FIU students to volunteer around the world during Alternative Spring Break


While many students are looking forward to some rest and relaxation this spring break, close to 160 FIU students will spend their time helping others through their participation in FIU’s Alternative Spring Break program.

This year, a group of students will be going to Nicaragua, the second poorest country in the Western hemisphere, to help build a kitchen that will be used to feed 143 malnourished elementary school children.  One third of the children under 5 years old in Nicaragua are affected by malnutrition and 48 percent of the population lives on less than a $1 a day.

In Costa Rica, FIU students will work on reforesting a rainforest that once was the habitat of endangered species such as the jaguar, harpy eagle and scarlet macaw in the Osa Peninsula, one of the most bio-diverse places in the planet. While in Los Angeles, FIU students will be participating in the daily work of AIDS Project Los Angeles, an initiative dedicated to improve the lives of people affected by HIV.

Students also will be traveling to other parts of the world to work on issues such as advocacy for women and urban poverty.

Alternative Spring Break, a national student organization, was founded in 1994 and FIU established its program in 1995.  With the motto “changing the world, one break at a time,” the organization sends college volunteers throughout the world every year to help them become engaged global citizens.

Students will participate in Alternative Spring Break from March 11-18.  For media interested in more information on the Alternative Spring Break trips, please contact Anna Carolina Lopes at 305-348-6944.