This spring break, three service trips will be offered in El Paso, Texas; Greenwood, South Carolina; and Pisgah, Alabama.
Rachel Jetter, Jewish life coordinator at the Asbell Center, explained the alternative spring break trip to Texas.
“We are going on the trip with students from Franklin and Marshall [College]. There will be 20 total participants, 12 from Dickinson and six from [Franklin and Marshall] with one administrative leader from each school,” she said.
“During the day we will be building and restoring houses and, during our free time we will explore El Paso’s culture of food, shopping and dancing. We will also spend time on the dunes of White Sands National Park and visit the El Paso Holocaust Museum. [This trip is in coordination] with Habitat for Humanity through the El Paso Neighborhood Stabilization Program.”
Jetter explained that the location was chosen due to its diversity.
“Being in El Paso allows us to witness a diverse community on the border filled with cultural difference, political discrimination and poverty that is similar to that found throughout Jewish history,” she said. “Through reflection and discussion we will unveil how the struggles of the local community, our own physical and emotional journey in El Paso and Jewish history and beliefs intersect.”
Previous spring break service trips have gone to such places as New Orleans and Miami. A trip is being planned for the spring of 2014 to assist in rebuilding areas struck by Hurricane Sandy. “Service trips offer different and positive experiences every time,” said Jamie Leidwinger ’15, a student coordinator of service trips who has herself participated in several. “We go to sites where we are needed most, usually based on the vulnerability of an area. For instance, we are interested in helping the elderly and mothers of children, among others. Whether we are sanding or spackling, however, the transformations by the end of our trips are incredible.”
Leidwinger encourages people to go on service trips.
“I think everyone should do at least one service trip at some point – it’s just a phenomenal experience,” she said. “Not only do you get to meet new people from campus, but you also form a different kind of bond with them, since you are doing work which is outside of yourself.”
