May 11, 2007

For two years now, senior Mason men's soccer player, Jacob Weitz, has defied the stereotypes regarding a college student's spring break. Instead of going to a beach somewhere to hang out with friends, Weitz has attended the United Way's Alternative Spring Break (ASB) in Louisiana for the past two years. The college experience that has meant the most to Weitz, did not take place on the soccer field.

"I have always enjoyed volunteer work, but the experience with the Alternative Spring Break program was volunteer work on a whole new scale," said Weitz.

Weitz first heard about ASB in January of 2006 from an MTV commercial. From there he applied on the United Way Web site for a position as a volunteer worker in the disastrous communities. Weitz was then selected as a participant and worked to help the communities that lost everything during Hurricane Katrina.

The ASB that Weitz chose to attend is set up as a way for college students to travel to the hurricane stricken areas of Louisiana. Individuals donate their time, strength and willpower to help rebuild communities during that week. Weitz joined students from all over the United States, along with students from other countries.

Weitz returned to Louisiana in the spring of 2007, this time as a team leader and he spent the 10 days accomplishing multiple duties.

"As a team leader I was the head contact for all of my team's projects," commented Weitz. "I was in communication with the top management, as well as the people working for me and had to make sure everything ran smoothly."

In addition, the team leaders arrived early and spent a day on team training and then toured the areas that had faced destruction from either hurricane Katrina or Rita. It was in those areas where volunteers spent the week.

"The place where we toured was an area where houses once stood, but now they were only foundations of what once existed or there were only stilts where houses used to sit upon above the marshes," expressed Weitz.

"What the people in the community really found solace in was just having a place to live and call home, even if that was just a trailer on the foundation where their previous house stood," shared Weitz. "People love the idea of having a place to call home and a place to rebuild their community."

The rebuilding of the communities is what brought pride to the volunteers. Weitz and his team of 10 individuals from all over the country were based in the Cameron Parish of Louisiana and joined forces with a second team of 14 people. These 24 individuals were utilized to accomplish many smaller, yet, important projects in the communities.

Some of the projects that Weitz and his team worked on were the rebuilding and improving sections of a building in which the Head Start program for children was located, fixing up parts of a community center and also improving the inside of many of the houses in the communities.

"At the Head Start program we worked on putting in new shelves in the classrooms, reorganizing the building, fixing part of the roof, and laying new gravel in the areas around the playground," commented Weitz. "And then in the community center, my team had the task of remodeling the bathrooms, along with painting the building."

Despite the fact that some of the houses in the community looked fine from the outside, many were collapsing from the inside due to the water damage from the hurricanes. One house that stuck out in Weitz's mind was that of Dan and his wife. For two days Weitz spent time in his house fixing part of the roof that had caved in, putting up drywall, installing insulation and spackling walls.

"What I enjoyed most was the work I did inside the homes of those in the community and getting to know the locals," said Weitz. "Something that I will always treasure is the lunchtime conversations I had with Mr. Dan and his wife.

"We talked about the community before and after the hurricane, and also discussed with each other our lives in different parts of the country. These two individuals showed me and the other volunteers the epitome of true Southern Hospitality."

Not only was the volunteer work fulfilling for Weitz, but he also developed a connection with so many other volunteers that he deeply cherishes. Beyond the individuals on his team, there were approximately 120 more people in Louisiana that were split into other teams that Weitz had the chance to meet and connect with as friends.

The most heartwarming experience that Weitz incurred with the other volunteers happened during the transition period of his final night in Louisiana. The transition period consisted of the time when the previous weeks' volunteers who were about to leave for home, interacted with the new volunteers.

"On the first night the new volunteers stayed at the main camp, one of the volunteers convinced all of us to get a kickball game going," commented Weitz. "A group of about 50 of us decided to head down to a local field and play kickball. We had a lot of fun with each other; it seemed like we had been life long friends, but in actuality we had only really known each other for a couple of hours. That is an experience I will always keep close to my heart"

With time winding down, Weitz knew that his weeks in the southwest portion of Louisiana were priceless to those that he helped in the communities that he worked to restored.

"I loved the new connections that I made with all of the people and felt an insurmountable value of accomplishment due to the gratitude of the locals," commented Weitz. "People would just approach you at different jobs and thank you over and over again for what you were doing."

As can be seen from Weitz's experiences, nothing can replace the work that the volunteers accomplished for the locals. Hopefully the volunteers continue to pour into the Gulf Region to support organizations that devote time and money to rebuild a distinct portion of the country that desperately wants its beloved communities back.

Weitz encourages anyone interested to visit the United Way website and even look to get groups together to volunteer next year during one of the four weeks in the spring in which groups travel to Louisiana.

"Alternative Break is something I hope everyone can experience sometime in their lifetime," expressed Weitz.