With less than 50 days to go until the first lady’s service challenge deadline, George Washington University students, faculty and staff have logged 86,209 community service hours of the 100,000 hours needed to secure Michelle Obama as GW’s 2010 Commencement speaker.
For more than 170 GW students and staff, spring break was an opportunity to serve people in need around the nation through GW’s Office of Community Service (OCS) Alternative Breaks Program. Members of the GW community helped to reconstruct a city in Kansas, tackled poverty issues in Atlanta, West Virginia and the Cherokee Nation in Tahlequah, Okla., combated juvenile truancy in Miami and aided in New Orleans reconstruction efforts for the fifth consecutive year. Their service hours will be counted in the next service challenge announcement.
“These volunteers prepare and fundraise all year long to provide service with both domestic and international communities in a drug and alcohol-free environment,” says OCS Associate Director Timothy Kane. “Their commitment to service as individuals mirrors GW’s commitment to service as an institution, dedicated to nurturing active and engaged citizens.”
In War, W.Va., students worked with nonprofit organization Big Creek People in Action Inc. (BCPIA) to help educate individuals on the Appalachian culture and tackle rural poverty in the area, one of the poorest in America. GW students also worked alongside BCPIA staff to install sheetrock, paint walls and replace the floor of a local family’s bedroom.
“We helped rip out an old ceiling, and for the rest of the week, we installed sheetrock to replace what we took out,” says Elizabeth Waltz, an Alternative Spring Break student leader who also visited Appalachia last year. “When we weren’t at a house, we were busy listening to bluegrass, talking with the locals and hiking around the mountains and rivers of Appalachia. It’s hard not to be amazed by the people and community—they’ve given me a completely different perspective on life.”
In Greensburg, Kan., 12 GW students worked on various reconstruction efforts, including painting sheetrock, landscaping and moving families into their homes, in an effort to help rebuild the city following the tornado that leveled it three years ago. GW students assisted local citizens in 2009 as well.
In Atlanta, students worked with local nonprofit organizations including Atlanta Children’s Shelter, Affordable Housing, Atlanta Boys and Girls Club and the Atlanta Community Food Bank to address local poverty issues. GW students also provided homework help for young students, served as aides during recess and led art projects for children.
“Our trip was centered on the observation that Atlanta is the poorest city in the United States for children. According to the Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless, more children in Atlanta live in poverty than in any other city,” says Matthew Francolino, Alternative Spring Break student leader. “The target for this week of service was the children of Atlanta who suffer from the umbrella issue of poverty, with specific focuses on homelessness and education.”
For a fifth straight year, GW students returned to New Orleans to aid in post-Katrina reconstruction efforts with Habitat for Humanity. According to GWNOLA2010, the official Twitter feed of the New Orleans Alternative Spring Break group, students also watched a displaced family receive the keys to its new house; listened to 2008 CNN “Hero of the Year” Liz McCartney, M.A.’06, founder of St. Bernard’s Project; and toured the levee system with the Army Corps of Engineers.
In Miami, GW students worked with the Miami-Dade Juvenile Services Department participating in case management and intake assessment and processing. They also participated in a career day for the department’s violence intervention program and with Empowered Youth Inc., an organization that offers tutoring, mentoring and other development programs.
“My co-leader Leecey Cameron and I chose to create and lead the trip to Miami this year because we wanted to give more GW students the opportunity to have as powerful an experience as we had last year, and to hopefully encourage them to bring change to their own communities as well,” says Krystal Brun, Alternative Spring Break student leader.
In Tahlequah, Okla., 12 GW students were hosted by Aaron and Gayla Mink, a Cherokee family, and spent the week immersing themselves in the Cherokee culture and helping local children.
GW community members who have completed service but have not yet reported their hours can do so at http://serve.gwu.edu. All hours must be logged in by May 1.