129 KU students donated their spring break to service work nationwide

LAWRENCE -- More than 129 University of Kansas students spent their spring break, May 17 through 21, volunteering in KU's Alternative Breaks Program.

KU has one of the largest Alternative Breaks programs in the country with 20 spring break sites. The program was established in 1994 by a group of students who traveled to El Paso, Texas, to work with immigration regulations. More than 900 students, including 129 this spring, have participated in Alternative Breaks.

Alternative Breaks allows students who apply and take the class "Special Projects in the Community" to travel in groups of six to eight to sites across the United States to perform service work.

The class focuses on the three aspects of service learning: education, direct service and reflection. Students learn more about their sites through past participant panels, guest speakers and research.

The groups also participate in a weekend break service trip within Kansas to prepare themselves for their weeklong trip. When students return from their trips they participate in a reorientation service project to apply their experiences to their own community.

KU Alternative Breaks is a student-run organization directed by Jessi Mester and Michael Payne. The Alternative Spring Breaks co-coordinators are Erin McCall and Jonathan Power.

Participating students are listed by home county and state online.

Kansas home counties: Atchison, Butler, Cloud, Coffey, Doniphan, Douglas, Finney, Ford, Franklin, Geary, Graham, Harvey, Jefferson, Johnson, Leavenworth, Lyon, Miami, Mitchell, Neosho, Pottawatomie, Riley, Saline, Sedgwick, Shawnee, Sumner and Wyandotte. Other hometowns: Royal, Ark.; Sunnyvale, Calif.; Colorado Springs, Denver and Fort Collins, Colo.; Roswell, Ga.; Aurora, Glen Ellyn, Glenview and Troy, Ill.; Iowa Falls and Sioux City, Iowa; Minneapolis and Rochester, Minn.; Chesterfield, Des Peres, Kansas City, Kirkwood, St. Joseph, St. Louis and Warrenton, Mo.; Billings and Kalispell, Mont.; Lincoln and Omaha, Neb.; Holtsville, N.Y.; Fairfax, Norman and Tulsa, Okla.; Portland, Ore.; Aberdeen and Yankton, S.D.; Austin and Dallas, Texas.

Student names are presented in the following format:
HOMETOWN
First name, last name, gender (M or F), level (freshman, sophomore, junior, senior), school, parents or guardians (P/G), name of former high school (when available)

Site and responsibility information are listed here:

Bonaventure: The Bonaventure House in Chicago enables people living with HIV or AIDS to live as independently as possible. Volunteers helped with social activities, prepared meals and interacted with the 30 residents.

Broxton Rocks: Participants worked to convert off-site tree species woodlands to natural longleaf pine woodlands in this 1,000-acre preserve in the Georgia uplands. The Nature Conservancy owns Broxton Rocks, formerly a tree farm.

Cheyenne: Participants worked in Eagle Butte, S.D., with a variety of Cheyenne River's social service agencies by tutoring children, preparing meals, doing light restoration and repairs, and working with a nutrition center for the elderly.

Esteem: Youth Esteem Inc. in Winter Park, Fla., provides programs and services for children and adults, assisting them toward goals in academics, sports, employment skills and opportunities, the arts and volunteerism. Participants worked with the youth to reach Esteem's mission.

Freedom House: Freedom House, a Detroit shelter, houses political refugees seeking asylum from all over the world. Participants learned about immigration laws and provided individual English tutoring and helped with maintenance in the food pantry and clothing bank.

Friends of the Dunes: FOD has served as a catalyst for public involvement in dune conservation since 1982 in Arcata, Calif. Participants helped restore the native dune ecosystem by removing invasive, non-native plants from dunes on the coastline.

Grand Canyon: Participants camped on the rim of the canyon for a week and helped the park with ecological preservation. Volunteers rescued native plants, restored native vegetation and worked on exotic species removal.

Hickory Nut Gorge: Participants traveled to the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina to remove invasive plant species from the Hickory Nut Gorge and Chimney Rock Park. Nature Conservancy members worked with students to educate them about the area's ecological integrity.

La Puente: La Puente Home, a temporary shelter in Alomosa, Colo., provides food and advocacy programs for people in the San Luis Valley, one of Colorado's poorest regions. Participants prepared meals and did construction at the shelter.

National School and Community Corps: Participants worked in an urban school in Philadelphia, leading a reading program in the morning, teaching art classes in the afternoon and tutoring children after school hours.

NCH: Students also helped with National Coalition for the Homeless projects at two sites: Washington, D.C., and San Francisco. At both sites, they participated in an urban plunge, a real-life immersion program where participants lived on the streets for 48 hours.

SCSDB: South Carolina School for the Deaf and Blind in Spartanburg, S.C., works with deaf, blind and sensory multidisabled individuals to provide educational, vocational and developmental services. Volunteers helped visually impaired students develop their sensory skills.

Seniors First: Seniors First in Orange County, Fla., has an important mission to provide support and mobilize resources and volunteers to enrich the lives of the elderly and homebound. Volunteers provided maintenance and repair work on houses of elderly people.

SOSAD: Save Our Sons and Daughters was founded by a mother in Detroit who lost both of her sons to violent crimes, to stop violent crimes by providing peace education in schools. Participants received training before they gave presentations on violence prevention to Detroit-area students of all grade levels.

St. Mark's Wildlife Refuge: Located in Florida, St. Mark's was established in 1931 and is one of the largest and most accessible national wildlife refuges on the Gulf Coast. Participants worked on habitat restoration and demolition preparation.

TCCHCC: The Terrance Cardinal Cook Healthcare Center in New York City reaches out to the disenfranchised and those who seem beyond help. Students interacted with patients and prepared a casino night for the residents.

TFA: Teach for America works with urban and rural under-resourced public schools. Participants volunteered at TFA sites in New Orleans and Washington, D.C., working with a TFA member for the week, and worked directly with students and staff in the classroom setting.

Tree Utah: Tree Utah works to restore native plant species along the Jordan River in Salt Lake City, to attract once-abundant migratory birds. Participants planted trees along the river and helped prepare urban community gardens for spring planting.