.
- Sheila’s Guide: Voltij travel pack, great for backpackers.
- The Gastrognome: $500 towards a Willing Foot tour, good through the end of 2012.
- Travel with Teens and Tweens: Monkey Trunks Extreme zip-lining and ropes adventure in Chocorua, NH; Weirs Beach, NH or Saco, Maine.
- PNW Journeys: One night at the Hotel Andra in Seattle. (Come visit the PwP crew!)
- A Dangerous Business: The Nevis Experience: Bungee and swing in New Zealand (You go ahead. I’ll wait at the bar.)
- Trekaroo: Overnight and a round of golf at the Barton Creek Resort and Spa in Austin, Texas.
- Mo Travels: Stylish carry-all for your laptop and “stuff”, made to slide over your rolling bag handle. You know the drill.
- Travelblogs: $100 voucher for accommodation through Traveller’s Point (a PwP sponsor!)
- Ireland with Kids: Two nights at any B&B on the B&B Ireland website. The Irish? Insanely charming, in my experience.
- Field Trips with Sue: CNN package at the Omni Hotel, Atlanta. Breakfast for four, activities, and one night stay.
- Overyonderlust: SteriPEN freedom. Microbes, bad. Clean water, good.
- Where am I Wearing: Brand new HTC SmartPhone, plus, an hour with a literary agent. (What, you don’t want this? Are you nuts?)
- Stuck at the Airport: Travel products mystery box. Laugh in the face of the TSA’s three ounce tyranny, you are READY!
- NW Trip Finder: Mt. Rainer Glacier and Waterfalls tour. The PNW is freaky beautiful. Come see some of it.
- Alaska Travelgram: Two for one Alaska and Seattle TourSaver books for discounted activities. I’ve used mine.They’ve saved me a pile.
- Hammock in Paradise: Two nights, excursions, camping gear rental, more on Espritu Santo Island. Whoa. How did I miss this?
- Go Backpacking: Premium membership in this travelblogging program.
- GranTourismo: Context tour for two. Educational walking tour any where Context offers their tours.
A little effort can make a BIG difference
Posted on | December 13, 2011 | Comments Off
It has been amazing to see the level of generosity from so many travel bloggers and donors. The two libraries in Zambia through Room to Read are almost a reality. On December 16 at 11:59 PST donations for prizes close, but donations to Room to Read are still accepted. As we head into these last few days of the 2011 Passports with Purpose fundraiser, here’s some inspiration from 13-year-old Isabella Gagliardo, or Bella, from Round the World with Us.
We’re really glad to be [involved] with so many others who aren’t afraid of crazy adventure and who know that when you work with the right organizations, a little effort can make a big difference.
Not only did we raise funds for Room to Read last year, but we also partnered with Passports with Purpose to help raise money for the village in India that all of you made possible. But we were so honored to volunteer there for almost a month and to be able to get to know Krishnammal Jaganathan. She’s an amazing woman, who started her activist career over 60 years ago working with the likes of Gandhi and Venoba. When I tell you that you’ve helped make her dreams for a better life for her people come true by building that village … it’s no exaggeration. Through your creativity, your hard work, and your unique ability to inspire people, you are truly changing lives for generations to come.
Library foundation walls being completed near the Chilileka Middle Basic School in Zambia
So the adventure continues in Zambia. It’s a country of unparalleled beauty. I believe what you’re doing this year is even more impactful than the incredible feats you’ve achieved over the past few years. Bringing the tools for literacy to two communities in Zambia, is like opening up the world to the people who live there. There is nothing that is as empowering as the ability to read and write. It can be the key to a life free from poverty. A world of education, independent thought, job skills, activism, entrepreneurship – in short, a world where taking control of your own life, your own destiny – no matter your current conditions – is suddenly within reach.
So keep traveling, and keep blogging. Not only are you changing lives in Zambia, you’re making difference everywhere because in a world with so many problem that can seem so hard to solve, you’re paving the way, using your voices to show people what’s out there, what’s fun, what’s exciting, what’s good… And what’s possible.
Round the World with Us returned as a sponsor for Passports with Purpose for the second year in a row. Learn more about their philanthropic efforts here:
Round the World with Us and Room to Read
Our 2011 Fundraiser is Open! Give Now!
Posted on | November 30, 2011 | Comments Off
We’re super excited to announce that we’re open for this year’s fundrasier for Room to Read. Prizes are listed on the “Donate” page — click that big orange button to go directly to the catalog. Your donation goes DIRECTLY to Room to Read (minus a small transaction fee charged by PayPal). But hey, what are you doing reading this? We stop taking entries at 11:59PM PST on Dec 16, so you need to act fast! Go see the amazing prizes our contributing bloggers have lined up and give, give, give.
It Took You to Build a (South Indian) Village
Posted on | November 18, 2011 | Comments Off
Beth here, one of the co-founders of Passports with Purpose.
While we’re in the process of gearing up for this year’s fundraiser, I thought you might like to hear about what you made happen through last year’s Passports with Purpose.
You’ll recall that our 2010 fundraiser brought in nearly $65,000 through Friends of LAFTI. Those funds are helping build 25 homes in a small village, Karunganni, in South India.
Karunganni is located in the state of Tamil Nadu. A small village near the coast, it’s far enough inland to have dodged the tsunami in 2004, but is prone to flooding and, like much of India, struggles with extreme poverty.
In January, I visited Karunganni just as ground was being broken on those homes. What I found there was a very grateful community where most people live in poorly built mud huts that crumble and need to be patched and rebuilt every few years.
With the funds raised through Passports with Purpose, 25 families are in the process of moving into well-built brick homes that are expected to last far longer than their mud huts. LAFTI provided the land for these families, now landowners for the first time! An added bonus is that the homes are signed over to the woman of the house – an amazing feat given that India is a very patriarchal country.
The thing that blows me away about this little story is that families are changed. Improved. Provided a new life. And that this would NOT have been possible without hundreds of people donating in $10 increments.
That’s powerful.
The photo at left was taken this summer at one of the partially built homes.
Once homes are complete, they’ll look like this home built in a nearby village through LAFTI.
Passports with Purpose 2011 launches on November 30th. It’s not too late to participate as a blogger or to donate a prize. And we encourage all to donate between November 30 – December 16!
Tags: India > LAFTI
Save the Date for the 2011 Kick-off Party: November 30
Posted on | October 18, 2011 | Comments Off
Save the date for our 2011 kick-off party! On November 30, we’ll not only launch the 2011 fundraiser online, but we’ll gather in Seattle to celebrate another great year and get this year’s fundraiser for two libraries in Zambia off to a big start. So put it in your calendars, tell your friends and tell them to tell their friends.
When: Wednesday, November 30, 5pm-8pm
Where: Hotel 1000
RSVP: passportswithpurpose2011.eventbrite.com/
In the meantime, if you are a blogger, make sure you sign up to participate. The deadline to get your prize lined up and details sent to us is November 15. Details here.
Books Matter
Posted on | October 10, 2011 | Comments Off
During my recent travels through Tanzania, I visited (with my tour group) an education project that focuses on teacher training and education reform. We visited a reasonably well appointed school, their computer lab, and their library. During the course of our walk — which was a bit of a slog up a dusty hillside — a kid named Peter attached himself to one of my travel companions. Peter had an agenda, he was essentially panhandling. But his long term goals were a bit loftier than the usual road side kids breaking your heart while trying to sell you things you don’t need or liberate you of your chewing gum.
Peter wanted money for a math book.
In case you think, “Oh, that kid just had sales skills!”, let me assure you that the accompanying adults confirmed that a math book was indeed what he had in mind. And they would be sure that a math book was what he got with the approximately three dollars he received as a gift from a generous Australian.
The library we visited was clean and well lit, the shelves were full of kids books in Swahili, along with some in English. The walls were covered with English language learning aids, posters that showed the human skeleton with call outs, basic grammar. Most kids in Tanzania don’t get English language training until secondary school, but also, most kids in Tanzania don’t make it to secondary school. Given that English is the language of business, the immediate disadvantages are, well, stark.
I remember the library at my grade school very well. I gave books to that library. Our house was a tide of books, they came in the door each month and as I outgrew them or ran through the series, they would go with me to school and I would give them to the library. Even as we push to digital publishing, I still love books, I love to hold them and flip through them and pile them on the coffee table and next to the bed. We have books about travel and science and history and food and while we don’t live in the tide of books of my childhood, we are still very much book people. I still use the library and I still wonder — how can it be that they give us books to take home for free?!? What magic is this?
And now, on return from Tanzania, I think, wow, how can it be that a kid has to panhandle for a math book? Just a few blocks from my home, in our public library, are overflowing shelves of books about everything, including math. How heartbreaking is it that a kid has to chase down strangers because he wants to understand the mystery of numbers? I’m all to aware that there are also kids who have more basic needs — food, shelter — but I’m also aware of the path that education creates towards making it possible for more and more humans to meet those needs for themselves.
This is all messy thinking, and of course, there are complex socio-economic answers to why Peter doesn’t have the book he wants. But with all that in my head, it is especially exciting that Passports with Purpose is working with Room to Read to fund libraries this year. This project gives us the opportunity to think about what books mean to us, how they have changed our lives. What a thrill it is to be able to read, and as bloggers, write!
And what a thrill it is to be able to use reading and writing to help others.
Need to Know Details for PwP 2011
Posted on | September 2, 2011 | Comments Off
Here’s a super short round up of what you need to know as a participating blogger in our 2011 year efforts.
2011 Dates:
November 15th: Deadline for lining up and reporting your prize. (More on this below.)
November 29th: Your blog post is ready to go.
November 30th: Our annual fundraiser begins.
December 16th: The last day to make those 10 dollar donations for a shot at a great prize.
December 23rd: We notify host bloggers and their prize winners
Here’s what you need to do:
- Are you signed up to participate? Let us know by filling out the form, here.
- Wondering about what to give away? Here are the guidelines.Take note: As we grow, we’ve seen some terrific high value stuff come in. New this year? A cap on value at $5000. Read the full guidelines carefully for more on what works and what doesn’t.
- Not sure how to get something to give away? Here’s some advice.
- Ready to lock in that fabulous prize? Have your sponsor fill out the procurement form.This helps us track prizes and where they’re coming from. You’ll ask your sponsor to fill this out, and yes, it’s required. But it’s also very easy.
- Got your blog post ready to go? Let us know the details here. This makes sure you’re listed in our catalog.
- We have great sponsorship packages available. If you’ve got potential sponsor contacts, let us know. There’s detailed information here.
Still stumped? We’re here to help. Get in touch.
2011: Help Us Build Two Libraries in Zambia
Posted on | August 5, 2011 | 1 Comment
We’re excited to share that we’ve partnered with Room to Read, as the 2011 beneficiary of Passports with Purpose! Supporting an early childhood literacy project goes right to the heart of what we love – reading and writing.
With your help, our goal is to raise $80,000 to build two libraries in southern and eastern Zambia through Room to Read’s Reading Room program.
“Room to Read was founded because of my experience being introduced to a ‘library without books’ in a rural village in Nepal. The headmaster’s simple request to someday come back with books sparked my desire to help him to bring the lifelong gift of education to his students. We have now opened over 11,000 libraries, but need tens of thousands more. So we are very excited to be a part of Passports with Purpose because it allows travelers to share their passion, while also providing children with quality education to shape their futures,” said John Wood, Room to Read founder and board co-chair. “This innovative fundraiser combines travel, social media and philanthropy and will benefit communities in Zambia for years to come.”
The groundwork building up to establishing these two libraries has begun and full establishment will occur mid-2012. Funds raised for the libraries will cover the costs of the constructing building, all the library resources such as books and educational materials, teacher training and three years of support. After that, the library is handed over to the government school system.
Although Passports with Purpose begins on November 30, we encourage everyone to get onboard early. We want to thank 2011 Platinum Sponsor Round the World with Us and Silver Sponsor Travellerspoint for jumpstarting our fundraising efforts!
If you’re a blogger and you’d like us to let you know how to participate in Passports with Purpose this year, you can sign up here. If you represent a company that would like to sponsor Passports with Purpose or provide a prize for our fundraiser, please contact us here.
Each year, we’re in awe of the support we receive from you. We’ve come so far because of YOU. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!
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Recent Posts
- Prize Donations are Now Closed.
- Best Odds Prizes Valued at $1000 or More
- Best Odds on PwP Prizes
- A little effort can make a BIG difference
- Our 2011 Fundraiser is Open! Give Now!
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- Martini Of The Moment – The Penicillin + 2 Night Give Away From W Atlanta Downtown - Points Miles and Martinis on Donate
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