Four Seasons Costa Rica offers new volunteer program

The Costa Rica Four Seasons resort has recently joined in partnership with its corporate ownership group, Peninsula Papagayo, to provide guests and incentive groups with opportunities to spread good will and good works through the region it calls home.

Though newly available to resort guests, Growing Together was actually launched ahead of its time in 2001 by Peninsula Papagayo, according to a recent press release. The new program, Growing Together, presents guests with custom-designed volunteer experiences: from supporting local schools and environmental conservation efforts to donating backpacks filled with school supplies and even "adopting" local families during their stay.

While Four Seasons Resort Costa Rica has long assisted in arranging philanthropic opportunities for guests hoping to take their travel to a more meaningful level, Growing Together takes the process further with convenience and considerations for volunteers to better aid local beneficiaries.

The Growing Together resort program was introduced in January at an annual Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts Incentive Partner Summit, an annual conference for incentive meeting planners to advise Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts on the state of the incentive industry. Summit delegates put talk into action at the Tablazo School in nearby Sardinal, a town of 30 households including a number of resort employees.

Six-dozen Summit delegates boarded buses for the 50-minute drive to the Tablazo School, which counts 55 students from kindergarten through sixth grade. Incentive planners and Four Seasons employees spent the better part of the day painting the school and putting up a fence, efforts that proved so rewarding the volunteers were moved to launch a fund to raise money for new desks and chairs for the school.

Volunteer experiences are customized by the resort based upon each individual's goals, budget and time. Philanthropic possibilities include:
Become a Backpack Buddy
School Outreach Programs
Conservation Programs
Family Care