Sgt. Brian Fountaine was recovering in Walter Reed Army Medical Center when he got an unexpected visitor who offered to build him a house -- free of charge. The visitor was John Gonsalves, founder of Homes for Our Troops, a nonprofit volunteer group that builds houses for severely injured veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.  Read article

Months spent as volunteers in a refugee camp for Liberians provided a quick immersion into the eye-opening contradictions of modern Africa for two young Canadian women.  Read article

Volunteers from the Syrian Arab Red Crescent Society are working round the clock near crossing points at the Lebanon-Syria border to help thousands of people fleeing the fighting in Lebanon.  Read article

Monteverde, Lebanon: Animal welfare volunteers rescued over 200 abandoned pets in Beirut and moved them eastwards, away from airstrikes against Hezbollah strongholds in the south. Foreign embassies told evacuees fleeing Israeli bombardment that pets are not allowed on ships and helicopters transporting them to countries such as Syria and Cyprus.   Read article

The Lebanese Red Cross has mobilized 2,400 emergency rescue and first aid volunteers, as well as some 200 ambulances to evacuate and provide emergency relief to people wounded or displaced in the bombings by Israeli army.  Read article