The 2020-2021 Alternative Spring Break was adapted from a week-long trip to a year-long series of educational programming culminating in a virtual service project. The focus was particularly relevant to the challenging year in which we were meeting “Environmental Justice: Natural Disasters in the Time of COVID-19”. Students focused on examining how disasters such as wildfires, hurricanes, and a global pandemic impacted people and their ability to recover.
Students teamed up with Project Bear Hugs, an organization dedicated to providing relief supplies and comfort items to families impacted by disasters, to provide aid to a family who lost their belongings during the Alameda bush fire.
Beginning on September 8th, 2020, a wild brush fire, now labeled as the Alameda Fire, caught ablaze in Oregon and pushed its way into border states California and Washington. The Alameda Fire destroyed more than 600 homes, leaving over 42,000 people displaced due to home damage or destruction. Our Alternative Spring Break participants “adopted” one of the families impacted by this disaster. They fundraised on behalf of the family in an effort to provide them with the essential supplies they need to make their everyday lives less challenging.
Their overall fundraising goal was $1,000, but they ended up raising $2,445!
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