Alternative Spring Break: An Interview with Geoff Roest

What trips are being offered this spring break?

There are three trips: one to Carolina, and two to Mississippi.

Which trip are you going on?

I am going on the trip to North Carolina.

What kinds of service will you be doing?

Our group will be working at an aquarium on the coast of North Carolina. We will be working with sea turtles!

What interested you most in getting involved with ASB?

Traveling to a different part of the country is going to be so interesting. I love going to new places and meeting new people, so this trip looked really fun to me.

What kinds of things have you done to raise money for this trip?

We have had bake sales, raked lawns around Plymouth, and asked our families for donations.

Have you ever done anything like this before?

I have done community service events before, like Community Service Orientation, but this is the first time I will be travelling to another area of the country for a community service trip. It will also be my first time working at an aquarium.

What are you looking to most about the trip?

I am looking forward to spending a week in the south. It is going to be very interesting to spend time in a place where they have different accents, different food, and a different life style.

Do you know many of the other students going on the trip? Has there been time for you all to meet and get to know each other?

I knew a few of the students in my group before we started to have meetings, and I knew a few students in the other groups as well. I have gotten to know everyone in my group pretty well at our meetings, and I am looking forward to hanging out with them for a week.

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Upcoming Events

Read across America

• Tuesday March 10th thru Thursday March 12th – Downtown Plymouth

PSU Silent Auction

• Thursday, April 2nd 5pm in HUB MPR

Walk to end Women’s Violence

• Saturday, April 4th Plymouth

Live and Let Live Animal Farm

• Saturday, April 11th 10:00am—3:00pm

Squam Lakes Trail Clean up

• Saturday, April 25th

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The Angel Tree Project

You may have noticed walking through the HUB last semester the tree in the FPL adorned with hundreds of angels. What looked like an fun easy project actually required months of preparation and hard work. The Service Spotlight sat down with the coordinator Morgan O’Connell to find out more about the project.

Can you explain a little bit about what The Angel Tree Project exactly?

For years Plymouth State College and now Plymouth State University students, faculty, and staff have united to bring underprivileged children gifts for Christmas. This year the program coordinated with 12 local organizations to help those in need. The children from each organization provided us with their wish list, an angel was then cut out to represent the child, their wish list was also attached to the angel. A tree was then set up in the HUB where community members could select a child or children, buy the gifts, wrap them, and return them to us. From there we sorted them and sent them back to the agencies where they distributed them to the children.

What made you want to take on such a huge project?

I have, in some way, been a part of the Angel Tree Project since my first year here. I also helped out with a program similar to this one with my church in Rhode Island. I knew that I wanted to get more involved since I had decided not to apply for one of the Alternative Spring Break trips that I had done the previous two years. Fortunately, I was talking about my situation with a senior member of PSU Volunteers and he encouraged me to apply to be a coordinator for The Angel Tree Project. I had no idea it was such a huge undertaking, but it has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.

How long did it take you to get everything organized and ready for those few weeks?

I started to contact organizations around the middle of September and steadily continued working on small projects throughout October and November. Then things started to move really fast. We had tabling for a few weeks, then the collection of gifts for another week. We had to organize and sort all of the presents and then arrange a time for each organization to pick up the presents. It was really a semester long project. It wasn’t done until the last day of finals. However, it would have taken a lot longer and not gone as smoothly if I didn’t have the support from a number of volunteers that helped throughout the process.

What was the hardest thing about running Angel Tree?

The most difficult thing was trying to coordinate with all 12 of the agencies. With everyone’s busy schedules it was difficult to arrange times for the presents to be picked up. Unfortunately on the day that the agencies were planning on picking up the gifts it snowed. I had to then get in touch with the agencies to rework the times.

What was the greatest thing about running Angel Tree?

The moment that took my breath away was seeing all the wrapped gifts stuffed into a sizable room. You could barely walk around or see over the piles of presents. I realized at that moment how many people’s lives we were touching. I was also overwhelmed by the generosity of the Plymouth community. I was astonished to see how many people found it in their hearts to give to those less fortunate when they had so little themselves. The economy was and continues to be hard on many people, but it did not stop their spirit of giving.

Were there any rewarding moments like meeting with the kids or hearing stories about them?

I didn’t get to meet any of the children, but I did receive many thank you notes from them. There were also some pictures of the children opening their gifts and sitting with Santa. All the hard work was worth seeing the smiles on the children’s faces.

Was it a success? Did everyone turn in their gifts?

Yes! We are proud to say that approximately 335 children were able to receive gifts this Christmas thanks to the generosity of our community.

A big thank you to Morgan and her dedication throughout this project. She did an amazing job!

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Spotlight on: Up Till Dawn

by: Christina Peterson

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is located in Memphis, TN. "St. Jude is unlike any other pediatric treatment and research facility. Discoveries made here have completely changed how the world treats children with cancer and other catastrophic diseases. With research and patient care under one roof, St. Jude is where some of today's most gifted researchers are able to do science more quickly" (www.stjude.org).

Plymouth State University and the sisters of the Delta Zeta Sorority have teamed up with the representatives from the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital last year to introduce the Up ‘till Dawn event on campus. This event is still in the beginning phases on this campus but hopefully will be a very large event on the Plymouth State Campus in the future.

Up ‘till Dawn is an event that "unites faculty, staff and students behind the cause of supporting St. Jude. Students learn about the mission of St. Jude and hold various fundraising events throughout the year. The program culminates with a fun, all-night finale event at which students stay ”up ‘til dawn” in honor of St. Jude patients. Since Up ‘til Dawn was created in 1998, students at more than 200 participating schools have raised $12 million" (www.stjude.org).

We could be one of those 200 participating schools raising $12 million. The newly emerging group Up ‘till Dawn is currently accepting applications for the newly forming executive board. Please contact Christina Peterson if you are interested.

The Up ‘till Dawn event is scheduled for this semester. Be on the lookout for information on date and time! So please come out to this letter writing campaign to give hope to these children. (Letters are all pre-written, just fill in required information). Please contact Tatum Langelier for more information about this event.

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Plymouth State University Volunteers Corner

PSU volunteers will be holding their next meeting on April 7^th at 7:00.

Not a member but would like to sign up? Here are some upcoming events.

Thursday 3/12 6:30-8pm Hub MPR

• New Horizons Team Building Workshop
• For org leaders or future org leaders
• E-mail Guy Mott if interested.

Tuesday-Thursday 3/10-3/12

• Read Across America
• Downtown Plymouth

Thursday 4/2 5pm HUB MPR

• Silent Auction
• PSU Volunteers auction off a service?
• Ex. Yardwork, cleaning, babysitting, tutoring, ect.

Friday-Sunday 4/3-4/5

• Possible Alternative Weekend
• 2009 National Student Conference Against Hunger and Homelessness at Rutgers
• University in New Brunswick, NJ

Saturday 4/4

• Walk to End Women’s Violence
• Location-Plymouth

Friday-Saturday 4/10-4/11

• Possible Alternative Weekend-Do dates work? Easter Weekend. Would another be better? Give me feedback!
• Arrive back later Saturday afternoon.
• Rachel Carson Wildlife Refuge (Same location as last year)

Saturday 4/25

• Squam Lakes Natural Science Center Trail Clean Up Day

For any additional information about the events or to sign up for the events above please e-mail President Kim Wall.

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