Students help needy on break Community service part of UM program

BANGOR – Surrounded by destruction from Hurricane Katrina, University of Maine junior Eric Martin marveled at one Mississippi resident’s resiliency.

The woman had lost everything and yet “she was walking around with a smile thanking us and thanking the Lord for everything that’s happening,” said the 21-year-old Presque Isle native who spent spring break helping to clean up from the hurricane.

Martin, who said he likes “bringing a smile and a glimmer of hope” to people, was among the more than 50 UM students who chose to pass up the sunny beaches and parties associated with traditional spring break and instead do community service as part of the campus Alternative Spring Break program.

Also as part of ASB, as it’s called, Orono students built a house with Habitat for Humanity in Yonkers, N.Y.; cleaned a park in Sarasota, Fla.; and cooked meals for people with HIV and AIDS at a gay men’s health center in New York City.

Recently back from their travels, several participants said their experiences helped them look at their world in a new way. They came to appreciate their own lives more, develop close relationships with their fellow UM volunteers, and realize the importance of community service.

Alternative Spring Break “definitely makes you grow more than anyone could imagine,” said 19-year-old UM sophomore Jamie Snow who spent the week at a Nashville community center tutoring adults to help them earn their GEDs, supervising day care, serving Meals on Wheels to the elderly and even painting lines on the parking lot.

UM’s program is affiliated with Break Away, a nonprofit group based in Florida that oversees alternative spring break projects. According to a Break Away spokeswoman, about 33,000 college students this year will have participated in 270 community projects from February to April.

At UM, which has sponsored ASB programs for nine years, the event “becomes more and more popular every year,” said Lyn Dexter, assistant director for student employment and volunteer programs.

“We have all these groups in different parts of the country representing the University of Maine. And the feedback I get is that our students are such good workers,” she said.

Students begin their hard work long before spring break. They pay $100 out of their own pocket but must raise the rest of the money to cover expenses, which total $300 to $400 per person.

In addition, they must contact community agencies in other states to decide the projects with which they’ll be involved, figure out transportation, and educate themselves about the places they’re going to, the issues they’ll be dealing with and the equipment they’ll be required to use.

“It’s extensive and exhausting,” said Dexter.

As part of the program, students sign a contract stating that they will not use drugs or alcohol.

Traveling in groups of eight to 12, they stay in hostels, church basements or Boy Scout camps – “wherever they can find [lodging] that’s safe and that fits their budget,” said Dexter.

During their trip they keep a journal and meet daily with the other members of their group to reflect on their experiences and discuss concerns. Once they return to school, they put together a campuswide presentation with photographs and stories.

The idea is to introduce young people to community service early so that it continues to be part of their lives, Dexter said.

As a result of ASB, “many students end up changing their majors and life goals,” she said. They decide to go into social work or nursing or join the Peace Corps or Teach for America after they graduate.

“I started to fall in love with volunteer work in high school, and getting involved with ASB has made me want to do more,” said Martin, a mechanical engineering major.

Wearing gloves and respirators for protection, he and other student volunteers in Waveland, Miss., waded through the mud and mold that filled the houses, shoveling out debris, ripping out ceilings and drywall, and using sledgehammers to break apart bricks.

“The houses hadn’t been entered since the hurricane happened,” he said. Every so often the students would come upon a “little treasure” – a piece of jewelry or a photo – that they knew would delight the owner.

Talking to residents, Martin gained valuable insight. “It finally set in – these aren’t just houses – people live here,” he said.

Snow, a broadcast journalism major who grew up in Oakland, also came away with a new perspective after her week in Nashville.

“It’s a hard life in that city … ,” she said. “You realize everything you have and how lucky you are.”

Matthew Bennett, a 20-year-old sophomore from Poland who also helped with hurricane cleanup in Mississippi, said he participated in Alternative Spring Break last year, working with AIDS patients.

“As soon as I did I knew that was how I wanted to spend all my spring breaks,” said the nursing major.

Students on occasion have to deal with the unexpected. Those in Bennett’s group missed their flight home and ended up renting cars and driving the 30 hours back to Maine.

“Nobody was grumpy. We all worked together trying to get home,” he said. “I was really impressed – the group was very calm about it. That’s the ASB spirit.”