Since the winter of 2009, Oswego State’s office of community service has given students the opportunity to use their vacation time to make a lasting impact in underdeveloped communities. 

Trips are offered in the country and internationally during the school’s winter and spring recesses.

The community service department is offering four trips during this upcoming spring break. Places students will be able to dedicate time in are: Detroit, Michigan; Waterloo, Iowa; Florence, Alabama; or internationally in Nicaragua. 

“I was really nervous about going, because I was a freshman, and felt that I would be treated differently because I was younger, but after the initial car ride I was comfortable with my group and by the end of the week we were all good friends,” said Julie Loney, a sophomore who participated on the spring 2016 Meridian, Mississippi, trip.

The power of group work and spending a week together are of the best parts about the alternative break, Loney said.

Teamwork and group projects contribute to successful volunteer work. According to the United Way, over 4,000 students have dedicated their spring breaks to benefitting communities.

“From building houses to tutoring children and helping with disaster recovery, students have volunteered 130,000 hours of their time to make a lasting impact on the lives of others,” said Unitedway.org.

For Oswego State students, the organization running the majority of the alternative spring break trips is Habitat for Humanity.

“A lot of the trips we do are through Habitat for Humanity,” said Jeremy Galvin, the Coordinator of Community Services. “It builds houses for low income families that might not be able to afford a house.”

In addition to Habitat for Humanity recent trips have spent time helping with whatever the community needs, working in community centers or even doing yard work. 

Two trips went out over the winter break. One worked with Project Lazarus, a community-based opioid overdose prevention program. The other was Hope House, which works with those that are HIV positive.

Galvin encourages all students to take advantage of the minimal cost for donating a week of their time to volunteering.

For those interested, there are spots still open for the spring trip to Detroit, Michigan, and more trips will be open for next winter, or early fall 2017.