Tweet

Spring break is less than a month away, and there are many ways you can choose to spend it. Many will choose a week on the beach with friends. This sort of spring break is fun, but what do we get out of it? A tan? Some drinks? A few forgotten nights? 

What if instead we gave our time to spreading our faith, giving back to others or fighting for a cause? While most spring breakers will decide to take a trip to the beach to cut loose, others will look for a more meaningful way to spend their weeklong break. Many call this an alternative spring break.

During an alternative spring break, student volunteers take trips across the country serving in communities that need it the most. There is the opportunity to travel, meet new people and feel the satisfaction that comes from doing good. 

Three college students have done just that. 

“I took my first mission trip I believe for spring break of 2014,” said Michael Adam, a senior at the University of Northern Iowa. “We went to the Southside of Chicago, and honestly it was very eye-opening.” 

Adam spent a lot of time working with children.

“A typical day would be to wake up and take care of the kids from 9 to 5 while their parents were at work,” Adam said. 

The home was like a daycare. Adam and the rest of the team members would feed them, teach them life skills and play with them at recess. 

Adam said these types of trips give the attendees a chance to reflect on themselves and the world around them. 

“To see that type of poverty and cycle in our own country is something I don’t take lightly anymore,” Adam said. “It’s not really the type of thing you expect to be in America.” 

Haley Howell is another student who took an alternative spring break trip without leaving the country. Howell’s alternative spring break was motivated by her faith. Howell, a senior at Grand View, went on a mission trip with Campus Fellowship, a bible study on the Grand View campus whose mission is to engage the mind, body and spirit. 

“As a freshman, I joined the group and really dug into my faith,” Howell said. “The whole point of the (mission trip) was to go around the University of Florida’s campus and partner with a ministry that they have called Gator Christian Life.”

After meeting with members of Gator Christian Life, both groups then went on their mission. 

“We would wake up and go to the ministry house to share encouragement for the day, worship and pray,” Howell said. “Then we would go to campus and walk around sharing our faith with students at the university.” 

Howell said the trip not only affected herself but also the people around her. 

“Yes, we do have fun, but the whole week is centered on Christ and living out his mission, to know Him and make Him known,” Howell said. “This trip holds eternal weight in the lives of the people that go on it and the people we interact with.” 

John Ross, a junior at Grand View, has also participated in these alternative spring break trips. He was first introduced in volunteer work with the Salt Company eight months ago. Salt is a ministry housed on college campuses in eight different states that has been in operation for over 40 years. 

The Salt Company website states that it’s mission is “We believe that the church is God’s means to make an impact on a community, and that the most powerful impact on a person’s life is through a relationship with Jesus Christ in the context of a local church community.“ 

“My first (trip) was in Madison, Wisconsin, but I have been to Penn State and Mizzou as well,” Ross said. “I started doing missions to get the bigger point across that we are broken people. If you don’t spread (the faith), then it means nothing.” 

This spring break, Ross will be heading to Michigan State University. He explained what the group plans to do when they get there. 

“So, I’ll be going up to Michigan State to start the kick off there,’ Ross said. “We want to make our presence there, we want to let them know that The Salt Company is here and that there is a God that loves them.” 

Ross said this trip will include a number of fellowship activities similar to what he has done in previous trips. 

“Last year we held a volleyball tournament so that we can bring everyone together,” Ross said. “Sometimes two people go to the same college and don’t know anything about each other but might have things in common. Bringing people together creates a community feel.” 

After spending all this time trying to impact others’ lives, these trips have also impacted him personally. 

“It’s made a tremendous impact to see how people’s lives are besides my own,” Ross said. “We all go through our own things, but once we kind of understand everyone else’s thought process and their perspectives on life and what’s been affecting them, we end up with a soft heart for other people.” 

The typical spring break does not work for all people. There are trips being taken all the time with the goal of making a difference. Some trips are driven by religion while other trips are driven by simply wanting to good for others. Regardless of the motivating factor behind each trip, the idea of humanitarianism is at the heart of each story.