What is CareBreak?
Carebreak participants to visit five cities during annual spring break trip
By Krystle Pellegrino
Every year thousands of college students set off on the spring break destination of their choice. Some students at Slippery Rock University choose to spend their break in a different way. Every spring, the Carebreak Organization at SRU travels around the country on missions to help others. The Carebreak Organization is sponsored by The Institute of Community Service Learning. The members of Carebreak travel to a different city for a week over spring break and help those who are in need.
Director Alice Kaiser Drobney, who originally began the community service group at a high school in Illinois, brought Carebreak to SRU in 1994. “Slippery Rock was the first state school to do a Carebreak, but the idea is beginning to catch on nationally. Some schools such as Millersville, Lock Haven and Clarion are also starting to get involved with Carebreak,” Drobney said. The organization has approximately 80 members, but in the last 10 years over 900 people have participated. To date, Carebreak has visited 13 states and seven countries. The first Carebreak trip was to Illinois where students helped provide flood relief after the Mississippi River flooded and destroyed parts of the state. Kelly Herman, 22, a senior at SRU, is the coordinator for Carebreak. According to Herman, Carebreak will be visiting five cities this spring including Atlanta, San Francisco, Phoenix, St. Louis and Memphis. “We’ve decided to work with The Ronald McDonald House and will be working and helping out at one in each of the cities we visit, which we’ve never done before,” Herman said. In addition to The Ronald McDonald House, the students will also be working with the homeless, AIDS patients and serving as tutors to children. “It’s really great to establish a partnership with the people we work with and to see that we’ve helped them,” Herman said. “It really is a wonderful experience.” In addition to donating the time for the trip, members of Carebreak also must raise the money to go on the trip. According to Drobney, the cost is approximately $500 per person, which the members raise themselves through selling candy on campus, finding sponsors and getting donations from companies and institutions. Altogether, the group raises nearly $40,000 to fund the trip.
Students are not the only ones who get involved with Carebreak. The group needs at least three faculty members to attend for the trip to take place. “The role of the faculty member is to help represent the university, to support the group and also to participate,” Drobney said. “Without the faculty members, though, we can’t go.” According to Drobney, the Carebreak experience is life changing and has changed the perspectives of many people she has known. In an SRU alumni survey, 100 percent of participants said Carebreak was the most significant thing they did while attending SRU. “It’s an alternative spring break choice that has an impact on students and will touch their hearts,” Drobney said.
Source: http://www.theonlinerocket.com/news/356898.html
