Some students opt to volunteer their spring break time to help out less fortunante
"Making the world a better place" wasn't on most college students' spring break to-do lists.
But instead of tacos, tequila and dancing, groups of UA students had more philanthropic experiences on their week off: hanging out with transient youth and distributing food to AIDS victims.
Students who volunteered their vacation time to help nonprofit organizations in Southern California called their experiences eye-opening and said they had just as much fun ÷ if not more ÷ than their partying or lounging peers.
"Who says spring break can't be fun without alcohol?" asked Victoria Pham, a pre-health education sophomore who helped out at a food bank for AIDS victims.
Alternative Breaks, a Center for Student Involvement and Leadership committee that organizes spring breaks emphasizing community service, offered students the opportunity to take part in one of six different spring break trips.
In Los Angeles, 18 student volunteers balanced sightseeing with administrative tasks for AIDS Project Los Angeles, a nonprofit organization that assists people impacted by AIDS.
"Basically we work from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; then we party," said Jason Moore, a political science junior and a site leader for the AIDS Project trip. Comparing the trip with his past experiences in Rocky Point, he said, "After losing money and not remembering much (of Rocky Point), it's a hell of a lot more fun."
Another group of Alternative Break volunteers in California worked for Stand Up For Kids, a nonprofit organization that helps homeless and at-risk youth.
The students spent their time on the streets of Santa Monica and Hollywood talking to street kids and handing out food and hygiene packets to them.
They also scoped out the squatting areas of Anaheim for students they could reach out to and organized the nonprofit's storage units.
For fun, volunteers split up and visited Beverly Hills, the beaches, downtown Santa Monica, Universal Studios and Chinatown.
Ryan McManus, executive director for Stand Up For Kids in Los Angeles, said he was impressed with the volunteers' dedication. Stand Up For Kids is run completely by volunteers, he said.
"It's awesome ... here. Most (students) go to Cabo or Cancun and think of themselves only, and here were 19 students from the UA helping out homeless kids," McManus said.
Volunteers said the interaction with the homeless teens gave them a new way of seeing those they were helping. "It's amazing. It's totally changed the way I think about street kids," said Sarah Stark, a journalism senior.
Nirav Patel, an undeclared freshman who worked in the AIDS Project food bank, agreed.
"You can read about it (AIDS and HIV), but until you meet someone and shake their hand · it's just different," he said.
Stand Up For Kids volunteers spent the night of March 15 dressed up as homeless kids as they "spanged," or asked passers-by for spare change, on the Third Street Promenade, a popular shopping strip in Santa Monica.
"It was sad. People would completely ignore us," Stark said. "(The street kids are) all people just like us; they're just in a different situation."
She said she would now be more likely to give handouts to people on the streets.
Megan McDowell, a chemical engineering freshman, said she was laughed at, denied a plastic cup to use for collecting change and told where she could or could not sit on the promenade.
"To be treated like that every day, just because of how I'm dressed · it showed what these kids go through every day ÷ even a smile makes you feel better." McDowell said she felt "touched" when two real street kids noticed she was new to the streets and offered her and others advice for surviving on the streets.
A desire to impact other people's lives also motivated Vaibhav Saria, a psychology and English literature freshman, to go on the Alternative Breaks trip.
"There is always something to do and I like feeling busy. I go to bed at night extremely satisfied," he said.
Saria said he plans on getting a doctorate and will eventually be working with AIDS patients. Saria said being a gay male and an Indian also called his attention to the AIDS cause. More than 4 million people are infected with HIV or AIDS in India.
Jim Williams, human resources program manager and volunteer coordinator for the AIDS Project, said the organization would not be able to operate without volunteers.
"We would have to pay employees $16.75 for what the (UA students) do, not including the professional stuff they sometimes do," he said.
Aside from getting valuable work done, Williams said awareness is an important part of the volunteer experience at the AIDS Project.
"If it can break just one myth or misconception, then we've done our job," Williams said.
Jen Newberger, site leader for the Stand Up For Kids trip, said she and other UA students have been working on setting up a Stand Up For Kids center in Tucson.
Newberger estimated the center would open in about two months when donations start flowing in. Tucson is home to about 1,500 children who sleep on the streets, she said. Another 5,000 are homeless but can usually find a place to sleep.