USU students will help, not tan in March
Volunteers at Utah State University are opting out of traditional Spring Break parties and celebrations, choosing instead to serve people from other parts of the nation and in foreign countries.
Students in the Alternative Breaks Program in the Val R. Christensen Service Center are heading to Illinois to work at a 94-year-old homeless shelter, The Chicago Christian Industrial League, which is one of the largest in the city.
The League came up with an agenda for the group, a total of 10 USU students, to teach people in the shelter different skills and to join with them to complete service projects in several parts of the city.
“We are excited to do work with them because we get to teach them a skill and do service with them,” Shelly Weber, director of Alternative Breaks, said.
The USU students will also be working with an after-school program for boys and girls. The students will play with the children and promote the importance of a college education.
The students also plan to explore other parts of Chicago as well. They will attend a Chicago Bulls game and visit the Chicago Art Museum. A goal is to mix service as well as sightseeing, Weber said.
“We get to do a little bit of both,” she said.
The past two years, the Alternative Breaks group spent spring break working on environmental projects in Hawaii.
USU’s Rotaract Club, an offshoot of The Rotary Club, is traveling to an area near Aguas Prietas, Mexico, to work at an elementary school. The 25 volunteers will be painting the elementary school, as well as fixing windows, laying carpet and making curtains and pillows.
In an earlier trip, Amy Proctor, president of the club, and three others discovered the school had about 10 books. Volunteers are collecting books and school supplies for the 41 students attending the school. The group’s goal is to create a library for the children.
“The big focus is literacy,” said Lynae Gardner, vice president of the club.
The club members also plan to build a baseball diamond in the back of the school during the four days they will be in Mexico. They will be bringing baseball equipment, jump ropes and other sports supplies for the students.
“We are really going to help the school out,” said group member Annette Johnson.
Twenty-one USU students who are members of Volunteers Involved in Development Abroad (VIDA) will also be traveling abroad to Brazil over the break. They will be distributing school supplies and food to more than 1,000 students in two different cities.
Each student will be allowed to bring two duffle bags, which will be stuffed with hygiene items, sports equipment and other necessities. The volunteers will bring donations to buy 200 food packets. Two packets will feed one Brazilian family for one month.
VIDA members will also be constructing a school pavilion for classes and looking for other ways to help those in need. If there is money left over, other projects could be completed.
“It’s a very intense five-day project,” Robson Chaves, faculty adviser for the club, said.
The students will also have the opportunity to play with the Brazilian kids and create sports tournaments for them to be involved in. Many of the students going are soccer, hockey, football or basketball players and will be able to hold sports workshops.
Getting the kids to participate in tournaments and workshops may help them stay out of the street, Chaves said. The VIDA group will get to experience Brazil in a service-oriented light, but will also explore the culture and get to spend some time interacting with the people there.
“We travel and have fun but make a difference internationally and get to know a different culture,” said Chaves.
VIDA has service projects going on all around the world. This spring break, USU also has two students who will be joining a group from the University of Utah to serve in Panama.
VIDA accepts cash donations, toys and school supplies for other projects conducted year round.
While it is too late to join students for this Spring Break, volunteers are needed for upcoming service projects. For more information, call the Service Center at 435-797-SERV or e-mail VIDA at www.vida4all.org or The Rotaract Club at apro@cc.usu.edu.
-briannamo@cc.usu.edu