Alternative Spring Break is an opportunity where teams of college students, faculty and staff travel to different areas of the country to engage in community service and experimental learning in a place other than Charleston.

The Newman Catholic Center has 16 different sites available to students this year. Trips to Mexico and Nicaragua were closed before winter break, but trips to Canada and 13 other locations in the United States are still available.

“It’s an excellent opportunity for students to put their faith in action,” said Holly Walters, campus minister and coordinator of Alternative Spring Break.

The projects assigned on trips depend on the site and may include building homes, home repairs, preparing meals for the homeless, working with children, outside trash pick-up, gardening, nature education, preparation and delivery of meals and working with people with disabilities, ex-convicts or refugees.

Preference is given to Eastern students, faculty and staff, but other students also are eligible to attend. Students from various schools also will be working at many of the sites.

Students enrolled for any trip must agree to live in the community with other volunteers, to engage in no alcohol or drug use, to get up in the morning or when they are scheduled to do their volunteer work and to meet in the evening for reflection.

Some of the trips will leave March 8, but the majority of the trips will leave March 9, and most trips will return March 15.

The cost of the trip is $130, which includes site fees, van transportation, housing, most meals and a T-shirt.

The first deadline for applications is Feb. 2 to give students time to meet in advance with group members and the site leader. If sites are not full, students may still apply. With the application a $25.00 non refundable deposit must be turned in.

“I encourage all students to try Alternative Spring Break once and to do it early on, not senior year, because they are going to want to do it again, and it could be a life changing experience,” Walters said.

Students interested in more information on participating in Alternative Spring Break should call the Newman Catholic Center or stop in for a brochure.