Community service for groups

It is the mission of Hostelling International to promote peace and international understanding through facilitating travel and interaction between diverse peoples. We are very proud of the depth of our relationships and the level of commitment that we have developed between our hostel (volunteers and staff), our guests (individuals and groups) and our neighbors in the community.

Noble and Greenough School cooking at Boston Food Bank

For groups, a good service learning project can make the difference between merely visiting Boston and making a connection with the community. We can set you up to work with a quality volunteer organization for a few hours or for a week, as the main focus of your trip or as a small but valuable component. Service learning projects are an excellent way to get more out of your visit to Boston, to get to meet local people and to have an experience that will stay with you after you depart.

We also have several specific discount programs for groups who would like to focus on the service aspect of their visit to Boston. Please click on the links for more details.

- Wintertime discount program

- Alternative Spring Break

Here are some of the community service organizations with whom we have worked in the past, and who we are proud to say that we will work with again in the future. We are constantly expanding our community involvement, so if your particular interest in not represented here, we would still be happy to make arrangements for you.

Greater Boston Food Bank: (http://www.gbfb.org/) The Food Bank annually distributes 13 million pounds of food to a network of more than 900 member feeding programs (including soup kitchens, food pantries and homeless shelters) throughout the nine counties in eastern Massachusetts. We are also running a 50% discount program specifically designed to provide volunteers with the opportunity to work with this wonderful (and very necessary) service organization.

Rosie’s Place: (http://www.rosies.org/) Rosie's Place was founded in 1974, when Boston activist Kip Tiernan saw that women were disguising themselves as men in order to seek shelter. Through the years Rosie's Place has evolved from simply providing a place to sleep to offering solutions, both immediate and long term. Among their programs are lunch and dinner every day; emergency shelter; permanent housing; advocacy; clothing; a food pantry; a food cooperative; job training and more.

Haley House: (http://www.haleyhouse.org/) The Haley House uses a multi-faceted, entirely volunteer approach that is based on “the personalist tradition of the Catholic Worker Movement.”. Their facilities include; a Soup Kitchen, an organic farm, homeless and low-income housing, and a bakery that provides valuable job training along with their delicious pastries.

Community Servings: (http://www.servings.org/) Community Servings is greater Boston's meals program for people ill with AIDS. They deliver free, hot, nutritious meals to men, women, and children infected with or affected by the disease. With the help of hundreds of volunteers, they prepare and deliver 3,500 lunches and dinners each week to the 700 households, bringing with them a message of compassion and love.

Morville House: Morville House is home to a diverse group of elderly people who are eager to share stories about their lives and to hear about what is going on in the lives of young people today. The Boston Hostel has had a relationship with the House and its residents for years, and our staff and volunteers bring hostel guests ( and food, of course) over for Thanksgiving every year. But any time is a good time to bring some snacks and spend some time chatting.

Project Hip-Hop: (http://www.aclu-mass.org/youth/hiphop.html)“ Project HIP-HOP (Highways into the Past: History, Organizing & Power) uses the history of resistance to racism and injustice to empower young people to recognize themselves as agents of social change.” They operate on many different fronts, including an annual trip to the South that retraces seminal civil-rights moments and utilizes Hostelling International as a resource for the journey.

Women’s Lunch Place: (http://www.womenslunchplace.org/) The Women’s Lunch Place summarizes their services as " food, friendship, resources, and advocacy for women who are poor and homeless ". They offer a self-serve breakfast buffet all morning and a hot homemade lunch, plus shower and laundry facilities, a quiet room to sit and read, a nap room, a children's room, and an advocacy room with a telephone, resource guides, and a typewriter.

Pine Street Inn: (http://www.pinestreetinn.org/) For more than thirty years, Pine Street staff, donors, and volunteers have worked together to meet guests' basic needs: a safe place to sleep, nourishing meals, and clean clothes. Today there are locations in Dorchester and downtown Boston, and both are always looking for volunteer groups to serve breakfast and dinner.

Project Bread: (http://www.projectbread.org/) Project Bread's self-described mission is to “alleviate, prevent, and ultimately end hunger in Massachusetts” through providing emergency food, advocating for the hungry, educating the public, and facilitating research into solutions.

Habitat for Humanity: (http://www.habitatboston.org/) On-site construction work is the most popular of Habitat’s volunteer opportunities. They make every effort to incorporate all willing volunteers regardless of skill level.

Group information/reservation request

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