Participants in Alternative Breaks, a campus program that sends students across the world to perform service work during their winter and spring breaks, have rebuilt homes in New Orleans, worked with juvenile delinquents in Miami and helped the homeless in Atlanta. Their work, which exemplifies GW’s tenet of service, is entirely voluntary, but these service trips are ultimately very costly.

To mitigate some of the program’s expenses, Alternative Breaks has looked beyond GW for funding, and has garnered national recognition in the process. Alternative Breaks was recognized by the Classy Awards, an organization that funds service programs that effectively use social media. The program is also in the running to receive a $50,000 Pepsi Refresh Project award.

To earn the Pepsi Refresh Project grant, Alternative Breaks must be one of the ten highest-voted organizations in the competition. We encourage all students to take a moment to visit the Pepsi Refresh Project website to cast a vote in favor of Alternative Breaks, as each vote pushes the program closer to much-needed funding.

Alternative Breaks is an important program on campus, especially because public service is a fundamental aspect of the GW experience. As the program expands and allows more interested students to participate, it will also continue to require student support. Fortunately, the fundraisers the program has planned provide donors with enjoyable events, such as the Charity Ball and a basketball tournament, and so we hope that the student body steps forward to aid the program by contributing to these fundraisers as well.

GW’s Alternative Breaks Program and the hundreds of students who participate in the trips deserve recognition for their efforts.

Disclaimer: Two members of The Hatchet’s editorial board were past participants of Alternative Breaks.

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