Alternative Breaks: Students provide service at organizations across the country

“I have always thought about working for an organization like a shelter, and this trip has provided a great opportunity to see what this work is like and it also reinforces my love for animals,” said Jae Gauthier.

Rather than spending their spring break relaxing, Gauthier and other Grand Valley students spent the first week of March in Batavia, Ohio, gaining career experience and caring for neglected animals at The League for Animal Welfare .

Gauthier is a wildlife biology major who hopes to pursue a job with the Department of Natural Resources or at an animal shelter. 

The week in Ohio was part of the group's involvement in Alternative Breaks (AB), a student organization that was established at Grand Valley in 1991. Like its parent organization, Break Away , AB strives to create a society of active citizens who make the community a priority in their values and life decisions.

AB sent six groups of students across the country for service projects such as aiding a homeless shelter at Our House in Little Rock, Arkansas, or protecting forests and clean water with Mountain True in Murphy, North Carolina.

Students who participate in these trips can complete over 40 hours of service. The trips were led by student site leaders like Lily Clark, president of AB and site leader for the Ohio trip. 

“An additional goal of AB is to bring the knowledge and experience from these trips back to the GVSU campus so that we can benefit our local community with events and other activities to give back,” said Clark.

For Trinity Simon, a sophomore studying pre-veterinary medicine, spending a week at the The League for Animal Welfare offered opportunities for her to attend a vaccination clinic and work with animals outside of her job as an assistant at a West Michigan emergency animal hospital.

“Not only do I get a chance to travel at fairly inexpensive costs, but I also get to give back to a community and work with animals, which has been my passion for as long as I can remember," Simon said. "My own house looks more like a zoo.” 

The League for Animal Welfare is one of the oldest and largest no-kill animal shelters in Ohio. Carrie Leary, volunteer manager, said it serves the larger Cincinnati area. Staff there find homes for more than 1,500 cats and dogs each year. 

Every student on the trip worked directly with sheltered animals, providing them care through baths, feeding and playtime. They also got down and dirty to help benefit the shelter that hosted them by thoroughly cleaning every aspect of the facility at least once and helping prep food or clean llitter boxes.

Leary complimented the work by Grand Valley students. “They were a fantastic group, and I cannot say enough good things about them,” she said.

The students got to name a handful of kittens that were recently taken in by the shelter. They named the cats Laker, Anchor and Philly, after President Philomena V. Mantella.

“Alternative Breaks provide all of these experiences but with a greater impact,” said Clark. “You are living and working in a small group, often creating friendships and connections that help deepen your understanding of a particular issue and drive home the importance of making the community a priority in your life.”

Thomas Garrett is a student writer for University Communications. Garrett, a native of Stevensville, is a senior who is majoring in writing.