Alternative Spring Break National Program Day 2!

As we began our second day in North Carolina, the sun was finally shining and we were ready to go!  While we did not get rained on today, the day certainly presented challenges of its own.  The Hofstra Alternative Spring Break crew continued to clear the last few bits of debris from our work site from the previous day, and it was especially rewarding how we worked together to reach the end result.  Once our work site had cleared, we began to assist our neighboring school group from the University of Delaware.  At their site, we were again faced with the daunting task of removing more personal items of the home’s former occupants which were damaged in the flood. Every item was a reminder of the importance of what we are doing and made us even more motivated to continue our work. 

One of the highlights of our day was helping to remove the concrete foundation of the old house to prepare for the building of a new home in the future. We found that some of our teammates have a real passion for concrete foundation removal and it was a lot of fun mixed in with a lot of hard work. Some even willingly gave up their lunch time to continue working.

We have to break up the foundation.

And then we can remove it!

 Perhaps the most important lesson learned this afternoon was “patience.” What we are realizing is that the goal of our work here is to bring about positive change in the Bayboro community that can be seen in the future—not for immediate gratification. The point of community service is not to get praised or complimented by the progress that your work has brought, but for a person to feel secure in the fact that they did a good thing for the sake of others.   

It's all about patience and teamwork!

 In the evening after reflection, we enjoyed the night with the world’s biggest Apples to Apples game (ok, maybe that is an exaggeration, but it was pretty big!). It was nice to relax and just laugh while we were all starting to feel the soreness come on from the day’s work. We are looking forward to what we will be doing next. Stay tuned tomorrow to find out!

We may be dirty, but all the debris is finally gone!

Blog written by:  Megan Kennedy, Class of 2014; Melaine Morgan, Class of 2014; and Jeanine Russaw, Class of 2015

Alternative Spring Break National Program Day 1!

The whole group is ready to work!

                Today marked the first full day of service for the Alternative Spring Break National Program where thirty Hofstra University students and two staff members are working with the National Relief Network in Bayboro, North Carolina. We arrived on site bright and early this morning to a pile of wood, shingles, doors, and pipes. A home that had been condemned due to water damage from last year’s Hurricane Irene was demolished and gutted out. While it was not highlighted in the news, the Outer Banks coast of North Carolina suffered greatly after Hurricane Irene came through. All day we broke up all the debris, mostly wood, and transported it all into dump trucks to be carried away from the site. 

The site before we started working

                It was a lot of hard work, but everyone was challenging and pushing themselves to try something new and not be afraid to get dirty! The Mayor of Bayboro even stopped by to thank us all for the work we have been doing and to say how much the community appreciates our help. After lunch, we had another popular visitor stop by, a golden shepherd that some of us have named Fred. Later on in the day dark gray clouds moved in, but we did not let the rain bring us down. We kept on working just as hard through the weather and the rubble turning the mountain of debris into a pile of mere shingles by the end of the day. Some may have looked at this pile as merely a pile of garbage, but we were aware that this used to be someone’s home. Occasionally we would find lost artifacts (a small child’s boot, a vintage dial-tone telephone) and we would set them aside as we continued to work, respecting the family who left them behind. They also helped to remind us all that the work we were doing was important. 

Everyone is working hard!

                In the evening we reflected upon the obstacles we experienced throughout the day, both literal and metaphorical. We not only braved through the rubble, but we developed trust in our fellow trip-goers. We worked together as a team, most notably when we formed an assembly line to carry all the water damaged debris to the dumpsters.  Moving forward we hope to keep our morale high throughout the week and look forward to learning new skills and making lasting friendships that last a lifetime.

 

At the end of the day, our pile was almost gone!

Blog written by:  Victoria Bohme, Class of 2014 and Claudia Balthazar, Class of 2014

The Big Game at Hof USA

Hopefully you made it out to Hof USA last night to enjoy the end of WinterBlast weekend with your friends watching the Game! Whether you were there for the game, the commercials, the halftime show or the camadraderie everyone had a blast! Student Leadership and Activities collaborated with Resident Student Association (RSA) and Lackmann Dining to put on a great event for all Hofstra Students. The event began at 5pm with FREE appetizers and continued with many great food specials offered from Lackmann each quarter.

Whether you wanted wings, sliders or, a meatball hero they had it all for a deal; although I had it from a good sources that the brownie sundae is the BEST at Hof USA :) We ended the night how we started with FREE food...icecream sundaes and rootbeer floats!It was great to see over 300 students throughout the event. Over 150 stayed for all 5 hours of the event to enjoy the festivities with friends.

Even after the game a group of students continued to discuss the game and got to see The Voice. I had a great time meeting new students, and dissecting the halftime show (was it good, was it bad...) and catching what ended up to me a very exciting game throughout the night. As a football fan dating back to elementary school (I am from Buffalo so you are either a Bills fan or you have nothing to do for the winter :) )I sure enjoyed the safety, the drives and the dropped balls at critical moments.

I hope you came out and if you didn't I hope you are able to join us at Hof USA as we continue to build programming in the newly renovated space. We have a special "First Friday" program each first Friday of the month (in March it's cookie and cupcake decorating) and every other Fridays of the month we have Karaoke (all Friday programming starts at 7pm). Plus look out for our special St. Patty's Day Friday event; Friday March 9 at 7pm. This is the prelude event to the Irish Fest on campus being hosted on March 11. A great game was played last night by both teams and we are looking forward to this becoming a traditional event on campus...so, see you next year!