Passports with Purpose: Help Travel Bloggers Build a Village in India

Part food blogger, part travel blogger, that’s hopefully what you’ve come to expect from my site, Ms. Adventures in Italy. I felt lucky to attend the first ever TBEX, travel blogger conference organized in 2009 in Chicago, and I found some very fascinating travel bloggers to follow as they bounce around the world, or write about traveling in general.

I’ve been very active with the food-blogger organized Menu for Hope for the past 4 years (and hope to be again this year), and when the travel-bloggers started their own fundraiser called Passports with Purpose last year in 2009, I felt similarly moved to participate even as I helped organize MFH’s European prizes. This year I wanted to do even more with Passports with Purpose so I want to make sure all of you know about it, too :) I love that they’ve chosen India as the focus for the funds, as I loved visiting India and I can’t wait to go back. I also saw firsthand the poverty and the struggle for basic things like running water and shoes for everyone in some of the villages, so I think it fitting we help build a village in India ourselves.

Passports with Purpose is an annual Travel Bloggers’ fundraiser. In 2009, 90 bloggers participated and raised almost $30,000 to build a school in rural Cambodia (complete with a school nurse and a kitchen garden that provides each child a daily meal). In 2010, we have set our sights even higher. With your help, we will raise $50,000 to build a village, brick by brick, in rural India through our partnership with Friends of Lafti.

Similarly to how bidding works for Menu for Hope, you buy tickets directly for the prize you want, not the raffle in general. That way, you increase the chances of winning something you actually want!

And I want to sweeten the pot – if you buy a ticket for PwP, if you Tweet about it, if you write a blog post about it, if you share it on Facebook, just comment on this post and I’ll enter you into a drawing for a USD$25 Amazon gift certificate (eligible for wherever Amazon.com ships)! If you post about it or buy a ticket to support PwP, just comment below saying something like “I Supported PwP” – no need to tell me how many tickets you bought – I won’t be checking. It’s on the honor system :) Comment by Dec. 8, and I’ll post the winner on Dec. 9th.

If you want to Tweet it, help me find your Tweet by using this text:

Support Passports with Purpose – help travel bloggers build a village in India http://su.pr/2Xbsue (via @rosso)

So, finally go check out some of the Passports with Purpose prizes!! They are sure to speak to the traveler in you, or would make great gifts for the traveler you know! Flight certificates, vacation packages, luxury hotel stays, travel gear, even travel electronics like the iPad! So go support Passports with Purpose, and then come back and tell me! :)