Last week during spring break, a group of University of Miami students completed nearly 600 hours of community service at two locations in Florida and one in Maryland.
Through the William R. Butler Center for Volunteer Service and Leadership Development, 18 students participated in service projects as part of the student-led organization Alternative Breaks, an immersive service experience designed to engage participants in their local, national, and global communities during academic breaks.
At the Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary, 1,700 acres of protected tidal freshwater marshes and forested wetlands located in Lothian, Maryland, students volunteered to help preserve the protected area by collecting trash out of the waterways and off the shorelines and assisted with painting directional signs to enhance the trail areas.
The second location, Harvest House in Sarasota, Florida, is an affordable housing and hunger relief provider where students like Yaira Ortiz, a sophomore studying marine biology and ecology, volunteered to organize the food pantry and assist with various food distributions to support those in the enrichment shelter programs.
“I was overjoyed at the fact that Harvest House provides well-rounded support to the community with housing, educational classes, food, and clothes for all its clients. The impact of receiving just a little bit of help was so evidently immense, especially in each person who participated in the food distribution,” Ortiz said. “This experience reminded me that a little bit of support truly goes a long way.”
At the final location in Gainesville, Florida, students volunteered at Rebuilding Together, a critical home repair program that helps keep residents safe and healthy in their homes. Students worked on restoring the floorboards, painting interior walls, and repairing the furniture of the program’s homes located on-site.
Lindsey Goldstein, alumna and associate director of the Butler Center for Service and Leadership, participated in Alternative Breaks as a University student prior to her work as an advisor to the program.
“Some of my favorite memories from my undergraduate experience were volunteering on alternative breaks,” she said. “It is so special to be able to go full circle to serve as one of the advisors of University of Miami Alternative Breaks and assist the students in planning and bringing these immersive service experiences to life.”
