Students Volunteer on Alternative Spring Break Trips

By Jeanne Robinson

While most Hood students went home for their Spring Break, some used their week of free time for mission work in North Carolina, Florida and around Frederick with the Alternative Spring Break program.

Students and faculty members put their energy to good use helping others in both local and out-of-state projects while learning about their fellow community members.

Catherine Brown, graduate assistant to the dean of the chapel, along with Elaheh Eghball, supervised a team of students who remained in Frederick for the annual “Staycation” March 10-14. During the week, the group volunteered at several organizations both in Frederick and in the surrounding area, said freshman Shanayah Braithwaite who participated in “Staycation.”

“Our community is not just Frederick, it’s everywhere. You see how thankful the people are, which is really amazing,” Braithwaite said.

Brown was a major part in organizing the week in Frederick. It is planned throughout the year, and the students visit different organizations every time, Brown said.

While an organization must be found that both needs and is willing to accept help, the place must also be able to host the students for the day. Also, the students need to be passionate about going there, Brown said.

The theme for the week was “Diversity,” Brown said. The students visited five different places in five days, she said.

The group volunteered at a location of SERRV International in Fredrick Monday where they packed handmade items made by from around the world in a mission to help eradicate poverty. Tuesday they went to The Brethren Service Center in New Windsor, Md. to pack school and baby kits to ship to other countries, Braithwaite said.

On Wednesday the group went to Baltimore to Earl’s Place, a transitional home for people recovering from abuse problems. Volunteers from Hood visited Earl’s Place in October for the chapel’s Fall Break Service-Learning Day, and Brown made sure that they revisited it for the spring.

Last fall the executive director of Earl’s Place, Sheila Helgerson, told Brown that she wanted to expand the organization. When they went back in the spring, the group had already purchased another site in Baltimore and was starting to expand their services, Brown said.

“Being in a local place, we can catch up and keep a relationship going,” Brown said.

The next day, they went to the Frederick Community Action Agency where they bagged groceries to hand out and helped serve in the soup kitchen.

Their final day was spent at the Frederick County 4-H Therapeutic Riding Program where they learned how the horses are used in therapy with people with disabilities, Braithwaite said. The organization has riders of all ages from elementary school kids to an 80-year-old woman, their oldest rider, Brown said.

Working at the horse program hit Braithwaite closer to home.

“I liked the 4-H Therapeutic Riding place because they offered free rides to kids with disabilities and my brothers have disabilities, so I thought that was really cool,” Braithwaite said.

Some students and faculty went a bit further from home to the Franklinton Center at Bricks in Whitakers, N.C. The Rev. Beth O’Malley led a group of seven students with Dr. Wanda Ruffin to spend the week. A former slave plantation, the Franklinton Center is now a school and a retreat center that teaches education for racial justice.

At Franklinton, O’Malley’s group tutored elementary school kids. They learned about the history of slavery in the US and the ongoing legacy of prejudice, she said.

Whitakers is a rural area in North Carolina whose citizens have high blood pressure, diabetes, are HIV positive and have other health issues. Along with their low health, there is a high illiteracy rate, O’Malley said. The Franklinton Center works to combat those problems and create a better community.

O’Malley has sent a group to the Franklinton Center for five of the six years that she has been at Hood. It is good to make an investment in the communities so that there is a relationship established, O’Malley said.

“It moves from just giving a week of charity to having a long-term social justice commitment to those places,” O’Malley said.

Spending a week working together caused the groups to become close. The faculty chaperone to spend time with the students as much as for service opportunities, O’Malley said.

When professors work alongside students, it makes the college look united in our goals, Brown said.

Dr. Susan Ensel took a group of six students to Sebring, Fla. to work for Habitat for Humanity for the week. They participated in the Collegiate Challenge, a Habitat program that pushes college students to donate their time.

While many students took part in the ASB program, more are always wanted. As an incentive, some students who went to North Carolina or Florida received independent study credit as they gave presentations and were assigned reading, O’Malley said.

It does cost students to stay during Spring Break to cover travel and housing, but they raised money to help offset those costs. The Career Center also gives scholarships to those who apply.

Many departments worked together on campus to help the ASB program get advertised, from duplicating services printing thousands of fliers to marketing loaning cameras, Brown said. Doreen Jarvis, campus safety supervisor, arranged all the transportation for the three trips.

O’Malley hoped that even more students would donate their time next year.

“Even if you don’t know people, it doesn’t matter,” she said. “Take the plunge, and you’ll meet great people.”

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