Spring breakers skip Cancun for volunteer work

Brad Vonck (bottom, left) and other student volunteers worked with the Cherokee Nation in Stilwell, Oklahoma.

Spring breakers skip Cancun for volunteer work
Story Highlights
"Alternative" spring breaks are becoming more popular among college students

The programs center on community service

Trips may address hunger and homelessness, disaster relief and global warming

The average domestic trip costs around $250 or $300

By Elham Khatami
CNN


(CNN) -- This spring break, thousands of college students will ditch the bars and the beaches to do something more meaningful with their vacation time.


Brad Vonck is one of them. A sophomore at the University of Illinois, Vonck will travel to San Juan, Texas, in a group of 13 students to volunteer with La Union del Pueblo Entero, an organization that helps strengthen the communities and lives of farm workers and their families.

"Learning about different cultures is very important to me," Vonck said. "I like to engage in different areas of life that I don't really understand."

Every year, more and more college students, like Vonck, are choosing to spend their valuable time off from school participating in "alternative spring break" programs -- community service-based opportunities dealing with the most pressing issues of the day, including hunger and homelessness, disaster relief and global warming.
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