United Planet is proud to announce the start of our annual United Planet Day Writing and Photo/Video Contest!  Each year we host this event to celebrate United Planet Day 2010, the one day during the Fall Equinox when the sun shines on every location on earth for an equal amount of time.

Please visit our United Planet Day page to view more of this year’s incredibly moving photo and writing submissions.

United Planet is always striving to make a more lasting impression in the communities in which we serve through innovative models like United Planet’ s “micro-empowerment” concept.  Micro-empowerment brings together United Planet’s core competencies by combining volunteer abroad support with project funding and on-going mentoring.

In January 2008, United Planet opened Lavanderia Planeta Unido, a laundromat that provides services for both tourists and residents of Quetzaltenango, Guatemala.  Funds from this project are creating sustainable revenue and providing valuable training to benefit a shelter for abused women and their children.

United Planet is extremely proud of our volunteers abroad.  Volunteers like Lizzie Lee, a student at Columbia University, who has a strong interest in business and a passion for volunteering abroad, prepared a business plan to help boost the laundromat's revenues by an estimated 200 percent. Lizzie describes her volunteer abroad Quest experience as “one of the most rewarding things I have ever done.”

We believe that these projects are immensely beneficial not only to the local communities that they serve, but also to the greater global community. If you would like to support these projects or volunteer abroad, please contact us or visit the Special Projects section of our website.