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Spring Break 2009

Spring Break often stirs thoughts of sand, sun, and relaxation. But what if you gave up those things for shovels, hammers, sandpaper, and paintbrushes? The Alternative Spring Break Trip is an opportunity to work with your peers on a short-term immersion experience in a nearby community. The trips themselves provide you the chance to participate in direct service, reflection, and learning.

As you work with each other, you will learn from each other and about the communities in which you are working. You will also meet residents from those communities and hear their stories. As we learn from them, we will also learn about social justice and biblical perspectives of service.

Where are we going?

For Spring Break 2009, we are focusing on sustainability and local communities. While the details have not yet been confirmed, we are planning trips to Holden Village and Centralia, Washington. The local trips will be more sustainable as we will not be flying and we will be serving communities closeby.

Holden Village is a former mining town above Lake Chelan. Previous environmental degradation led the ELCA to attempt to restore the biodiversity of the affected area. While in Holden, students will participate in village life, serve where needed, and learn GREEN practices for everyday life.  To download the application for the Holden Village Trip, please click the Holden Village link to the right.

Centralia, Washington and the surrounding areas were recently hit by surprise floods. Though the water has receded, the damage is done. In addition, focus remains on the regions affected by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. These factors were important in choosing this as one of our trip offerings.  To download the application for the Southwest Washington Flood Relief trip, please click the Southwest Washington link to the right,