First Posted: 4/10/2015
PEMBROKE — The University of North Carolina at Pembroke’s Alternative Spring Break 2015 proved again that helping others is a learning experience and lots of fun, too.
Although it was unlikely this group was giving up a beer-soaked spring break somewhere else, many of the 10 students who traveled to Orlando, Florida, were relatively inexperienced volunteers. They told the story of the university’s Alternative Spring Break during a recent luncheon.
Brittani Newton-Blanchard may be typical of the college’s spring breakers.
“I took time off from my job working in the after-school program at Pembroke Middle School,” she said.
Dajer Fernandez, an international student from the Dominican Republic, was pleased about the variety of food available in Orlando.
“I was going to have to stay on campus and eat at the cafeteria,” he said. “We ate well on the trip.”
Traveling with two members of the Office of Community and Civic Engagement, the group volunteered at the Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida, soap recycler Clean the Worlds, Mustard Seed Furniture Bank and YMCA. It was an eye-opening, people-to-people experience.
“I thought we would get menial jobs,” Fernandez said. “We got really involved with the kids, and getting to know them made the job fun. I felt we really made a difference.”
Newton-Blanchard recalled volunteering with the coalition.
“Some of the kids were in the shelter because of domestic violence, so men were not allowed,” she said. “When the guys played with them, you could see in their eyes that they wanted male interaction.”
Fergie Ferguson was surprised by the condition of the YMCA.
“This was one of the poorest YMCAs in the country,” Ferguson said. “The playgrounds had equipment from the 1980s. They had a new dance room with no teacher. We gave them a lot of love; it made their week.”
The travelers became their own small community during the trip, according to Dalton Hoffer, assistant director of Community and Civic Engagement.
“When one volunteer job fell through, we spent a day getting to know each other,” he said. “We had a lot of fun.”
It was a diverse group with two international students, including Matais Sellanes from Uruguay.
“I volunteer in my country, and it was amazing the things I saw here,” he said. “These are amazing places that we don’t have.”
The region surrounding the university has its share of poverty, and the alternative spring break caused Jordan Hunt to look hard into a mirror.
“Kids here are experiencing the same things,” he said. “I am from Robeson County, and this experience made me want to give back to my community.”
Having an experience out of town and out of her comfort zone left Cassidy Miles nearly speechless.
“I was nervous; I didn’t want to say the wrong thing,” she said. “But the kids were so open and honest.”
Hoffer, who participated in an alternative trip as a student at the university, knows to expect the unexpected.
“You never know what you’re going to get,” he said. “You should feel uncomfortable, if for no other reason than you’re the only person in the room who knows where your next meals are coming from.”
One of the volunteer sites was aptly named Clean the World. The volunteers helped recycle unused soap from some of Orlando’s many hotels.
The road trip left the students looking at themselves and their communities in a new way. Christie Poteet, director of Community and Civic Engagement, seized the moment.
“Sometimes leaving your community is a good way to see things that are needed at home,” Poteet said. “Spread the word; you can have the same life-changing experience right here in Robeson County. Small things go a long way to making big changes.”
The group’s next major volunteer program on campus is the Hunger Games on April 22. For information about programs, call 910-521-6163 or email [email protected].
