39 Teams Take JMU's Service Commitment on the Road for Spring Break
News
About 400 people from James Madison University are heading to destinations throughout the United States and seven other countries to spend Spring Break, March 6-13, volunteering as tutors, shelter and maintenance workers, builders, and nutrition and health advisers to help people in need and to clean beaches and forest trails.
The 39 teams, each headed by two student leaders and accompanied by a learning partner, a JMU faculty or staff member who works alongside the students, are adding their own chapters to JMU's well-established Alternative Spring Break program tradition. Part of the university's Office of Community-Service Learning, the Alternative Break Program offers students opportunities to assist people while learning more about societal issues, such as homelessness, immigration and health problems.
"An overwhelming number of the students involved with the leadership this year are heavily invested in understanding the underlying causes that generate the need for their services," said Dusty M. Krikau, assistant director of Community Service-Learning. "They are interested in their role as both servers and learners and are working hard to empower those around them to become active citizens within their communities."
Students pay $250 to participate in one of 22 domestic trips and from $439 to $2,200 for one of 17 domestic-flying or international trips. Fundraising projects led by students helped defray some of the costs of the trips.
JMU also sponsors weeklong alternative break trips in May and at Thanksgiving. In 2009, 109 volunteers participated in JMU's fourth consecutive Alternative May Break to continue rebuilding in the hurricane-devastated Gulf Coast. A total of 56 people worked in Atlanta, Winter Park, Fla., Harrisonburg and Rockingham County, Va., New Orleans and Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona during Thanksgiving break.
The longstanding commitment of students, faculty and staff to the Alternative Break Program is a key factor in JMU's recent inclusion on the 2009 President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll. JMU was chosen for the honor based on a series of selection factors including scope and innovation of service projects, percentage of student participation in service activities, incentives for service and the extent to which the school offers academic service-learning courses.
Alternative Spring Break Trips:
California
Redwoods National Park, to focus on the environment
Crescent City
AIDS Project (new partner), to focus on HIV and AIDS
Los Angeles
LA's Best (new partner) to focus on youth
Los Angeles
Casa Familiar, to focus on immigration
San Diego
Florida
Sea Base, to focus on the environment
Big Munson Island
Practical Academic Cultural Education Center for Girls, to focus on children and youth
Immokalee
East Coast Migrant Head Start (cosponsored with Graduate Psychology and the Ashby Learning Community), to focus on immigration and youth
Orlando
Habitat for Humanity (cosponsored with Canterbury Episcopal Campus Ministry), to focus on housing
Pensacola
Community Service Center, to focus on children and youth
Winter Park
InterFaith Hospitality Network (cosponsored with the Center for Multicultural Student Services), to focus on hunger and homelessness
Winter Park
Georgia
Cafe 458, to focus on hunger and homelessness
Atlanta
Hands on Atlanta, to focus on community wellness
Atlanta
Indiana
Horizon House (new partner), to focus on hunger and housing
Indianapolis
Louisiana
Project Lazarus, to focus on HIV and AIDS
New Orleans
Mississippi
Hands on Gulf Coast, to focus on hurricane relief
Biloxi
Sunshine Children's Center to focus on children and youth
Natchez
Missouri
Operation Breakthrough, to focus on education and youth
Kansas City
Sheffield Place, to focus on youth and homelessness
Kansas City
The Bridge (new partner; cosponsored with the University Health Center and SafeRides), to focus on hunger and homelessness
St. Louis
New Mexico
Aldo Leopold Wilderness Area (cosponsored with University Recreation), to focus on environmental stewardship
Gila National Forest
New York
St. Luke's Catholic School (cosponsored with Catholic Campus Ministry), to help in the classroom and with the afterschool program
South Bronx
North Carolina
LifeSpan, to focus on disability services
Charlotte
Teach for America (new partner), to focus on education and youth
Charlotte
Oklahoma
Cherokee Nation, to focus on children and youth
Tahlequah
South Carolina
United Methodist Relief Center (new partner; cosponsored with the Wesley Foundation), to do housing repairs
Georgetown
Point Pleasant, (new destination; cosponsored with Catholic Campus Ministry), to focus on housing
York Place, to focus on children and youth
York
Virginia
Lonesome Pine Office on Youth (new partner; cosponsored with Social Work 487), to focus on rural poverty and youth
Big Stone Gap
West Virginia
Appalachian Institute (new partner; cosponsored with the Interfaith Coalition), to focus on rural poverty
New Martinsville
International Trips:
Belize
ProBelize (new partner; cosponsored with Writing, Rhetoric and Technical Communication 400), to focus on community wellness and education
San Ignacio
Costa Rica
i to i meaningful travel (new partner; cosponsored with Catholic Campus Ministry), to focus on housing
San Ramon
Dominica
Ethnographic Experience in Dominica (cosponsored with Anthropology 395), to focus on community wellness
Paix Bouche
Dominican Republic
Orphanage Outreach, to focus on children and youth
Monte Cristi
Honduras
Organization for Youth Empowerment, to focus on education and youth
El Progreso
Students Helping Honduras (new partner; a national organization with a chapter at JMU), to focus on education and youth empowerment
El Progreso
Jamaica
Center for the Upliftment of the Mentally Ill, to focus on health and homelessness
Montego Bay
Jamaica Adventure Secrets (new partner; cosponsored with Catholic Campus Ministry), to focus on children and youth
St. Andrew
Volunteer in Jamaica Opportunity Network, to focus on education and youth
Treasure Beach
Peru
Peru109 (new partner), to focus on community wellness and education
Trujillo
