MSU Campus Outreach has teamed up with non-profit organizations to offer alternative Spring Break opportunities for students who will be in Starkville.
Habitat for Humanity, Camp Seminole, Salvation Army, Brickfire Project, the Child Development Center at Aiken Village and the Oktibbeha County chapter of the American Red Cross will receive volunteers over the break.
“This is the first time this event has been done at MSU,” Student Life assistant director William Dahlgren said. “We tried to plan activities for the whole week.”
Alan H. Jabri, MSU-Americorps VISTA coordinator, said other schools have done similar events in the past.
“Many students came to me expressing that they had nothing to do over Spring Break and were looking for something to do,” Jabri said. “So I contacted various nonprofit organizations and asked them what we could help them with.”
Students who want to participate in the project should contact Campus Outreach or the individual organizations. Students can also contact Campus Outreach to keep track of volunteer hours, Jabri said.
“We really don’t have a set amount of students we want to sign up,” Jabri said. “Fliers have been sent out to all organizations on campus if they are interested. We encourage any students who want to participate to join.”
Dahlgren said the activities for the week will focus on community service. “Service and community service are the main focuses of campus outreach,” he said. “Since students won’t be in class, they will have plenty of time to participate in the different projects.”
Child Development Center worker Brandy Lee said they are looking forward to the volunteers.
“If we get any volunteers we would want them to come in and interact with the children,” Lee said. “Overall, we want the students to get accustomed to working with the children and possibly come back and be a student worker or teacher with us.”