Winthrop Students Head to Southeastern Locations for Alternative Spring Break

ROCK HILL, SOUTH CAROLINA — Winthrop University students and employees will spend the university's scheduled March 12-16 spring break bettering the environment, helping the homeless and engaging in service learning through the Alternative Spring Break program.

The community-service program is coordinated by the Center for Career Development and Internships. It allows students to be involved in learning-based service projects, where they learn about problems faced by community members with whom they otherwise may have had little or no direct contact.

Alternative Spring Break is a unique experience like no other, said Laura Foster, Winthrop's volunteer and community service program director. "It encompasses service, education, reflection, fellowship, culture, fun and more all rolled up in one week," she said. "It gives the students a means to understand social justice issues on a different level. By serving, ˜hands on' for a week, being educated on an issue that they may have only read about and coming to their own understanding of the root causes of an issue, the students move to becoming active citizens."

Foster said that Winthrop's hope is that the students, after learning about issues and problems in our society, will ask the questions and in turn, become an involved citizen in the future.

During the March break, 38 students will attend one of these three service options:

New Orleans, Louisiana: As a city that is still suffering from the effects of Hurricane Irma, Winthrop students will have the opportunity to build homes or help restore the nearby wetlands. The focus is urban renewal and environmental cleanup.

Chestertown, Maryland: Students will travel to the historic colonial town's Mid Atlantic Border Collie Rescue and Victory Farm to help take care of the dogs living on the farm. The canines have been neglected or abandoned by their previous owners. The work will involve building kennels, fences, as well as general care and spending time with the dogs. There also will be an opportunity to help work with Victory Farm's vegetable garden so its fresh produce can be donated to the hungry living on the eastern shore. The focus is animal welfare and environmental awareness.

Asheville, North Carolina: Service in the mountainous city will be with various organizations that work with the homeless and who have food insecurities. Projects will include working at a food bank, in a soup kitchen, an emergency shelter and a transitional housing facility.The focus is homelessness and food insecurity.

For more information about the program, please contact Laura Foster, volunteer and community service program director, at 803/323-2141 or e-mail her at fosterl@winthrop.edu.