“We are not only making an impact on just one family or animal, we are doing something even bigger,” Dwyer said. “We are making life changing impacts for the community as a whole.”
The Alternative Break Association took two groups of students to volunteer at La Casa Inc. in Goshen, Indiana and the Exotic Feline Rescue Center in Center Point, Indiana from Oct. 10 to 13.
Their mission is to strengthen student connection in the community through civic engagement and cultural enhancement, according to Student Voluntary Services.
“We give students the opportunity to do something on their break that gives back,” said Hannah Dwyer, membership recruiter for the Alternative Break Association.
La Casa is a nonprofit housing agency that provides programs to people in need to help achieve financial stability and find homes, according to their website.
For La Casa, volunteers worked on two different houses that would later be given to families in need. Students cleaned the houses, installed windows and roofing, painted and landscaped.
Junior marketing major Qingyun Fan helped clean out a home for La Casa. Her group worked on cleaning the carpets and eliminating the rubbish the former owner of the house had left. Even though the process was hard, Fan said she felt like she made an impact.
“After three days of cleaning, the house really changed,” Fan said. “We made it more comfortable to live in, which made me feel like all of our effort was worthy.”
The Exotic Feline Rescue Center in Center Point is one of the largest rescue centers in the United States for abused, unwanted and neglected exotic cats, according to their website. With about 200 exotic felines, the center’s mission is to provide permanent homes for exotic animals, while educating the public about the cats.
At the center, volunteers helped to build up habitats for these cats by repairing fences, putting gravel down and cleaning out houses and pools for the cats. Students also went to learn how to prepare meals for the animals.
“The majority of students who went to the Exotic Feline Rescue Center were biology and zoology majors,” Dwyer said. “This experience gave them the chance to be hands-on and interactive with the animals, which is something a lot of people never have the opportunity to do.”
The two causes the Alternative Break Association chose to participate in were very different, but equally as important, Dwyer said.
“We are not only making an impact on just one family or animal, we are doing something even bigger,” Dwyer said. “We are making life changing impacts for the community as a whole.”
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