Church ruins ... by the yard

We found Tony's 40-foot vessel, got on board, and headed into the harbor. About 20 boats were making waves and honking horns while a priest blessed us from the dock. It was a memorable way to spend our last day on Inishmore.

That final evening Oliver came by the house and we climbed into his van. He shuttled us to the foot of the path to Dun Ducathair, or Black Fort, built in the Iron Age. Like Dun Aengus, Inishmore's most famous fort, the semicircular Black Fort was built on the side of a cliff so that enemy attacks could come from only one direction.

After exploring on our own, our group got together for pictures. I pulled out my harmonica and played a snappy song while others clapped their hands and danced.

It was the perfect ending to a perfect volunteer holiday. While I'd been too shy to play earlier in the week, I now felt like part of a family, working and cooking with these people, exploring and discovering with them. I can hardly wait for my next UREP experience, which I hope will be soon.

• View information about past UREP projects at http://UREP.ucdavis.edu. The program is on hold until August to allow organizers to review the past 25 years of UREP experiences and make future ones all the better.

For more information, write to UREP, University of California, One Shields Ave., Davis, CA 95616; telephone (530) 757-3529, or e-mail urep@ucdavis.edu.

Many groups offer to match travelers with volunteer opportunities in various locales - in the US as well as around the world - that benefit the community and the volunteer.

Volunteers can choose from activities such as teaching English to students in Poland, upgrading libraries in the Cook Islands, or helping protect rare native plants on California's Catalina Island.

The eighth edition of "Volunteer Vacations: Short-term Adventures That will Benefit You and Others," by Bill McMillon (Chicago Review Press, $17.95), covers the topic well. Here are some groups that match volunteers and opportunities.:

• Global Volunteers, 800-487-1074, or www.globalvolunteers.org.

• Oceanic Society, 800-326-7491, www.oceanic-society.org.

• Amizade, www.amizade.org, 888-973-4443, or Volunteer@amizade.org.

• International Volunteer Programs Association, ivpa@volunteerinternational.org; 71 West 23rd Street, 17th floor, New York, NY 10010; (212) 807-8686, ext. 150; www.volunteer international.org.

• Sierra Club, 85 Second Street, 2nd floor, San Francisco, CA 94105; (415)-977-5500; www.sierraclub.org/outings/service.asp.

• Council for International Educational Exchanges, 205 East 42nd St., New York, NY 10017; 888-COUNCIL; www.ciee.org.

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