Filed under: Animals, Children, Education, Environment, Interviews, Service Abroad, Spring Break, Summer Break, Winter Break | Tags: Break Away, Community, Environment, Local Volunteering, Service, Service Abroad, Service Trips, Spring Break, Starting your own service break, Volunteer, Volunteering, Winter Break
You Can Start Your Own Program
Here is the ultimate question: what happens if your college or university does not have an alternative/service break program? Sure, there are lots of other organizations you can go through, but wouldn’t it all just be a whole lot easier if your school had its own program, a homebase right on your very own campus? Well, here is the great news: you can start one.
The Miracle Organization–Break Away
That’s right–you can start your school’s very own alternative breaks program, all through one wonderful organization called Break Away. Break Away is a facilitator between a school and its service site/alternative break site. It currently has a relationship with about 140 different schools across the US, a number that is constantly changing since Break Away is continuously trying to get more schools to join their network. In conjunction, Break Away has developed a relationship with about 400 nonprofit organizations for which the schools can serve on their breaks. When a school is partnered with Break Away, the organization helps link the school to the nonprofit organizations in the geographical regions and service areas that it is interested in contributing to.
First Step
And here is where you come in as the person to develop this relationship between your school and the hundreds of nonprofits that Break Away works with. If you believe that your school would be better off with a service/alternative breaks program (as surely, every school would be), then you are invited to call a Break Away representative at (800) 903-0646. When you speak with a Break Away representative, you can chat in further detail about the first steps you should take, contacts you can develop, resources you should use, and all the details in-between. Ultimately, you can forge the relationship between your university and Break Away, greatly expanding the number of service opportunities open to students at your school.
Nonprofit Partnerships
Are you worried that Break Away does not have a partnership with a nonprofit suitable to the mission of your school? Well, erase that fear. Break Away’s 400 partnerships are all stored in a database, that is constantly–and I mean constantly–updated. Break Away is forever-vigilant in monitoring the changing tides of nonprofits, making sure that each partnership is one that fits in line with the goals and ideals of Break Away; forever scouring for new partnerships; and forever open to nonprofits reaching out to them to form relationships. You can also recommend a nonprofit that you think has potential to be a valuable partner, and Break Away can begin to initiate a relationship with them! Their partnerships are really ever-growing, and ever-strengthening.
Call Today!
Thus, if you find yourself pining for a service trip that your school does not offer, you can change that. Start today and call (800) 903-0646. The representatives there will be as happy to hear from you as you are happy to hear from them. And, as an added bonus for those who want to lead such adventures, Break Away provides semi-annual training for alternative break student leaders. Good luck and have fun!
***All information about Break Away provided by the lovely Samantha Giacobozzi, Programs Director for Break Away.***
Website of the day: Chariots of Fire
Filed under: Children, Interviews | Tags: Boys & Girls Club, Children, Community, Family Volunteering, Local Volunteering, Salvation Army, Service, Social Work, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, UWM, Volunteer, Volunteering
In this blog, I like to include a write-up from a volunteer or a service learner at least once a week. I think that hearing first-hand accounts of different service from different people gives the act of volunteering a face and a place in our hearts. Because service means something different to everyone, it is important to hear the primary accounts of those whose lives have been characterized by service, and to realize that is always close to our hearts, and it is always attainable. This week’s service story is by Allyson Cohn, a young woman who is majoring in social work at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, a major ultimately chosen due to her long-term involvement with the Salvation Army. Allyson began volunteering with the Salvation Army’s after-school programs for children when she was in high school. Her hard work as a volunteer eventually led her to accept a position as the Children’s Center Assistant, a position she has been hard at work for since May of 2007 (while of course being a full-time student). Her story traces the history of her involvement with the Salvation Army and how the simple decision to volunteer as an after-school helper single-handedly changed her life. I am excited for you to read her story and be as touched by it as I was.
***
My name is Allyson Cohn and I have been involved with the Salvation Army since my junior year in high school. The Salvation Army Emergency Lodge is located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It is a temporary shelter which offers a wide variety of social services to those who have lost their job, have no where else to go and who are willing to be pro-active in resolving their homelessness (click here if you are interested in finding more information about the program). There are 12 family rooms at the shelter, and I work with all of the resident families directly. Imagine living in a dorm-sized room with all the members of your family with only four single beds, one bathroom, and no privacy. Imagine never being able to have friends over after school and having a shelter bus pick you up from school with the giant red Salvation Army logo plastered on the side.
The reason that I began to give back to my community is because I didn’t have any after school activities, so I began to tutor children ages 5 to 17 in their after school program from 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm twice a week. I was 16 at the time, and my suburban and sheltered bubble was abruptly popped when I entered the Salvation Army. There are all kinds of people there struggling to get back on their feet. I learned that people were there due to many different circumstances that occurred during their lives.
During my senior year, I was in the community internship program offered at my high school where I received credit to go volunteer 20 hours a week. I left school during 6th period, and went to the Salvation Army. I realized that I couldn’t get away from the Salvation Army! I was infatuated with the self rewarding job of making connections with people and gaining their trust. Most importantly, I loved bringing happiness to the children who were in such an unfathomable environment, sometimes due to their parent’s choices and actions. These kids did not choose to be at a homeless shelter, and in most cases, adolescents are forced to mature at an earlier age.
After two years of being a regular volunteer, I was offered a position to be the Children’s Center Assistant during the summer of 2008 when the director left on maternity leave. This position was full time and was a complete 180 of what I was used to doing in comparison to previous summers! It was time for me to grow up, enter the real world, and I soon became “Ms. Ally” to the children, parents and my colleagues. Since it was summer vacation for the kids, we planned a wide range of fun activities for the children to partake in. We went to Noah’s Ark, Stone Fire Pizza Arcade, Milwaukee Brewers baseball games, and numerous activities at the local Boys and Girls club.
Being that the Boys and Girls Club is so close to the Salvation Army, my boss and I had the opportunity to work in conjunction with their programs. For instance, we served on the programming committee for their annual summer T.A.L.K campaign, (Take Action Listen and Know) which promotes a safe and healthy community in association with the Milwaukee Police Department and with sponsoring companies in the neighborhood. Another community activity that I was active in was “Feed the Kids.” The Feed the Kids program provides free lunches for the youth during the summer months to ensure that all children have access to a nutritious lunch even when school is not in session. My duties included riding on routes to stop at local parks to pass out bag lunches to the children. (This proved to be a very moving experience–some of the kids were so hungry, they would scarf their lunch so fast and get back in line for another one.)
Now, I am currently enrolled at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and I just recently declared my major as social work. My job at the Salvation Army has given me the experience and opportunity that most people don’t get until they graduate college. Through the strong relationships and hands-on experiences with the kids, I have learned a lot about myself and the harsh reality that these children must face on a daily basis.
I am committed to making these children feel not ashamed that they are residing at a shelter! I am committed to helping them if they are falling behind in their school work, and most importantly, I am always there to be their friend. Each and every family that I come across has a unique story and we have both provided each other with memories that will last. In the future, I hope to one day take over the Children’s Department and become the Director or work more closely with teenagers. Although my job is one that I can’t just leave at the door when I come home from work, I constantly remind myself that I actually made a difference today. Just one smile, that’s all the makes it worth it in the end.
***
Website of the day: National Association of Social Workers
Filed under: Education, Environment, Interviews | Tags: Academic Majors, Community, Ecology, Enchanting Challenge, Energy, Environment, Environmental Design, Family Volunteering, Green Collar Jobs, Green Economy, Interior Architecture, Local Volunteering, National Institute of Health, Service, UNCG, UNCgreen, Volunteer
In yesterday’s post, we talked about all the ways in which you can choose a green major while in college and then pursue a green career, all-the-while while making time to serve green in-between. While those are amazing options for an ever-expanding environmental need, there are always ways to become green without having to devote your entire education and career from the get-go solely to the environmental movement. To fit with the realization that green is moving from a fad to a simply a part of the necessary fabric of our lives, many educational focuses, careers, and service opportunities are “greenifying,” or adding environmental stresses onto their already existing foundations. This trend is exciting, as it allows us all to be a part of the movement to give back to our communities by giving back to our planet.
Caitlin Cunningham is a young woman who is a part of this greenifying trend, and has some interesting insight to share about it. Caitlin just recently graduated from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro with a degree in Interior Architecture. When she started her major, she was excited to be part of the world of design. Four-and-a-half years later she completed her major determined and excited to enter the design field with a sustainable approach. Below is her experience in her own words.
Green Living
by Caitlin Cunningham
Upon entering college at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, I decided to study interior architecture. The Interior Architecture program at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro is a unique major unlike any other interior design field in the States. The studio-based atmosphere emphasizes working with not only your fellow classmates and professors, but also with the surrounding community. Throughout this four-and-a-half-year program, we are taught basic design tools, such as drafting, drawing, and modeling. We then implement these new skills into major studio projects that include working with real-life situations. This deployment of our skills provides us with the ability to transfer our lessons from the classroom into real life practice.
As this major is not completely environmentally-driven, we are the future designers of our generation, and there has been one specific professor that believes it is extremely important to educate us about the impact design has on the environment. This professor is Anna Marsha-Baker, my second year professor in Interior Architecture, and more importantly, my mentor. Her consistent emphasis on green design and sustainability really took a hold of my thinking and was the instigator to my future passion.
Anna taught us of the influence design has on the environment by turning basic design assignments into an in-depth look at what our impact is on the planet. In her class, the students learned to research not only the sustainable/green products that we would specify in our designs, but we would really learn to understand the connection of our constructed environment and identify the users of each designed space. Designing for the specific users occupying a particular space leads to fewer mistakes, less future demolition, and affectively, a smaller impact on the environment. It is a very effective method for designing with environmental efficiency and sustainability.
Anna extended her influence outside of the classroom by creating the Sustainability Committee on campus. This committee was a part from our design program but encompassed all of the university. All departments worked together to help make our campus more sustainable. Through efforts to lessen waste at dining services and increase recycling as well educational programs focused on environmentalism, the words sustainable and green dramatically gained popularity in less than two years. It was an exciting time in my life, knowing that what I really enjoyed learning about was now also becoming more popular among my professors and my college community. Moreover, this was all happening against the backdrop of the national discussion concerning sustainability, which made our college efforts feel intertwined and heightened with those of our entire country.
I believe my passion for green design and a greener life style provided me with some amazing opportunities. I was able to transcribe my knowledge of not just design, but of green design, into internships and extracurricular activities. Perhaps one of the most rewarding opportunities I have had is interning with The Children’s Inn at NIH (National Institute of Health). While working with The Children’s Inn on various renovation projects, I was able to provide the facilities manager with some greener alternatives that will increase air quality for the numerous ill children staying at The Inn. This was extremely important, as the Inn is a long-term stay facility for patients of low immune deficiencies.
An especially enriching extracurricular activity that I have had the opportunity to serve with is UNCgreen, my campus’s environmental activism organization. Throughout my college career, I had seen the need for young professionals to speak out on various issues that impact their lives. Working with UNCgreen was a way to encourage others to speak to their professors, employers, and landlords, to let them all know what change they want to see that would help the environment. With this organization, I helped formulate a petition to implement a green fee in UNCG’s tuition, so each semester each student would contribute $5 to aid in greening our campus even more. This is an important example of how the power of unity and activism can help green our environment just a little bit more.
***
In her own words, Caitlin beautifully and inspiringly sums up how the environmentalism that was stressed within her academic major opened up new interning and volunteering opportunities that left her greatly enriched. Not only did she have fun doing what she love doing, but on top of that she left college allowing the world to breathe a little more easily. There is no doubt she will go on to use this education and these experiences to greenify the planet as she beautifies it through design. We can all use her as an inspiration!
Check out her current activities at her employer’s website, Helicon Works, right here.
Website of the day: EcoGeek
Filed under: Animals, Children, Education, Environment, Family Volunteering, Interviews, Spring Break, Summer Break, Winter Break | Tags: Apartheid, Cape Town, Community, Ecology, Enchanting Challenge, Family Service Trips, Family Volunteering, Martin Luther King, Obama, Orphans, Service, Service Trips, South Africa, Spring Break, Summer Break, Volunteer, Winter Break
Yesterday’s call to service was answered in one of the most inspiring acts of collective altruism our country has witnessed–literally hundreds of thousands of Americans devoted their day to service, including our President himself ! While President Obama spent the day visiting injured soldiers at Walter Reed Hospital and painting the walls of a homeless teen’s shelter in our nation’s capital, others across the country flocked to soup kitchens, performed medical and dental services free of charge, and coordinated donation drives. According to the Washington Post, this year’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day witnessed 12,100 service events nation-wide, over twice seen on the same holiday last year (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/19/AR2009011902999.html). What a way to start this new chapter.
Today, officially, the new chapter has begun, a chapter that is asking us all to serve in whatever way we can. There are many issues facing our nation and our world at this crux in time, and we as a country need to mobilize ourselves in order to put the world back together again. What is so beautiful is that we seem inspired to take on that challenge. So let us begin.
All of this talk about service reminds me of one of my greatest role models: Laura Eppinger. I met Laura during college at Marquette University. Laura was an idealistic journalism major who was always volunteering and coordinating service activities wherever and whenever she could. During her junior year, she decided to study abroad in Cape Town, South Africa, in large part because that specific program included 14 hours of service work a week. Laura went and spent four months working in an orphanage for children who had lost their parents to tuberculosis or AIDS. Many of these children were themselves afflicted with TB and/or HIV/AIDS. Needless to say, she came back a different person. She had always been devoted to service, but upon her return to Marquette, she made it the center of her student life. Soon after arriving back at campus, Laurabegan a 20 hour a week job at the Student Service Learning Office (a heavy task to handle, especially as she was allready studying her way through an overly-ambitious credit load and working as an editor for the student newspaper). During her year at the Service Learning Office, Laura strengthened already-existing service learning programs and also worked to create new programs between Marquette University and Milwaukee County organizations and nonprofits. When she graduated after that year, she left the Service Learning Office enriched and inspired by her work and passion.
But Laura did not stop there. Upon graduation, she applied for and was offered a job with AmeriCorps to work as a Service Learning Coordinator for Ripon College in Ripon, Wisconsin. Since July, she has been working tirelessly to mobilize the Ripon College student body and get everyone serving. And that she does!
In a way, all the service work that Laura now does for her career really began with her service trip to South Africa. Below is a reflection she has written on this experience, and I think it is a beautiful piece to draw inspiration from as we embark upon a new mission in our country’s story, a mission to serve.
Cape Town Service Learning
by Laura Eppinger
In fall 2006, during the first semester of my junior year, I participated in Marquette University’s Cape Town Service-Learning Study Abroad Program. (More information can be found here: http://www.marquette.edu/safrica/about.shtml)
I was drawn to this program because of its uniqueness—it was Marquette’s only study abroad opportunity on the African continent, and there was a service-learning component. Our group of 12 Marquette students was enrolled at the University of the Western Cape and able to select two courses of our choosing. Another two were required, Theology of Reconciliation, Justice and Peace and Leadership in Grassroots Development. Through the Leadership course, my fellow students and I were placed at a nonprofit agencies for regular service (14 hours a week). We were encouraged to bring our experiences in the field of nonprofits into the Leadership course; these experiences were also valued in the Theology class.
My service-learning site was a children’s home for those orphaned by AIDS or tuberculosis, which was located in a township outside of Cape Town proper. I divided my time between on-site visits that included anything from cooking and cleaning to taking half a dozen children to a the local clinic for HIV and TB tests, and fund-raising or creating public relations material for the children’s home.
This service-learning placement shaped my time abroad, and my worldview thereafter, in many different ways, but one I would like to touch on is the visible tie between social injustice and physical isolation.
It has been only 15 years since apartheid rule was overturned in South Africa. The effects of this “separateness” are still real and lived. During apartheid, the government zoned different areas for different racial categories of the population (See: http://tinyurl.com/97wkv5). Commerce centers and developed areas with easy access to public transportation were generally zoned for White South Africans. Black and Coloured (mixed race) people were often forcefully removed from otherwise mixed neighborhoods and relegated to newly constructed government housing (which often lacked electricity and running water), or forced to build shantytowns. (For more about forced removals, see: http://www.districtsix.co.za/)
The reality was very similar, though not the law of the land, when I studied in Cape Town in 2006. The University of the Western Cape, where I studied, was a Coloured school during apartheid. It is still predominantly Coloured, and its students come from largely Coloured neighborhoods. The township I volunteered in is almost 100% Black or indigenous African. But the these populations share more than a so-called racial classification—statistics like average income level, high school graduation rates, rate of HIV infection, and crime rates are tied to a person’s race and, therefore, neighborhood. Simply put: Black or indigenous African people are at the greatest risk of contracting HIV in South Africa, and continue to live in neighborhoods with low graduation rates, low income rates, and high crime rates (http://www.avert.org/aidssouthafrica.htm; http://www.tc.columbia.edu/cICE/archives/3.1/31sachs.pdf).
But Cape Town tourism is booming; with nature reserves, Table Mountain, bars and clubs on Long Street, and all the beautiful beaches, I know I could have easily enjoyed South Africa and glossed over the social injustices that have lingered from and evolved since apartheid. But every week I traveled to grossly different neighborhoods in Cape Town and interacted with different segments of the population. It was often exhausting, unsettling and confusing to spend a seven-hour day at an HIV/TB orphanage and then return to our study abroad group’s house in a hip college town called Observatory, then attend university with a somewhat middle class population the next day.
But my jarring and disjointed experiences reflect the geography and society of South Africa and the nation’s history of oppression. I am convinced I could not have gained these insights without time spent at the service site, framed within an academic course.
***
Those are the words of Laura and her service…They inspire me everyday, and I am so happy to share them with you! Stories like these show how the doors of service bring out parts of yourself that you never knew existed, and parts of the world that wouldn’t exist without your help.
Filed under: Animals, Children, Education, Environment, Interviews, Language Study, Spring Break, Summer Break, Winter Break | Tags: Community, Ecology, Enchanting Challenge, Environment, Local Volunteering, Loyola Marymount University, Service Trips, Spring Break, Summer Break, Winter Break
Meet Joanne Dennis, the Alternative Breaks Coordinator for Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, CA. She has some wonderful and inspiring insight to shed upon service trips and service in general, from the destinations of her service trips, to the effects they have had upon her students.
Can you give me a brief description of your job?
I am the Alternative Breaks Coordinator for Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, CA. I work in the Center for Service and Action with a team of LMU students to coordinate domestic and international volunteer trips for LMU students, staff and faculty.
How did you come to work for your job? Was there some sort of service that you did in your past that inspired you to work for service within your career?
I always knew that I wanted to work in a career that somehow contributes to the world. I got my Bachelors and Masters of Social Work, and worked in a variety of social service environments, both domestic and international. Most recently, I was a foster care social worker before coming to LMU.
What kinds of service trips have you organized? (i.e., to where, what kind of service work was involved, what kinds of activities)
We have a wide variety of trips—all over the U.S. and internationally. This year we’re sponsoring 17 different trips, spanning 7 countries and 4 continents. Check out our Alternative Breaks website at www.lmu.edu/csa for an idea about the variety of trips we sponsor.
What kind of feedback do you normally get from the students?
Students and staff love these trips, and often say that they’re life changing experiences. Our motto is “changing the world, one student at a time.” Although we can’t have too much of an impact on a community in 1-2 weeks of service, our goal is for each trip to have a big impact on the students, with the hope that they’ll carry this experience with them for the rest of their lives, no matter which career they choose.
Is there one specific story from a student’s experience that jumps out at you?
Inspired by his Alternative Breaks trips to the Dominican Republic and Cambodia, LMU senior Brock Seraphin decided to start a microlending program with one of our local AB sites in California’s Central Valley. The program is the first of its kind to support farm workers in the U.S., and current LMU students will get the chance to volunteer with the program while on their Alternative Breaks trip in March.
Are students from other universities allowed to go through Loyola and take part in your alternative spring breaks?
No, all participants must be LMU students, staff, or faculty. If non-LMU students are interested in going on a volunteer trip, I suggest they check out Break Away: www.alternativebreaks.org. This is the national organization that works with over 500 Alternative Breaks programs in the U.S.
