19 March 2007
U.S. Students Use Vacations To Volunteer in Community Service
Alternative spring break programs popular in United States, abroad
Washington — Although many university students in the United States use their spring break to soak up the sun on the beach or catch up on school work, more and more are using their brief time off campus to do the world some good.
Alternative spring breaks, known as ASBs, are programs that place students in needy communities to perform volunteer community service. They take on a wide variety of challenges, from helping neighborhoods ravaged by natural disasters rebuild homes, to tutoring migrant farmworkers, to working in homeless shelters. Other ASB programs send students abroad on projects such as working in wildlife conservation or helping communities devastated by HIV/AIDS or poverty.
“More and more students, and even working professionals, want to participate in a short-term project that has a clear beginning and an achievable end so that they can contribute to something useful and important in one week,” says Kam Santos of Cross-Cultural Solutions, an international nongovernmental organization (NGO) that places students in popular one-week ASBs in Brazil, Russia, Costa Rica, Peru and Guatemala.
In spring 2006, an estimated 35,000 students across the country participated in an alternative spring break experience, according to Break Away, an NGO founded by two Vanderbilt University students that trains, assists and connects campuses and communities.
Most universities in the United States follow an academic year that begins in late August and ends in late May, and spring break is often one week or two weeks in March or April. This is when most students volunteer, but others do so in summer or other vacation times; the total number of student volunteers each year is nearly 40,000, according to Break Away.
The short-term ASBs are carefully thought out and well designed, and they complement the longer term service projects the NGO organizes that help volunteers feel they are contributing to the overall objectives of a community, Santos said.
“Alternative spring breaks really encompass everything: volunteerism, cross cultural exchange, leadership, and they really give you a perspective on your own life as well and your role in the global society,” said Chapin Cole, a 2006 graduate of the University of California, San Diego, who joined one-week ASBs in Brazil and Peru in 2005 and 2006.
ASBs are also a “great way to experience another culture if you're a student without the resources or time to study abroad during the school year,” she added in an interview.
An example of a one-week project organized by Cross-Cultural Solutions would be students and families painting the walls of an orphanage or planting a garden at a senior home. In Lima, Peru, Cole’s group worked in a senior care center where she helped with renovation projects and served meals. In Salvador, Brazil, Cole worked in a homeless shelter.
“I have learned the importance of listening and learning at every turn,” Cole said.
Housing for volunteers is modest but comfortable, and in both Brazil and Peru they lived in houses or flats rented by the NGO.
In the United States, the United Way Alternative Spring Break 2007 is sending teams of students to spend a week in Lake Charles, Louisiana, helping residents affected by Hurricane Rita rehabilitate existing homes damaged by the storm and build new ones. The students are hosted by United Way of Louisiana and stay at the Volunteer Housing Center in Moss Bluff. In 2006, the ASB, called Storm Corps, sent teams of students to neighborhoods devastated by Hurricane Katrina.
“Being completely immersed into diverse environments enables participants to experience, discuss and understand social issues in a significant way,” reports Break Away. “The intensity of the experience increases the likelihood that participants will transfer the lessons learned on-site back to their own communities even after the alternative break ends.”
Alternative spring break programs usually are sponsored by NGOs with financial support from corporations and local businesses, although some are organized by universities and private-sector student tour companies. United Way’s ASB 2007 benefits from major funding by Federal Express and GameStop/EB Games, and students incur little out-of-pocket expense. Media giant MTV is supporting the United Way program by promoting it and helping to recruit participants and by filming a documentary.
ASB programs abroad are increasingly popular, but they can be expensive. Cross-Cultural Solutions offers tips to participants on how to raise the funds necessary to cover program and travel costs. Santos said the NGO believes fundraising can be an important way to spread awareness about global issues.
“Many of our volunteers have had great success fundraising for all or part of their program and travel fees,” she said.
Individuals who file federal income taxes may deduct all of the fees associated with community service programs, including travel costs, according to Santos.
More information and personal accounts from students participating in Alternative Spring Break 2007 in southwest Louisiana are available on the United Way Web site.
Additional information about alternative break programs for students is available on the Break Away and Cross-Cultural Solutions Web sites.
For more information, see Education.
