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How to See Colorado’s Paint Mines

The Paint Mines Interpretive Park in Colorado is comprised of fantastical sandstone hoodoos where Native Americans collected clay dating back 9,000 years.

By: Heather Newgen | Twitter: @hnvoluntourist

Colorado is so full an unending beauty and countless adventures that it’s impossible to see and do everything on one trip, or even two. There’s so much scenic terrain to explore and plenty of places to get swept up in Colorado’s charm, but one thing not to be missed is the Paint Mines. The geological wonder is tucked away in a remote area in El Paso County and is a spectacular sight of stunning pastel rock formations made of sand and colorful clay.

Paint Mines

Paint Mines Interpretive Park during sunset near Colorado Springs Colorado

According to the official site of the location, “The Paint Mines are named for their colorful clays that were collected by American Indians to make paint. Brightly colored bands, caused by oxidized iron compounds, are found in varying amounts throughout the many different layers of clay. The park features fantastic geological formations including spires and hoodoos that form through erosive action that creates incised gullies and exposed layers of selenite clay and jasper.”

The Paint Mines are surrounded by a dirt field and prairie land, so you wouldn’t expect to see such striking landscape. However,  once you cross over the hills, you’ll see an enchanting valley of incredible colors and pure amazement.

The Paint Mines is free to visitors, but in an effort to preserve the formations and delicate natural ecosystem that lives there, dogs are not permitted, guests must stay on the trail, which winds around in a four mile loop, and people are strictly forbidden to climb the formations. There is no camping, gift shop or eatery, but there are parking lots and  porta potty style bathrooms at the entrance.

The park is open all year from dawn to dusk and is about an hour and a half drive from Denver. Make sure to bring sunscreen, water, a hat and wear comfortable walking shoes.

For more information visit : https//communityservices.elpasoco.com/parks-and-recreation/paint-mines-interpretive-park/

Watch as Heather Newgen Leads the First Voluntourist Trip to New Orleans

For the first time Heather Newgen led a trip to New Orleans where volunteers responsibly gave back to the city while exploring the local culture. Watch to see how it all unfolds.

By Kaylie Defilippis

Heather Newgen has been volunteering around the world, as well as in her own community, for 10 years, but has never invited anyone along on her adventures until now. The Los Angeles based reporter explains why she wasn’t ready until recently to lead a group of volunteers.

“People have been asking me for years to take them on a voluntourism trip and while it’s such a huge compliment, there was still a lot I needed to learn. I made mistakes on previous trips like not correctly identifying shady organizations and taking on projects I wasn’t qualified for. Once I realized how I was part of the problem with voluntourism I finally felt like I had insightful advice to share. I can now help others not fall into the same unethical pitfalls of the industry that I did, but it took experience, a willingness to learn and self-awareness to get there.”

RELATED: How to See New Orleans in 72 Hours

Heather Newgen and the volunteers worked with Camp Restore, which is an organization that partners with over 100 different nonprofits in New Orleans. So it’s easy as a volunteer to find a project suited for your skills since there’s so many volunteer tasks to choose from.

The group volunteered with Gloria’s Garden–a community garden where the produce is free to anyone in need, ARC of Greater New Orleans where they recycle Mardi Gras beads and give jobs to adults with developments disabilities and volunteers with experience helped rebuild a home that was destroyed in Hurricane Katrina.

Check out the vlog and see Heather Newgen and the team in action.

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How Bradley Whitford is Encouraging People to Vote

Bradley Whitford wants you to know your vote matters and he’s doing his part to ensure people show up to the polls in the 2020 presidential election.

Bradley Whitford has always used his platform to raise awareness for social issues and continues to do so by encouraging people to cast their ballets.

“The thing I’m working on right now is basically trying to make sure that everybody gets registered to vote, it’s the most important thing to me. So that’s what I’m working on,” he told The Voluntourist at the TCA panel for his new NBC show “Perfect Harmony.”

PERFECT HARMONY — Season: Pilot — Pictured: (l-r) Rizwan Manji as Reverend Jax, Will Greenberg as Wayne, Anna Camp as Ginny, Bradley Whitford as Arthur Cochran, Tymberlee Hill as Adams Adams, Geno Segers as Shep Rollins — (Photo by: Chris Haston/NBC)[/caption]

 

“It’s important for me, especially in these difficult confusing times, for young people to understand that the future is an act of their imagination and of their creation. They are not at the mercy of a future that they don’t have an opportunity to help build,” he added.

Last year cast members of Aaron Sorkin’s award-winning political drama “The West Wing,” reunited for a special PSA telling people to vote, and now Whitford is doing even more to help.

“Well, we’re trying to get the word out. We’re trying to actually go through schools, through community colleges, and get to young people. I’m trying to do as much as I can going to colleges and talking to young people and making sure the colleges are making it as easy as possible for kids to vote.”

While Bradley Whitford continues to be actively involved in political causes, he’s also working nonstop in TV and film.  When he’s not a college inspiring people to vote, you can see him in Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale,” which he earned an Emmy nomination for outstanding guest actor in a drama series, NBC’s “Perfect Harmony,” which debuts September 26th and “Godzilla: King of the Monsters.”

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Noah’s Animal House

Noah’s Animal House in Las Vegas is a full-service boarding facility on the grounds of the largest women & children’s shelter in Nevada. It was built in 2007 as our flagship operation after recognizing how many other arrivals at The Shade Tree Shelter were desperately seeking the same safety and protection for their pets. After operating for over a decade, we have cared and protected over 1,500 pets for 100,000 boarding nights for the women and children at The Shade Tree. What we now know is that women won’t leave their pets behind to be abused as payback and with Noah’s Animal House, they no longer have to make that choice.

 

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How Derrick Senior is Leading the Fight to Make Tennis Green with his Nonprofit RecycleBalls

Vermont nonprofit RecycleBall teams up with Wilson Sporting Goods to help recycle tennis balls.

Heather Newgen Profile PhotoBy: Heather Newgen | Twitter: @hnvoluntourist

Tennis is widely recognized as one of the most popular sports with more than 17 million players in the United States according to the Tennis Industry Association, but ever think about what happens to all those balls? Nationwide, approximately 125 million used tennis balls wind up in America’s landfills every year, the New York Times reports.  That is 20,000 metric tons of methane-producing, near non-decomposable rubber waste, making tennis one of the sporting world’s largest generators of solid waste.

Retired businessman Derrick Senior, from Shelburne, Vermont, is an avid player and realized one day that the sport he loves has an unsustainable habit. “In tennis, you open a can of balls, play with them for an hour and a half, and then you toss them out,” explained Senior, who’s on the court four or five days a week.

In 2016, he founded RecycleBalls, an organization that makes it easy for tennis facilities and players around the country to collect, recycle, and reuse their balls. RecycleBalls, whose mission is to recycle and reuse all balls nationwide, provides its partner facilities with free recycling bins which, once full, get shipped to RecycleBalls at no cost.

“Finally, after a ball has had its last bounce, it can be recycled and used again instead of rolling into a landfill,” Senior told The Voluntourist. “Our business is to recycle, but we’re mainly an activist organization,” he said. “We want to change behavior, not just turn something old into something new.”

Senior is ideally suited to this bold mission, having spent more than three decades working in manufacturing, branding, national distribution, and customer service. Each day, he receives a UPS delivery of a pallet or two of recycling bins, each of which contains 24 bins, or 4,800 tennis balls at his 9,000-square-foot warehouse.

Once the balls arrive at RecycleBalls, an innovative PLAY IT GREEN machine separates the components of the ball, removing 99% of the felt from tennis balls at the rate of 8,000 balls per hour. The resulting crumb rubber product called GREEN GOLD, can be used for a variety of applications, including Laykold tennis courts, and rubber form sign bases. Green Gold may also be used as a natural pebble rubber mulch for playgrounds and, potentially, equestrian arena surfaces. The patent-pending PLAY IT GREEN machine was installed after two years of R&D.

In just three years, RecycleBalls has built a nationwide network to more than 1,000 partners from nearly every state. The network’s growth is in large part due to the greater tennis community’s desire to be a part of the landfill solution. And that desire also got the attention of Chicago-based Wilson Sporting Goods, the world’s largest manufacturer of tennis gear, who signed on as the program’s lead sponsor and partner. Together, they have already collected two million tennis balls.

“This has been an amazing ride over the last three years. Our network partners make all of this possible and I am reminded daily of the amazing effort and dedication that so many have given to this cause,” Senior said. “Wilson and RecycleBalls are making a commitment to keep tennis balls out of landfills and repurposing them into socially relevant products like tennis courts, playgrounds, turf, and more. “We are solving a national problem right now,” he added. “That’s what drives me and so many others, to inspire people to change their habits.”

In February 2019, RecycleBalls was one of four nonprofit organizations nominated as an environmental finalist in the prestigious 2019 Halo Awards, North America’s highest honor for corporate social initiatives and cause marketing and showcases successful consumer engagement and employee engagement efforts.

For more information, please visit www.recycleballs.org.

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Top 10 Free Things To Do In London

London is one of the most expensive cities in the world for travelers, but it doesn’t have to be. Check out our favorite free things to do in London.

By: Reese Jones

London is one of the most gorgeous cities on the planet, and while traveling there can certainly be expensive, our post on the ‘London Pass’ shows that it doesn’t have to be. Various tips have saved tourists a small fortune in the past by letting them get into certain attractions at a discount and at times, even for free! Given the many places available in London one can visit for free, you don’t need to drain your bank account to go. Here’s our list of the top 10 free things to do in London.

 

EMIRATES STADIUM

Soccer fans will certainly enjoy the chance to visit this famous stadium, as the Emirates is home to Premier League side Arsenal and is just a stone’s throw away from Drayton Park and Holloway Road. Free to roam around if you have a London Pass, visitors get a chance to take in the club’s history via the Arsenal Museum and even enter legendary club manager Arsène Wenger’s old office as well as the physio room. For Arsenal fans, the chance to soak up their home venue’s atmosphere and take in its history is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Even if you aren’t an Arsenal fan, simply getting a glimpse into their world promises to be a delightful experience.

WESTMINSTER ABBEY CHURCH SERVICE and ST. PAUL’S CATHEDRAL

St. Paul’s Cathedral at sunset, London, UK

To enter the churches you must buy tickets, which can be a hefty cost. However, both offer weekday and Sunday church services that are free to the public. While guests are not free to roam about, they are invited to sit in the main area of the buildings and take in the historical and religious sites.

HYDE PARK

Those looking for a bit of nature in the midst of an urban metropolis can find relief in Hyde Park. Conveniently located in Westminster, one of its many entrances is nearby Hyde Park Corner tube station on the Piccadilly Line. At this 350-acre park, there are a number of activities like boating, horse-back riding, and cycling at your disposal, although just lounging around may be enough. With sites like Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain and Serpentine Lake, walking around the park is a good way to spend the afternoon.

Also make time for Greenwich Park, which is the oldest enclosed royal park where you can catch the incredible views of the River Thames and St. Paul’s Cathedral and walk through the stunning gardens.

CAMDEN MARKET

Although technically not free, except to enter, should you decide to buy something, the Camden Market is a good way to soak up some London atmosphere and get a feel for daily life in the city. Aside from that, it promises to surprise guests with quirky finds ranging from memorabilia, jewelry, and trinkets brought in from exotic locations. There’s also street food and the selection here includes everything from spicy curry chicken to gourmet coffee served with cinnamon-sprinkled churros. The diverse selection does a good job of reflecting London as a diverse melting pot and it is no wonder food bloggers love this popular London destination. Fortunately, you can get there through its own tube station, in the form of Camden Town on the Northern Line.

London, UK – May 24, 2015: Camden Market and Street. Camden Market and the streets around are a popular visitor attraction in London,

Make sure to check out Little Venice if you’re going to Camden Market. It’s tucked away in the residential neighborhood of Maida Vale and lined with beautiful canals and waterways that are home to some of London’s most charming restaurants. And yes you can take a boat ride!

Markets can be free things to do in London if you go just to explore the local scene and vibe. Other cool markets to hit up include Portobello Road Market, Borough Market, Brixton Market, Herne Hill Market, Maltby Street Market and Flea at Vinegar Yard.

PLATFORM 9 ¾

Fans of the Harry Potter series must visit Platform 9 ¾, which is situated in the real-life King’s Cross station in Camden. The “station” is commemorated by a plaque on the wall containing platforms 9 to 11 and has a luggage trolley stuck halfway through the wall. After getting your picture taken, you can explore the Harry Potter-themed store located nearby.

BRITISH MUSEUM

London – August 06, 2018: Entrance of the British Museum in London, England

While many of the museums are free in London, if you were to visit just one in the city, it should be the British Museum. Home to various pieces dedicated to human history and culture, such as the Rosetta Stone that was key to helping linguists understand English hieroglyphics and the first porcelain vases from China, the British Museum does not disappoint. Situated in the Bloomsbury area, the museum is accessible by London Underground stations Holborn and Tottenham Court Road, which are five and two minutes’ walk away, respectively. Although the museum is mostly free, donations to the museum’s foundation are recommended and some special exhibitions may charge.

Visiting museums are wonderful free things to do in London. Other great museums include the V&A Museum of Childhood, which is offers arts and crafts for kids, the National Gallery houses thousands of Western European paintings that date back to the 13th century, the Tate Modern, Imperial War Museum, Science Museum, and the National History Museum.

SKY GARDEN

The Sky Garden is a unique place to visit if you want a 360° view of London. It is free to get in, but visitors do need to book tickets in advance to secure their entry. Once inside the three-story building, visitors can explore the gardens as well as the observation decks that look out onto the city. The Sky Garden also has an open-air terrace where London’s highest public garden can be found. Should you want to eat here, there are a handful of restaurants that overlook the city, making for an unforgettable dining experience. This is one of the most spectacular  free things to do in London so definitely add this to your itinerary.

ANGEL COMEDY CLUB

Love to laugh? The Angel Comedy Club is where you want to be on a Friday night. They offer free comedy shows every night at their Camden Head location. The club’s mission is about supporting comedians, whether they are already established or just breaking onto the scene. They strive to make comedy more accessible to audiences. The club has also started their own charity, the Angel Comedy Trust. The trust helps run comedy courses, supports emerging artists, and works toward making the arts more inclusive.

ABBEY ROAD

Even if you’re not a fan of the Beatles, they’re a huge part of pop culture history and they’ve made Abbey Road an iconic landmark for decades. So that alone is worth a trip to famous intersection. You can absolutely recreate the classic image of John, Paul, Ringo and George crossing the street, you’ll have to wait in line. Tourists from all over the world make it a point to visit the place where the band shot their album cover. Don’t forget to look out for cars. It’s a busy road!

LONDON STREET ART

Our top free things to do in London list concludes with a a self-guided tour of the city’s east end renowned street art. The area is packed full of electrifying and colorful artwork that everyone should admire and enjoy.

Why Meg Zucker Calls Ectrodactyly Her “Greatest Gift”

Meg Zucker is a wife, mother of three, Wall Street lawyer and someone born with the genetic condition Ectrodactlyl. Despite her physical differences, she overcame years of glaring stares, awkward comments and ignorant behavior from others to create the organization Don’t Hide It Flaunt It, which teaches kids empathy and encourages people to embrace their blatant or invisible differences.

By: Heather Newgen | Twitter: @hnvoluntourist

Meg Zucker may only have one finger on each hand and one toe on each foot, but she can do everything you can do and probably better.

“I’m actually the fastest typer that I know out of anyone. I’m very physically capable,” she laughed.

The high powered attorney was born with the genetic condition Ectrodactyly, which is described as the deficiency or absence of one or more central digits of the hand or foot. Initially she was embarrassed by her appearance.

“When I was a little girl I used to hide my hands in public because I was ashamed. I didn’t want people staring,” Zukcer said.

But that changed when she realized she had an opportunity to use her condition to help others.

“To me I felt like I had something to teach people with the knowledge I have based on my own experience. That catapulted me to the next level of wanting to get people the way I do, which is not consumed by other people’s judgement,” she explained to The Voluntourist.

“I actually think it’s the greatest gift because it weeds out the jerks. Can you imagine living a life where people who want to date me and marry me are the most amazing people. The superficial jerks in this world don’t want to know me and that’s okay. I don’t want to know them either. Can you imagine being in a bubble of kindness? That’s what this has brought to me. That’s what this has been,” she added.

Two of her three children also have Ectrodactyly and when her oldest was harassed for it she stepped in and did something about it.

“The organization Don’t Hide it Flaunt It started when my son Ethan was bullied by a bunch of kids on the playground for his difference. The principal, said ‘can you speak to the teachers and help us help someone different like him?’ I can do that, but there’s something gnawing at me like what about the kids who were willing to be mean to him? I realized there was a gap in their curriculum. Anti-bullying is a good goal, but it’s a goal. To me, there was no curriculum in the schools that actually help kids learn to empathize. So I highlighted a program called Kids Flaunt in a couple of states. Kids either do artwork or essays prompted by a theme I developed, which is the things that make me different make me me,” she explained.

Meg Zucker continued, “The goal was to empower kids that looked or felt different to share their story and the kids that would say I’m not different, having them tap into the fact that we all have something about ourselves that we may not want someone to criticize or judge us about. The minute we go that, empathy is really formed and kids think, ‘I wouldn’t want someone to be cruel to me about that x-factor about myself.”

In terms of how Don’t Hide It Flaunt It has helped her own children, she sees a major change in Ethan.

“It shifted him from a sense of shame to a place of pride. It also helped him not be consume with the judgement of others. Even better than that, it helped other kids follow his lead. I believe kids are mean to others when they feel like they have a victim that will buy into it. It really empowered them. My favorite expression is what you think of me is none of my business and that really helped permeate their sense of self.”

The organization has also helped Zucker.

“We all love our kids unconditionally and when I had Ethan who is pretty much a mirror version of me, I’m not going to be ashamed of him. It helped me evolve and come to a place of unconditional acceptance to my children and to myself.  I have to lead for them.”

Don’t Hide it Flaunt It’s programs are available in elementary schools throughout the United States. To learn more about the organization visit www.donthideitflauntit.com.

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Common on Giving Back to Chicago and Humanizing the City

Reports of Chicago’s high crime rates and gang violence have been the center of media attention on the city creating a heightened fear of areas like the South Side of Chicago. But rapper/actor/activist Common is hoping people will see another side to his hometown on “The Chi,” a Showtime series he serves as executive producer.

Common may be known as an Oscar-winning artist and talented actor, but he’s also known for something else–he’s heavily involved in giving back to his Chicago community and talked to The Voluntourist about his efforts in helping the youth of his city.

THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JIMMY FALLON — Episode 0934 — Pictured: (l-r) Musician Common during an interview with host Jimmy Fallon on September 28, 2018 — (Photo by: Andrew Lipovsky/NBC)[/caption]

 

The Voluntourist: Is your involvement in “The Chi” because there has been a lot of talk about the crime statistics in Chicago and is this so you can show the humanity, the love, the light, of South Side community?

Common: Yes, my thing has always been about showing humanity, whether it’s in a character I choose or a song I write. I want to show that humanity whether I am talking about love or whether I’m talking about struggle. I wanted to be a part of this show. I wanted to produce this show because I felt that it was really showing black life in a way that humanizes us. It can connect with anybody. When I tell you a story about me and my mother just sitting down and talking and having fun and joking, you don’t have to be a certain color to relate to that story. I thought Lena [Waithe] was able to tap into that human connection and telling it for the people in Chicago in a way that people will understand that Chicago is not all bad the way we see these documentaries depicted. And not even just Chicago, I don’t want America to look at black life and just say, ‘well they’ve got guns and they’re just thugs.’ We’ve got to go deeper than that and get a bit more compassionate towards each other. I think this story allows the compassion to come about in a natural way. It is not like we are preaching. This isn’t a documentary to say Chicago is bad or we need help from this. It’s just life and this is how we evolve in life and this is how we love and laugh, this is how we pray, this how we go for a job, this is how we cook, and joke, and get scared to talk to a girl. I think Lena was able to tap into all the dynamics of us as black people and black life in Chicago in a way that humanizes and I believe that, universally, people can appreciate it. That’s what made me want to be a part of it.  People are not just going to say, ‘oh I want to know about black life’. No, you want to watch a show that you’re interested in, that you’re invested in the characters, and its poetic, and what they are doing and it’s poetically written with excellence. I feel when I read that script, I was like “this is it. I was like, “thank you God”, this is something I want to be a part of.

The Voluntourist: Does this feel like your most personal acting project to date?

Common: Selma was really personal. The King has been a hero of mine and to learn about the women and men of that time was really significant to me. But this is the core of who I am and what I want to get out there. It is told in a way where, with all these great talented people, and it’s not about me. I get to be a supporter, I’m the doctor helping to deliver the baby. It’s not me trying to be in the forefront. It’s joyful for that reason too and makes me proud to see people from my city, Chicago, working as actors and on the crew. It’s a different type of thing that I didn’t know I would get out of producing, like giving people opportunities. That is in my core too, so to go back home and give opportunities to people. I didn’t even realize so many talented actors and lighting directors and people are in my city. To be able to go back and do that is a joy.

The Voluntourist: Speaking of giving opportunities, can you talk about another way that you give back to your community?

Common: I have a foundation called Common Ground Foundation where we take our youth and we have programs that run every month and it develops them from academic levels, from health awareness, social impact, technology. It’s a mentorship program where we take our kids to camp so they can do yoga and go on trust walks together. We have open sessions where young men get to talk with men about what’s going on in their lives and young women can talk to women. No cell phones around and it is just bonding. These programs we run for a month really enhances and gives them mentorship. We have 100% graduation rate. I’m watching some of the kids out there now in college become freshman class president. For me, I come from a place where any time I see somebody in need, I want to be able to give and I really want to give to our young people to create opportunities, so that they can go out and change, so that they can be the next Lena Waithe, so they can be the architects. I just want to be able to do that and that’s what we are doing with Common Ground. We also work in some criminal justice reform.

The Voluntourist: On the storytelling perspective, how has your work with Selma and this show, affected your process in creating music and touring?

Common: I feel more duty to be a voice for other people. After being a part of Selma, it was like “wait, I’ve been given a bigger platform.” I’m sitting here meeting with Howard Schultz from Starbucks. I’m sitting here getting to go to Oprah’s events. I need to represent hip-hop well. I need to be a voice for the people, be more informed. It really actually made me pay more attention to the political stratosphere, to be honest. It gave me more responsibility, and duty, and purpose.

The Voluntourist: Did you start your foundation after Selma?

Common: No, we rebooted it in 2007. It’s been going. Also, look out for Imagine Justice because that is our criminal justice reform. We’ve toured five prisons in California. We help to get these bills passed so juveniles won’t be sentenced to life without parole anymore in California; SB294, SB394, SB395. We are also working on making sure they are working on bill reform, so look out for Imagine Justice.

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My Friend’s Place

The My Friend’s Place we know today all started with a sack lunch of one turkey sandwich, a chocolate pudding, a boxed drink and an orange. In December of 1987, after seeing the homeless young people on the streets in Hollywood, co-founder Craig Scholz and I decided something needed to be done.

On January 8th, 1988 we packed 50 sack lunches and headed out for our first Friday night meal drive where we were greeted by over 100 young people in need of food. Today I’m still personally proud of the fact that after that evening in ’88-we never missed a single Friday night, rain or shine.

At first we had no idea what we were doing; we simply drove around Hollywood and handed out the sack lunches. But this experience quickly changed. We began not only handing out food but spending most of our time having conversations with the young people and getting to know them. We lent them a kind ear, and learned about their lives and what brought them to the streets. Our quick hour-long route turned into two plus hours of building relationships with and learning from these young people.

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Share A Meal

Khalsa Peace Corps (KPC) was founded in 2009. The founders, Jacquie and Ravi Singh, were inspired by their belief that a full spiritual experience requires one to transform their higher conscience into action. Thus the role of Khalsa Peace Corps is to be a platform that transforms ones’ higher conscience into daily actions of service and sharing. Share A Meal is a program of Khalsa Peace Corps. 

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Share A Meal has a central kitchen where rice and beans are prepared. Our mobile kitchens are food trucks that arrive on a regular schedule at different locations on different nights around the city where the homeless populations are concentrated. Volunteers meet at these locations and help roll burritos in the first hour of service. In the second hour, they not only serve the hot meals they helped to prepare, but also go out with loving hearts, kind words, and smiles, offering water, and other assistance in the form of socks, blankets, toiletries, and other necessities. The volunteer experience is one of humility and an uplifting of their consciousness. The homeless feel humanized and keep their hopes and dreams alive.

 

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