Sponsored by WCU’s Center for Service Learning, the annual alternative fall break trip allows students to spend their break time providing community service. All participants will perform service and learn about problems faced by members of communities with whom they typically would have little or no direct contact.

“In today’s culture, the younger generation is not always aware of the seriousness of issues surrounding poverty and hunger of inner-city youth,” said Katie Graunke, program coordinator for WCU’s Center for Service Learning. “Though our trip to Atlanta, we hope to open their eyes to see what it is like to spend a day as a child struggling to survive and overcome such hardships.”

Students who participate in this year’s alternative fall break will volunteer at several different sites:

• The Samaritan House of Atlanta, which has several programs that help the homeless gain self-sufficiency. The WCU group will serve food in a restaurant-style setting and help with professional development activities at an employment readiness program.

• The Hands on Atlanta’s Rainbow House, which provides a healing environment where families in crisis rebuild their lives through a community-based transitional housing program. The WCU volunteers will supervise and play with children while their parents attend life-skills classes.

• Wilderness Works, which provides community events and a wilderness experience for inner-city Atlanta children. The WCU group will work in a children’s weekend camp, preparing and serving breakfast, leading activities with children and accompanying them to the Martin Luther King Memorial.

For more information, contact Graunke at (828) 227-2592.

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Last modified: Friday, Oct. 3, 2008