KU News Release

Nov. 2, 2007
Contact: Ben Berning, Alternative Winter Breaks, (913) 484-7995.

49 KU students to volunteer at seven Alternative Winter Breaks sites

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LAWRENCE — Forty-nine University of Kansas students are in training to spend part of winter break volunteering at sites in the central and southern United States.

KU’s student-run Alternative Breaks program centers on service-learning trips that offer students a unique opportunity to make volunteer efforts part of their educational experience. After students are selected for the program, they attend two-hour weekly class sessions to prepare them for their trip. Students can participate in weeklong winter or spring breaks or in shorter weekend breaks.

Students in this semester’s Alternative Winter Break will work Jan. 6-13 with agencies in Florida, Illinois, North Carolina and Texas that address such issues as health care, environmental preservation and rehabilitation, education and help for people with disabilities. The program costs participants $250 ($215 for site leaders) and covers their transportation, housing and meals.

Participating in an Alternative Winter Break counts as one unit for the University Honors Program, which requires students who want to graduate with honors to complete one or two honors units outside the classroom.

Ben Berning, Shawnee junior, and Ashley Bloom, Hutchinson senior, are Alternative Breaks co-directors. Adam Hurly, Sioux Falls, S.D., junior, and Alison Ziegler, Manila, Philippines, sophomore, winter breaks site coordinators, selected the sites. Administrative adviser for Alternative Breaks is Rueben Perez, director of the Student Involvement and Leadership Center.

Alternative Breaks was established at KU in 1995 with a spring break trip to El Paso, Texas. Since then it has expanded, with more sites and opportunities to volunteer being added every year. Alternative Breaks works in partnership with KU’s Center for Community Outreach, a student-run and student-funded organization that runs 15 volunteer programs and serves as a coordinating group for KU students interested in volunteer projects.

KU participants in the Alternative Winter Breaks program are listed below by hometown, major, level in school, destination and leadership role, parents’ names and high school attended (when available).

Alternative Winter Break 2007 sites:

AIDS Foundation Houston, Houston, Texas, seven participants
Site coordinators: Kelly Heavey, Manhattan senior, and Liz Stuewe, Lawrence senior
AIDS Foundation Houston works in collaboration with other organizations to reduce the incidence of HIV/AIDS and to support those living with HIV/AIDS. Participants will be involved in many of the foundation's support programs, including its soup kitchen and an educational outreach program to distribute safe-sex packets.
Web site: www.aidshelp.org

Give Kids the World, Kissimmee, Fla., seven participants
Site coordinators: Tim Craig, Topeka master’s degree student, and Katie Hill, Wichita junior
Give Kids the World Village is a nonprofit wish-granting resort facility near Orlando, Fla., that creates memories for children with life-threatening illnesses. Since its founding in 1986, it has welcomed more than 75,000 children and their families from all 50 states and 50 countries. Volunteers will work in a variety of supportive jobs such as operating rides, planning family activities or helping at concession stands.
Web site: www.gktw.org

Misericordia/Heart of Mercy, Chicago, Ill., seven participants
Site coordinators: Meghan Connolly, Omaha, Neb., senior, and David Wilcox, Manhattan sophomore
Misericordia, operated by the Sisters of Mercy, is home to more than 550 individuals with developmental disabilities from infants to adults from all racial, religious and socioeconomic backgrounds. It offers them individually designed programs to help them achieve and maintain the highest level of independence possible. KU volunteers will interact with these individual in their daily events, ranging from baking, puppetry, swimming, chores and music.
Web site: www.misericordia.com

Mountain Housing Opportunities, Asheville, N.C., seven participants
Site coordinators: Elizabeth Bartkoski, Basehor junior, and Kelsy Jones, Laramie, Wyo., junior
Mountain Housing Opportunities volunteers provide safety-related repairs to residents of Asheville and Buncombe County in North Carolina. KU students will work with experienced MHO staff in assisting homeowners whose income meets or falls below the local median. Tasks are assigned according to volunteers’ abilities doing such upgrades as building access ramps, installing hand rails, replacing rotted floors and repairing porches and stairs.
Web site: www.mtnhousing.org

Teach for America, Chicago, Ill., 14 participants at two sites
Site coordinators: Rula Andriessen, Sioux City, Iowa, senior; Erin Gregory, Leawood senior, and Megan O'Malley, Overland Park junior
Teach for America is the national corps of college graduates coming from all academic majors committed to teaching for two years in under-resourced schools in urban and rural areas. Participants will shadow teachers on the Teach for America team. Participants will have the opportunity to observe classroom dynamics and help with classroom, extracurricular and community activities in elementary grades and with middle- to high-school-age students.
Web site: www.teachforamerica.org/about/regions/chicago.htm

United Cerebral Palsy of Metropolitan Dallas, Dallas, Texas, seven participants
Site coordinators: Betsy Dower and Anne Vezeau
United Cerebral Palsy of Metropolitan Dallas works with people of all ages and backgrounds as it seeks to improve the independence, productivity and full citizenship of people with cerebral palsy and other disabilities. Participants will have the opportunity to personally interact with children and adults, assisting them with everyday activities and providing them with emotional support.
Web site: www.ucpdallas.org

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