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Printer-Friendly ModeStudents break from school, not service
March 21, 2011 —
Going home and traveling to somewhere you’ve always wanted to visit are both viable options for students on Spring Break.
From March 4 to March 11, members of Alternative Breaks, a Registered Student Organization at SVSU, spent their spring breaks volunteering their time at places ranging from out of state to out of country. Four trips were organized to go to Virginia, Washington,D.C., Tennessee, and Costa Rica.
The Costa Rica group left to work at a community education center. Members helped construct new classrooms by plastering walls and digging ditches for drainage, and they read to children and helped teach them English. The boys of the group helped build a bridge and they all spent time playing with the children on the playground.
“We know that we made an impact on those kids just as they made an impact on us, but the sustainability and the tangibility of the construction work will be at that school forever,” said Courtney Duncan, site leader.
Another group traveled to Tennessee to deal with the topic of veteran’s issues by helping organize donations for care packages for veterans. They went on lunch trips with the veterans and played rounds of bingo with them.
“We could show them that someone does care even if their family can’t make it to the hospital for visitation,” said Lindsay Maynard, site leader.
The third group went to Virginia and worked on community restoration. Members did maintenance work and sorting for the Assisting Young Mothers Program, a program that gives young women resources such as counseling, shelter, and more to make the women more successful and independent.
The fourth team traveled to D.C. to do its volunteering. Members worked with the topic of terminal illness.
“We learned everybody needs to know that someone is there for them and thinking about them,” Maynard said.