65 SRU Students 'Focus On' Community Service Over Spring Break

3/6/2003

Contact: K.E. Schwab -- 724-738-2199; e-mail: karl.schwab@sru.edu

65 SRU STUDENTS TO ‘FOCUS ON’ COMMUNITY SERVICEIN FIVE CITIES ACROSS AMERICA DURING SPRING BREAK

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – Sixty-five Slippery Rock University students will “Focus On” serving others over spring break in programs offered in five cities across America as part of the university’s Institute for Community, Service-Learning and Nonprofit Leadership’s on-going “Care Break” program.

The planned programs are:

Focus on the homeless/homeless children in Atlanta;

Focus on human service needs in Memphis;

Focus on poverty, working in the East St. Louis [Ill.] School District to provide tutoring/mentoring;

Focus on homeless children and at-risk youth and adults, and environmental projects in Phoenix; and

Focus on human services, working with service agencies across the city of San Francisco.

Each program will see 10 to 20 students participating in the Saturday [March] through March 15 spring break service-learning experience. “The generosity of many people make the ‘Care Breaks’ possible,” says Alice Kaiser-Drobney, institute director and assistant professor of government and public affairs. “These programs give students an alternative to traditional spring break activities and allows them to tackle real-life social issues while challenging others to consider active citizenship as a way of life. It is also a tremendous learning experience that provides a week of hand-on experiences.”

The university began the spring break “Care Break” program in 1994 as a project to provide community service opportunities to students while enhancing their leadership skills. The programs are designed and implemented by students. Thus far, more than 700 students, faculty and staff have spent some 90,000 volunteer hours involved in projects ranging from disaster relief to completing environment projects on a Navajo Reservation in Arizona, building houses with Habitat for Humanity in Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky, as well as work in tutoring youngsters in reading, math and vocabulary skills.

As part of the learning experience, students make contact with SRU alumni, civic and religious organizations as well as businesses located near the Care Break site to provide food, lodging, transportation and other segments of the project. “By having a local contact the students are better able to complete a specific, planned project during their week’s stay,” adds Kaiser-Drobney.

Those interested in joining the program or needing details should call 724-738-2273.

EDITOR’S NOTE: A complete list of participants is attached.

PN, PgN, WPN, PR