2008 Woodie Awards
ASB participants trade beach parties for volunteering
Jocelyn Wright
Issue date: 3/14/08 Section: News
While some students were spending their spring breaks at the beach or on the ski slopes, about 100 others decided to devote their time to volunteering with Alternative Spring Break, a program in which teams of college students in communities do short-term community service projects addressing issues such as racism, homelessness, poverty and the environment. This year, there were 10 ASB trips organized by students appointed to be site leaders and coordinated through the Community Involvement Center.
All trips required that participants pay a $250 registration fee. The rest of the money for the trips was raised through individual fundraising by each student group.
Although most of the trips were able to finish all their fundraising before spring break, some trips, such as the one to Oaxaca, still have fundraising left to do. Site co-leader Sravya Ennamuri said the Oaxaca ASB group still had to raise between $3,000 to $4,000 to pay for their trip. Ennamuri, a Sid Richardson college sophomore, said the trip was particularly expensive because 16 people went, and they were going abroad to Mexico, which is more costly than most ASB trips within the United States. Ennamuri said new regulations issued by the City of Houston regarding selling food really affected her trip's fundraising because it limited some fundraising they had originally planned to do through bake sales.
Despite the fundraising difficulties, Ennamuri said her ASB trip was a lot of fun.
"Going on the trip has really shown us that all of the fundraising was worth it," Ennamuri said. "It was one of the best experiences I had, so we were ready to come back and finish the rest of the fundraising because we knew all of the fundraising [we had done so far] was worth it. The trip was just a great experience."
Enamuri's group taught women about nutrition in Spanish, made 10-foot murals to inform the population about health-related issues and helped out at a local clinic. Ennamuri said the villagers were very responsive to and enthusiastic with the volunteers.
All trips required that participants pay a $250 registration fee. The rest of the money for the trips was raised through individual fundraising by each student group.
Although most of the trips were able to finish all their fundraising before spring break, some trips, such as the one to Oaxaca, still have fundraising left to do. Site co-leader Sravya Ennamuri said the Oaxaca ASB group still had to raise between $3,000 to $4,000 to pay for their trip. Ennamuri, a Sid Richardson college sophomore, said the trip was particularly expensive because 16 people went, and they were going abroad to Mexico, which is more costly than most ASB trips within the United States. Ennamuri said new regulations issued by the City of Houston regarding selling food really affected her trip's fundraising because it limited some fundraising they had originally planned to do through bake sales.
Despite the fundraising difficulties, Ennamuri said her ASB trip was a lot of fun.
"Going on the trip has really shown us that all of the fundraising was worth it," Ennamuri said. "It was one of the best experiences I had, so we were ready to come back and finish the rest of the fundraising because we knew all of the fundraising [we had done so far] was worth it. The trip was just a great experience."
Enamuri's group taught women about nutrition in Spanish, made 10-foot murals to inform the population about health-related issues and helped out at a local clinic. Ennamuri said the villagers were very responsive to and enthusiastic with the volunteers.
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