ISSUED: 26 February 2024
MEDIA CONTACT: Cecelia Mason
SHEPHERDSTOWN, WV — Shepherd University students participating in Alternative Spring Break (ASB) are partnering with the Martinsburg Union Rescue Mission to assist a local widow by repainting her home. Students will spend the week of Shepherd’s spring break, March 11- 15 painting a home for a recent widow in Martinsburg, West Virginia.
Not only are students volunteering, but they are also raising money to cover the cost of supplies. There are still opportunities open for volunteers, both the week of March 11 and the week before, known as Spring into Service Week.
The owner of the home has recently been widowed and has been accumulating code violations from the city because of the state of her home. The house has been in her family for three generations. She recalls that her grandfather always wanted the house painted white.
Shepherd has offered Alternative Spring Break to students for more than 25 years and also sends a group to another place in Appalachia to repair homes. This year the group will be going to Jonesville, Virginia. In past years, they have gone to parts of North Carolina, South Carolina, and southern West Virginia. They have replaced roofs, siding, and much more.
ASB is an opportunity for students to participate in community service. The goal of this experience is to learn to advocate for social change through service, understand the importance of active citizenship, and develop leadership skills that will carry students for the rest of their lives.
“There are few [service projects] if any that rival the impact that you make on yourself and somebody else as Alternative Spring Break,” said Aly Nazarock, graduate assistant for student community services.“You are giving them this peace of mind, this safety, this shelter, and knowing that without your hard work, that wouldn’t happen.”
To support Alternative Spring Break, visit the Alternative Spring Break webpage.
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