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Pepperdine Students Spend Spring Break in Service to Communities

As college students around the country prepare to spend spring break traveling, visiting home, or merely enjoying relaxation time, numerous Pepperdine students are preparing for a different sort of journey. Their plans include serving and ministering in a variety of domestic and international locations through Pepperdine's annual Project Serve program.

Now in its seventh year, the Project Serve spring break tradition is designed to provide students with a more accurate understanding of the needs of the world as well as a meaningful experience of service and teamwork.

Student participants will serve communities in many ways, like working in small health clinics in local Guatemalan villages alongside Doctors from Health Talents International; building homes for families in San Felipe, Mexico; and aiding in hurricane relief efforts coordinated by The Gathering Community Center and church.

This year 294 students will serve on 19 teams and travel to 16 cities, involving 80 more students than in 2007. As a result of this surge in participation, four new sites have been added and the capacity of many trips has increased.

Ashley Nolan, associate director of the Pepperdine Volunteer Center, comments, "By giving their time, their strengths, and their abilities to communities across the nation as well as in South and Central America, Pepperdine students are truly embodying Pepperdine's motto, 'Freely ye received, freely give.'"

In addition to sacrificing other spring break opportunities, students also raised the money to make the trips possible. To date students have raised $150,000 and by the time they leave they are expected to raise a total of $163,000.

Nolan explains that the rewards of Project Serve make the sacrifices worthwhile. "Whether it be the generosity they experienced from their host community, the joy they received from serving, or the new relationships they formed with their peers, Project Serve trips often afford students the opportunity to have a very rewarding and meaningful spring break experience."

For more information on Project Serve, please contact the Pepperdine Volunteer Center at (310) 506-4143 or visit the Project Serve Web site.