Spring break is a great opportunity to catch up on sleep and work on a tan, but it's possible to use that extra time off from school to help the less fortunate.

i-to-i Meaningful Travel helps volunteers become involved in charitable projects around the world. The company sends more than 5,000 volunteers overseas each year, according to its Web site, www.i-to-i.com.

Trips last between one and 12 weeks, said Alexia Nestora, director of i-to-i North America. She said many people do a spring break trip and return in the summer to participate in a longer trip.

"[The Costa Rica trip] is popular because it's one week and the airfare from the U.S. is fairly cheap," Nestora said. "It's very hands-on, and in one week, you are able to achieve a ton."

The Cape Town, South Africa project is a summer program that requires a minimum commitment of four weeks, Nestora said.

"It is a great trip for those who really want to do some hardcore volunteering and give back in a way that will affect these kids' lives for a long time," she said. "It's a harder, heartbreaking project, but with that comes so many more rewards."

Volunteer Adventures, another volunteer travel organization, began as an offshoot of its parent company's foreign language schools, said founder Jean-Marc Alberola.

"Students were going to our schools to learn the language and culture, and they wanted more ways to get involved," Alberola said.

Alberola said it takes time to get to know the people, the culture and the language.

"If you can do three weeks or more, you're really going to come home transformed and feel like you've had a huge impact," he said. "The reality is that people don't always have time to devote to this, so that's why they're doing the shorter stays."

Volunteer Adventures allows travelers to take foreign language classes taught by native speakers in the morning and volunteer their time in the afternoon, Alberola said.

More young people are becoming interested in international travel, Alberola said.

"They are really looking for experiences. They don't want to be considered a tourist," he said. "They want to be involved in the culture, they want to meet the locals, and this is the way to do it."

Volunteering abroad benefits everyone involved, Alberola said.

"Volunteer work helps the community and the people," Alberola said. "And it is transformational for the student as well."

Both companies offer travelers the opportunity to become involved with the Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) program.

Ashley Stoddard (junior-communication arts and sciences) traveled to New Orleans two years ago to help rebuild homes in areas ravaged by Hurricane Katrina. Her experiences in New Orleans prompted her to consider a volunteer trip to Honduras.

"The trip is just so rewarding and it made me realize how blessed I really am to have simple comforts like a bed to sleep in," she said. "It's just an awesome feeling knowing that what little you can do can turn a person's life around."