Service In Action '09: Champlain Students Making a Difference

Alternative Spring Break is a wonderful thing. Last year we had a group of student who went to New Orleans and helped build houses for Habitat for Humanity. This year a different group of students are heading to Washington, DC to help out local food banks and homeless shelters.

Not only is this a way for our students to give to a community, it is also a life-changing experience for the students who go.

They are often, for the first time, seeing a level of poverty and challenge that they have never seen before. They learn just how much one person can make a difference in the lives of someone else and they gain a much more intimate understanding of how interconnected we all are as human beings.

They leave very soon (next week is our break) and while they have done a great deal of fundraising, they are still $1500 short of their goal. They are looking for help to raise that money so they can offset the cost of the trip. If you are able to help out, go here: https://secure.champlain.edu/annualfund/ and designate your donation for THE CENTER FOR SERVICE AND CIVIC ENGAGEMENT who helps to coordinate the Alternative Spring Break. Consider how your donation will help not just our students but the people that they will be helping.

Now that's paying it forward.