Spring Break service is a unique experience

Students, staff enjoy weeklong volunteer journey into another culture

Krista Naposki / Special Projects Editor

The Gulf of Mexico, Appalachian Mountains and the Dominican Republic seem like great spring break resort destinations, but for about 60 Elon students, those locations will also be the setting of many hours of volunteer service during break.

The Kernodle Center is in charge of the Hurricane Katrina trip to Bay St. Louis, Miss., the Habitat for Humanity trip to the Dominican Republic and the BorderLinks-associated trip to the Mexican and American border.

Members of Catholic Campus Ministry (CCM) are also traveling to Appalachian hills of Kentucky to help the poor during spring break.

Junior Jen Romano, an intern for the Kernodle Center for Service-Learning, helps the trip leaders organize their itineraries.

"I've always loved helping other people," Romano said.  "I lived in the Service Learning Community (during my) freshman year. I am learning what it takes to get these projects done during my internship."

As well as helping organize all of the trips, Romano is also going on the trip to Mexico.

"Spring break is a good break (to do service) because you become part of the community you're serving," she said.  "It gives time to travel and time to delve into a new culture."

The Mexico trip is in connection with BorderLinks, a nonprofit organization that conducts travel classes to teach students about issues with Mexican border communities.

"BorderLinks' goal is to educate America on the status and plight of the United States-Mexican border and how we affect it," Kate Colussy-Estes, last year's trip adviser said.

The trip is a learning experience as well as a volunteer opportunity.

 "Instead of just doing service projects," sophomore student coordinator Nina Foucheux  said. "We are learning why we need to do service projects by touring factories … the objective is to bring what we learn back here and create awareness."

The ten participants, consisting of eight students and two faculty members, will spend half of the week with a host family in Nogalas Mexico, and the other half at the BorderLinks facility in Nogalas, Ariz.

The United States-Mexican border used to be more permeable, but the town was split in half when a wall at the border was put up, Colussy-Estes said.

BorderLinks told Foucheux that the group should pack lightly.

"Often times the participants bring as much as their host families have in their entire house," Foucheux said.

Many of the students going to Mexico speak Spanish, but the BorderLinks guides will also serve as translators.

"They told us to bring pictures of our families as an easy way to connect with (the host families)," Foucheux said.

The Dominican Republic trip, in connection with Habitat for Humanity's Global Village, also has a personal connection with the family they will build a house for.

The family receiving the new house will place cinder block upon cinder block alongside the students.

"I am always willing and ready to travel the world," senior Raquel Corona, one of the student coordinators of the trip, said.  The service aspect of the trip is just as important, too.

 The students will build the house for about four days and tour Santo Domingo for two days, Sara Rhymer, another student coordinator, said.

Stephanie Luckham, a senior who went on the spring service trip to the Dominican Republic last year, said she would recommend the trip to everyone.

In addition to building the house for the family, the students enjoyed waterfalls and rivers that the locals showed them. Luckham said she felt connected with the community.

"I felt like I had lived there my whole life," Luckham said.  "They were working with us. There weren't offices or anything, it was just a poor, little town."

Domestically, the CCM is going to the Appalachian hills in Kentucky.

Last year the trip didn't run because Easter coincided with spring break.

"I know it is very much in the backwoods, kind of in the middle of nowhere," Christen Aquino, CCM liturgical coordinator, said.

The participants will be cleaning up houses, rebuilding and painting homes. CCM is supporting the Christian Appalachian Project, a non-profit organization that gives Appalachian residents in need spiritual, emotional and physical help.

Kernodle Center volunteers are returning to Bay St. Louis, Miss., for the fourth time this school year. Elon has committed to sending volunteers for the next two years to help reconstruct the town.

The four trip coordinators, Ariel White, Canden Schwantes, Tonya Albert and Carolyn Byrne, picked the volunteers and set up the budget.

They will be in the gulf for five days; they will work for two days, travel down to New Orleans for a day and work for another two days.

The group will work with  Our Lady of the Gulf Catholic Church to determine what jobs to take on when down there.   Most of the time, the volunteers will do construction work, but the need changes every day,  White said.

"When we're down there, we'll make sure everyone is safe, comfortable, and feel like they're making a difference," White said.

White has gone to international trips, but she wanted to go on the first Hurricane Katrina relief trip because there was a real need.

"I think it gives you a real opportunity to understand another culture," White, said. "It's hard to understand the social circumstance of the people you're working with if you don't completely immerse yourself."

Though these trips are socially inspiring, they are also financially demanding.  The international trips cost about $1,000 per person and the Hurricane Katrina relief trip costs $200. The CCM trip is covered by the CCM budget, but it costs $25 per person per day.

"The international programs are in high demand but the price is so high that fewer students can afford them," Romano said.

The Kernodle Center raised money for the trips by selling carnations for Valentine's Day and some students chose to do their own fundraising. Ramano raised the cost of her trip through a letter writing campaign.

The Kernodle Center is organizing its first weekend trip to Turtle Island Preserve this spring to encourage long-term service trips.

"I like the idea of doing something unconventional during spring break," Fousheux said. "College is one of the only times you can really do it … that you can really soak it up."

Contact Krista Naposki at pendulum@elon.edu or 278-7247

Photo submitted

Brett Tolley and Meredith Ota, 2005 graduates, read with the 7-year-old of the family they stayed with during last spring break trip to Mexico.  The house had a dirt floor and very little furniture.  BorderLinks pays the families to house students.

Photo submitted

Molly Dugan, junior, studies a photo of water levels in Bay St. Louis, Miss., that Janet Freeman (in white tank-top) took while attempting to ride out Hurricane Katrina.

Photo submitted

Molly Dugan, junior, studies a photo of water levels in Bay St. Louis, Miss., that Janet Freeman (in white tank-top) took while attempting to ride out Hurricane Katrina.

Photo submitted

Emily Shore, 2005 graduate, holds a Dominican child.  Shore is currently  working  with youth leadership in the Dominican Republic.

Why do you volunteer?

Andrew Martin, freshman

I have fun.  I enjoy working with Habitat (for Humanity), using tools working with my hands and meeting the people that I am helping.

Eric Lewandowski, freshman

I like to help the people because I am doing something positive with my time.  I like to do stuff with kids.  In high school we put on a soccer camp.

Michah Behrend, senior

I like to help out the community because it's self-fulfilling.  I like to give back to Elon.  Working with kids would probably be ideal because it's pretty slack and fun.

Nikki Staggers, junior

There are a lot of fun things to do while contributing.  You may be in the same situation and need help.  I like going to the Boys and Girls Club to play with the kids.