“You’ve got to go there to know there.”
~ Zora Neale Hurston
Alternative Service Breaks is a program run by students, for students. Alternative Service Breaks goes beyond the borders of Lexington and Kentucky. And, Alternative Service Breaks offers alternative ways to spend your breaks!
In partnership with the national service organization Break Away, we do our part to connect University of Kentucky students (like you!) to service opportunities across the country and around the world (way cool!). Whether your interest is in politics, health care, education, sustainability, poverty, or emergency aid, and whether the community you wish to serve is local, regional, national, or international, we have an opportunity that will match your personal passions witha community’s needs.
Even better, our list of weekend and weeklong service trips continues to grow so that you can find an opportunity as close as Appalachia or as far as the Andes. And, with so many different issues to focus on, from education to the environment, you are sure to find the right alternative break for you. What’s more, regardless of which service trip you choose, you are guaranteed to come away from your experience with new friends, new knowledge, a renewed sense of self, and a renewed desire to serve.
We hope you will join us for what may become a life-changing experience. We say experience because involvement in a service trip does not begin and end with the trip. Rather, it extends throughout the school year with orientation sessions, educational programs, service projects, fundraising events, and of course a reunion gathering! We believe each of these components contributes to the overall success of each trip – whether it prepares you, builds you, challenges you, supports you, or connects you.
Our goal is to build future leaders that are active, conscientious citizens. So you see, our mission is about much more than the here and now. It is about future leaders making our future world a better place to be.
As our motto says: “you’ve got to go there to know there.” So, our challenge to you is to go there. Go there physically. Go there mentally. Go there emotionally. Go there spiritually. Then come back here with the knowledge and know-how to make a difference wherever you go.