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Public service center seeks students, others to spend ‘alternative’ fall break helping hurricane victims

CHAPEL HILL -- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill students, faculty and staff who want to lend a hand with Hurricane Floyd relief efforts in eastern North Carolina can sign up for an assignment dubbed "Alternative Fall Break" Thursday through Sunday (Oct. 14-17).

Organized by the Carolina Center for Public Service as part of a campuswide Hurricane Floyd Recovery Project, Alternative Fall Break will bus university volunteers to eastern locations hit hard by Floyd on the dates corresponding with the university’s regular fall break, which begins Wednesday at 5 p.m. Preliminary destinations are the Greenville and Williamston areas.

"We will try to match up the capabilities of the individual with the work," said Dr. Nick Didow, a business professor and director of the new UNC-CH public service center. "Some people may feel they can do some of the more challenging physical work involved with digging out. Others may want to contribute by working in distribution centers. We’ll find something meaningful to do for everyone in the university community who wants to help their fellow citizens."

The UNC-CH center’s goal is to marshal the available resources from the university community to aid the efforts of other service groups at work in eastern North Carolina, Didow said.

"The devastation is tremendous and widespread, and there is no better time than now for those of us at Carolina to show our commitment to serving the rest of the state," he said.

Volunteers are needed for physical labor, doing everything from carrying trash to trucks to ripping out sheet rock, officials said.

Buses will leave Chapel Hill at 6:30 a.m. and return no later than 9 p.m. for each of the Oct. 14-17 trips. Students, faculty and staff may volunteer for more than one day. The exact departure and return points have not yet been determined.

Volunteers are being asked to provide their own meals, but any needed supplies will be made available to them. Only university students, faculty and staff should register for a trip. Tetanus shots are recommended before departure. Volunteers also are asked to attend one of two pre-trip briefing sessions, either today (Oct. 11) or Tuesday (Oct. 12). Both sessions will be from 4 to 6 p.m. in 100 Hamilton Hall.

To volunteer or learn more information, contact Rachel Windham at 962-5296 or e-mail cps@unc.edu. Updates on Alternative Fall Break can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.unc.edu/cps.  An online volunteer registration form should be available at that site soon.

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Contact: Mike McFarland