Destinations: Adventure Altruism Giving Large (cont.)
Wilderness Travel (courtesy, Wilderness Travel)
Wilderness Travel
800-368-2794 | wildernesstravel.com
For the past five years, Wilderness Travel has footed half of the $7,500 annual operating bill for a Sherpa dental clinic in Namche Bazaar, in Nepal's Everest region. But giving is no new concept for this 27-year-old travel company, which has helped shape industrywide policies, such as funneling traveler donations to nonprofit groups like the American Himalayan Foundation and providing porters in Peru, Tanzania, and Nepal with health insurance, warm coats, and sturdy boots.
Wildland Adventures
800-345-4453 | www.wildland.com
Last year, Wildland Adventures clients pooled $6,000 to rebuild a collapsed well in a Masai village they had visited in Kenya. That was typical95 percent of Wildland's travelers help fund causes picked by local guides and company president Kurt Kutay, who directs the Traveler's Conservation Trust and helped pioneer Inca Trail cleanups in the 1980s.
W.L. Gore & Associates
410-506-2647 | www.gore.com
Some of the best resources outdoor companies can offer are their own top-shelf products. That's why Gore regularly donates thousands of Gore-Tex blankets and ponchos to the Red Cross. After the 9/11 attacks, the company airlifted 2,400 jackets, overalls, and pairs of boots and gloves$365,000 worth of gear in allto rescuers at ground zero.
Contributors: Jason Daley and Kimberly Lisagor. Additional reporting by Catharine Livingston, Gordy Megroz, and Jason Stevenson.