UA STUDENTS TO JOIN ALUMNI IN NEW JERSEY FOR VOLUNTEER WORK

Students Chose to Help Others as Part of Alternative Spring Break Program

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - University of Arkansas students and UA alumni are choosing to give of themselves this spring as part of the nationally promoted Alternative Spring Break program.

The program promotes volunteerism among college students during spring break, a holiday that is often associated with students partying while on beach and ski vacations.

For the third year in a row, University of Arkansas Residence Life and Dining Services staff will accompany a group of about 30 volunteer student residents to an out-of-state destination to participate in the Alternative Spring Break program in which students participate in various service opportunities. For the past two years, UA students have traveled to the Kansas City area as part of the program.

This year, the UA students will travel farther than just a few hours away to share their time, and will have the opportunity to share more than a helping hand. In response to publicity about the program, UA alumna Cynthia Wilks-Mosley contacted the University to invite the students to do this year’s volunteer work in Bridgeton, New Jersey, alongside alumni in that region.

Wilks-Mosley is the director of the Headstart with the Tri-County Community Action Agency, Inc. in Bridgeton. Students will have different service opportunities, including working with preschool children in Headstart, serving meals to senior citizens through Meals on Wheels, doing minor repair to subsidized housing for senior citizens, clearing land for a park and picnic area, assisting with teen pregnancy groups, and painting murals.

Wilks-Mosley is inviting UA alumni from that region to participate alongside the students to give them a chance to interact with and contribute to the students’ experience as a way of giving something back to U of A, said Claire Good, director of the program for RLDS.

Wilks-Mosley’s agency has formed a committee to work on planning an experience that will combine the needs of their clients with the abilities and talents of the students. The agency is in a rural location, but less than an hour from Philadelphia.

"We’ve already had tremendous response from the residence hall students," Good said. "We started out with 9 students the first year we participated. We had 18 last year, and we’re fully anticipate around 30 this year."

Members of the student group plan to travel by van and stay in a large banquet hall that has been arranged for them. The students will use sleeping bags and take advantage of the meal services provided by the agency, Good said. Spring break begins March 15.