By Taylor Kay, Senior Director, Work and Travel Program at Greenheart.
A reward for all the effort that goes into running a Summer Work Travel program is finally getting to visit our participants in their US communities. This Winter was an especially busy one for Greenheart particularly as we placed participants at many new host employers and communities. These visits allow us to check in on the wellbeing of our participants, carry forward our mission of connecting people and planet and connect with host employers and other stakeholders. Read on for highlights from our Winter adventures!
New England:
Distances in northern New England are paradoxically both small and enormous. Ski resort towns in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont are close enough New Yorkers and Bostonians to visit for a ski weekend, yet given limited public transportation are too distant from these major cities for everyday travel in the other direction.
Following arrival, Work and Travel participants find themselves in small towns and rural areas in all their natural beauty, quite literally stuck there without an accommodating host employer. Thankfully, even in a busy season supercharged with ample snow, our host employers offered a warm welcome and enveloped them in the community.
During our visits to six resorts, we were impressed by all the activities that participants could take advantage of. For example, at Jay Peak in northern Vermont, they often visit the town recreation center for soccer and volleyball, followed by a trip to Wendy’s. A bit further south, each housing facility at Sugarbush Resort, a new Greenheart host employer this year, has an RA tasked with organizing activities and lists of local events are posted at each entrance.
Finally, some of our participants working at Attitash Resort in New Hampshire are living at the Work and Travel Lodge in North Conway, which offers fun activities on site and connects participants to community events, such as tubing at Cranmore Mountain.
The visits allowed us to better understand operations at each resort yet also allowed us to discuss with hosts the challenges they face in running their programs and changes they would make for next year. Connecting participants with a hospitable local bank and more education what entails proper winter gear (it’s been cold!) as well as looking at internal processes were among those mentioned.
All in all, Greenheart participants in New England are working hard, enjoying the snow and feel connected with their workplace and community.
Park City, Utah:
Each December, Greenheart co-sponsors the BridgeUSA Welcome Night held at a rotating list of resorts in Utah’s ski mecca Park City. Over 750 newly-arrived participants attended this year’s event, hosted at Park City Mountain Resort, meeting with local vendors and public agencies such as transportation, law enforcement and the library. It’s fantastic to see the community come together to support their international visitors.
Each of the resorts we visited that week were adapting their operations to the limited snowfall yet were determined to complete training regimens and get everyone on the schedule. Unfortunately, that dry winter has persisted in the Wasatch Range, indeed in much of the west. However, these resorts and hotels understood how important it is to forge trust and good relationships from the start. Resorts have done a good job with training staff to help in other operational areas, encouraging use of their ski passes and to do things in the local community. Our participants have largely made the best of the situation even if they, like visitors, are not skiing in deep powder as in other years.
Lake Geneva, Wisconsin:
As the Global Ambassador Scholarship wraps up its final season, Kacey Nichols traveled to the Grand Geneva Resort & Spa, to visit four current scholars from the Winter cohort. During her visit, she also reconnected with an alumna, who returned to the Grand Geneva for a second time.
“I decided to come back because it was such a great experience. The way you can connect with different cultures and meeting new people and realizing that even if you are in completely different country, completely different to yours, you can still connect with so many people. It such a great feeling,” shared Orianna from Argentina.
Over lunch, the five scholars swapped stories and worked together to make dog toys for an animal shelter. Discussions of pre-program nerves were shared, as any Work and Travel participant leaving their home country for the first time can feel worried about the unknown. Deborah who hails from Fiji, shared her advice on anyone considering joining the program: “It is a really great opportunity. Coming from the Pacific, it’s a great way to broaden your mind and get to know people from different countries and exploring the U.S. more.”
These visits remind Greenheart of the sheer joy and connection that cultural exchange brings to individuals around the world. These moments fuel our passion for celebrating differences and inspire us to continue sharing the stories of our remarkable participants.
Colorado Mountains:
In Colorado, this is the winter that wasn’t. Denver has routinely ‘endured’ temperatures in the 60s and 70s. The mountain snowpack is 57% of normal and ski resorts have not been 100% open all season, keeping some avid skiers away from the slopes–and hotels and restaurants. Therefore, we ventured out to these Colorado ski towns with some trepidation: would the snow conditions mean dashed dreams and dissatisfaction? How were these ski resorts adapting their operations to ensure their staff were getting hours and experience and still meeting the bottom line?
Our bottom line: our visits to three of the biggest ski resorts revealed that participants are having positive experiences. We found close bonds between participants and their front-line managers and generally high level of satisfaction with their work, Carol, a Brazilian participant at family-focused Beaver Creek, has had the fun opportunity to work at the summit baking and selling cookies and hot cocoa to kids and kids-at-heart.
We also found a shared understanding of the impact of the adverse weather conditions. Those all up and down the management chain at Vail Resorts have been working hard to distribute work hours equitably and keep up morale.
We met many who learned to snowboard or ski at their home resort and then used their employee passes to visit neighboring resorts, and just enjoying their time in these mountain towns. Some basketball fans at Breckenridge Resort ventured into Denver to fulfill their dream of attending an NBA game. Carol’s compatriot Lidia talked about her plans to travel with family around the U.S. at the end of her program.
Bonus: Volunteer Event in Pennsylvania
On January 22, participants at Hershey Entertainment & Resorts visited the Salvation Army in Harrisburg as part of an ongoing service partnership between the two organizations that allows both Winter and Summer participants to engage with the local community. During this visit, participants assisted with setup for a volunteer breakfast and took a tour of the facilities. Participants reported having a blast and were amazed by the size of the facility, the number of events hosted by Salvation Army, and the depth of resources they provide to the local community.
Thank you, Hershey Entertainment & Resorts, for your commitment to your community and the Greenheart mission.
Thanks, everyone, for sharing your GGHT stories with us! So inspiring!
Are you a U.S. business and want to host international seasonal staff for a cultural exchange? Please visit HirewithGreenheart.org to learn more.
To learn more about Greenheart’s Work and Travel program visit GreenheartExchange.org.