College Students Opt for Alternative Spring Break

March 21, 2011 - 10:20 PDT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MEDIA ADVISORY

COCONUT CREEK, FL (March 21, 2011) - Instead of spending their Spring Break lounging on the beach, 15 students and three faculty members from The University of Central Florida (UCF) in Orlando, traveled to Jamaica March 7-12 on a house-building mission trip with the international relief and development organization Food For The Poor.

In one day, equipped with hammers, paint brushes and compassion, members of the nonprofit's Students For The Poor group completed the construction of a double-unit home in Jamaica. After the group worked as a team, they were able to present the house key to the new owner.

Food For The Poor is committed to building permanent homes in developing countries throughout the Caribbean and Latin America. For $3,200, Food For The Poor can build a single-unit home with sanitation to replace a crumbling shack that leaks when it rains. In 2010, Food For The Poor constructed a total of 9,460 new housing units with concrete foundations, locking doors, windows, and a zinc roof with hurricane straps.

There is no substitute for the firsthand experience of traveling on a mission trip. The experience required group members to use all of their senses - sight, touch, smell, taste, hearing - and their hearts. Another important part of mission trips is the daily group reflection time, which provides students the opportunity to share their thoughts, feelings and life-changing experiences.

In addition to building a home in a day, the students witnessed and heard firsthand accounts about the harsh realities of life in developing countries. A fisherman at the Bull Bay Fishing Village shared his heartfelt gratitude for Food For The Poor's donors, saying he is thankful for the opportunity to have a job that would not be possible without their support.

The Alpha Boys Home band welcomed the UCF group. One of the young boys allowed the group to shadow him during the completion of his daily chores. He said his dream is to be a musician, but with skills he has learned at the Alpha Boys Home he said he knows how to tend to poultry and the garden. Food For The Poor assists with the school's musical and agricultural programs.

Group members also played basketball at Maxfield Children's Home, painted faces and spoke to young women infected with AIDS about the importance of self-respect, and enjoyed some valuable "girl" time as they painted fingernails and styled hair with orphaned girls at Glenhope Girls home.

At the homeless shelter, the students didn't just serve a meal, they sat down and talked, sang and shared hugs with the homeless. At St. Annie's Primary School, the UCF students stepped in as teachers' aides to help tutor students in smaller groups. During recess, the students taught UCF students educational cultural songs and dances.

You can learn more about Food For The Poor's mission trips by viewing the YouTube video at https://www.youtube.com/user/FoodForThePoorInc#p/a/u/2/zKBuEFfF7JQ, calling 1-800-427-9104 ext. 6216 or by e-mailing missions@foodforthepoor.com. You can also involve your school in Food For The Poor's mission by calling 1-877-654-2960, ext. 6988 or e-mailing churchschool@foodforthepoor.org.

Food For The Poor, the third-largest international relief and development organization in the nation, does much more than feed millions of hungry poor in 17 countries of the Caribbean and Latin America. This interdenominational Christian agency provides emergency relief assistance, clean water, medicines, educational materials, homes, support for orphans and the aged, skills training and micro-enterprise development assistance, with more than 96 percent of all donations going directly to programs that help the poor. For more information, please visit www.FoodForThePoor.org.

Contact

Food For The Poor
http://foodforthepoor.org/missions
FL, 33073 US
Jennifer Oates - Public Relations, 954-427-2222 x 6054

Keywords

Food For The Poor, University of Central Florida,

Category

Newman Centers & Campus Ministries

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