More than 100 UMaine Student Volunteers Going to Work Over Spring Break
Contact: George Manlove at (207) 581-3571
ORONO — University of Maine students have a growing reputation for volunteering their time during vacations to help others in need, and Spring Break 2004 is no exception.
In addition to nearly 40 UMaine students heading to Honduras for two weeks of volunteerism, 68 other volunteers are spending a week or more doing things like tutoring schoolchildren in Nashville, cleaning up the Appalachian Trail in Tennessee, delivering meals to AIDS patients in New York City and building homes with Habitat for Humanity in Pennsylvania.
The university’s Alternative Spring Break Program (ASB), now in its seventh year and an affiliate of the national BreakAway program, is coordinating plans for 52 students and staff advisors to do social or physical work in a variety of locations out of state. ASB has grown substantially since its inception because more students these days are interested in helping others, meeting people in different places and traveling, according to Moira Reilly, a senior psychology major from Bucksport and treasurer of UMaine’s Alternative Spring Break Program.
“We definitely have had a lot of interest in ASB,” she says. “There is a growing interest among students in the needs of other communities.”
Instead of vacationing in Florida, Cancun or Bermuda, where many college students seek refuge from busy pressure-cooker study schedules, Reilly and others just prefer a change, she says.
“For me, it’s a change of pace, being part of this group,” Reilly says. “It’s a great way to meet people and expand your horizons. At the university, we don’t usually get to see the poverty out there, so this is a chance to take the blinders off, at least for a week.”
The Maine students join a contingent of more than 7,000 college students across the nation signing up for similar volunteer work during spring break this year as part of BreakAway, according to Dan McCabe, executive director of the Florida-based organization. BreakAway has 104 member colleges or universities, including UMaine. He estimates as many as 40,000 students will do volunteer work in the next few weeks, if non-affiliated programs and projects are counted.
Moira Reilly, meanwhile, will spend a week with eight other UMaine students at the Southern Appalachian Labor School in West Virginia helping to build homes for low income people and tutoring students studying for high school equivalency diplomas.
Another group is heading to the Martha O’Brien Center in Nashville to tutor students after school and help senior citizens with home projects.
Nine more students will travel to Chattanooga, Tenn., to help clean up and maintain the Cumberland Trail section of the Appalachian Trail, Reilly says. And eight students will work with Habitat for Humanity building a home in rural Washington, Pa.
Ten students are planning to spend the first week of their spring break in New York City, preparing and delivering meals to AIDS patients at the Gay Men’s Health Crisis Center there, and eight women are planning to work with teen sexual abuse survivors at Crossroads Group Home in Greensboro, S.C.
In addition, 14 students and two staff advisors, members of the UMaine Intervarsity Christian Fellowship, are heading off Feb. 29 to spend a week in rural Coatesville and Phoenixville, Pa. to build homes with habitat for Humanity.
Staff advisor Rose Milani agrees with Reilly, and says students find that traveling and volunteering helps them grow as individuals, and gives them a rewarding sense of community involvement.
Reilly says that spring break isn’t the only time students from UMaine leave campus for volunteer work in other communities. UMaine also offers ASB service weekends, through which students volunteer time to work throughout Maine. Last fall, for instance, students volunteered to help with the Common Ground Fair in Unity and on Feb 13-14, another group painted walls at a Portland social service and community outreach center.
The work is all extracurricular, Reilly says. Travel arrangements primarily are paid for through membership dues and fundraising, including bottle drives, raffles and “coupon nights” at local restaurants, including Governors and Uno’s. Student government and some travel scholarships also help pay expenses.
“We apply for everything we can possibly get our hands on,” Reilly says.
The ASB Program currently is holding a silent auction through Feb. 21 at various locations on and off campus to raise money for the ASB trips. Information about tickets and participation is available by calling the ASB office at 581-1349.
Additionally, the UMaine Bookstore will continue selling commemorative holiday ornaments to help fund the Alternative Spring Break Program. Bookstore director Bill Hockensmith says all of the proceeds from ornament sales between last July and July 2004 will benefit the ASB.
Hockensmith says the ASB program and its volunteers do tremendous work helping others, demonstrating the altruism of young people and helping the University of Maine shine.