While many Jackson State University students were partying or relaxing over spring break this week, a group of 28 students went to Atlanta to help the homeless, elders, the sick and children.
The group left JSU Sunday and are expected to return to campus around 3:30 p.m. Friday.
It’s is part of the Alternative Break Program, said Eltease Moore, JSU Community Service coordinator, overseeing the trip. The program each year allows students the opportunity to do something positive, she said.
On Monday, for example, the students broke up into three groups.
One group went to help out at Project Open Hands, providing assistance to elderly in nursing care and the terminally ill. From 9 a.m. to noon, Moore said, the students “helped prepare meals.”
A second group went to Sheltering Arms — a youth day care center serving ages infant to pre-kindergarten. The students read stories to the children, played with them and otherwise helped provide care.
The third group went to the Atlanta Mission, a transition home for women and children, where the students “cooked chicken, made salads and drinks, and served them,” Moore said.
Each afternoon, the groups returned and met together for “group reflection,” said Moore, where they reviewed the activities of the day and shared their experiences and lessons learned. Frequent words that were expressed “were ‘insightful,’ ‘exciting,’ words like that,” Moore said.
The program has been taking spring break for its service work, which has included such diverse trips as a China visit and helping in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. But it could expand into a fall break trip in the future, Moore said.
Some snapshots from the Atlanta trip:
