Instead of sunning themselves on a beach in Florida, a group of University of Illinois Springfield students will spend their spring break in New York City helping the homeless.
The 26 students are part of the UIS Alternative Spring Break program. They will be leaving this weekend to spend a week in New York, where they will be volunteering at soup kitchens and other locations that work with the homeless.
Brittani Provost, 22, a senior at UIS, is president of the program. In past years, she’s spent her break helping children at a Head Start program in Biloxi, Mississippi, and working with the homeless in Washington, D.C.
“I’m really interested in social services and do a lot of volunteer work,” Provost said. “It’s something that’s very important for me.”
Mark Dochterman, a faculty member and adviser for the group, was on the D.C. trip two years ago with Provost. He said the students saw firsthand that the homeless don’t always fit the stereotype of someone who just doesn’t want to work.
The story was reported by The State Journal-Register on March 12, 2016.
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