Maryland Alternative Breaks

Farewell, Bahamas, Costa Rica & Panama, Florida, Gaston, NC, Guatemala, and New Orleans, LA Trips!

2012-01-10T11:40:00.000-05:00

Six more AWB trips leave tomorrow! Again, wish them well! Each of the trips have exciting and meaningful service planned, addressing social issues ranging from environmental conservation, to rural education, to poverty, racism, and disaster relief.

The Haiti and Peru trips arrived safely and have already started blogging! Below is the complete list of the AWB blogs to follow until the trips return the week of January 21st.

Bahamas: http://bahamas12.blogspot.com/

Costa Rica & Panama: http://puravidaservice.blogspot.com/

Florida: http://florida-awb2012.blogspot.com/

Gaston, NC: http://awbgaston.blogspot.com/

Guatemala: http://awbguatemala2012.blogspot.com/

Haiti: http://awbhaiti2012.blogspot.com/

New Orleans, LA: http://awbnola2012.blogspot.com/

Peru: http://peruab2011.blogspot.com/

Bon Voyage, Haiti and Peru Trips!

2012-01-06T17:09:00.001-05:00

January 7 marks the official start of the Alternative Winter Break program! Trips leave for Haiti and Peru bright and early tomorrow morning. Wish them well! Safe and meaningful travels are ahead.

To follow the progress of the Haiti and Peru trips, and particularly to read about the important service work they have planned, follow their blogs!

Haiti: http://awbhaiti2012.blogspot.com/

Peru: http://peruab2011.blogspot.com/

SAB 2011 Trips Are Off!

2011-05-20T16:29:00.000-04:00

Keep an eye out for what our SAB Trips are doing for the next couple of weeks. We have 3 trips this year - check out what they're doing in the blogs linked at the right.

- Interfaith & Diversity Education: Philadelphia, PA

- Urban Agriculture & Hunger: Boston, MA

- Community Development & Education: Cuenca, Ecuador

The 2011 Alternative Spring Break Trips Are Off

2011-03-18T10:23:00.001-04:00

The 2011 Alternative Spring Break

Trips Are Off

The AB Trip Leaders have done it again! That have worked with various community partners to create some amazing experiences for UMD students focusing on some of the most critical social issues of our time. Over 300 students going on 19 different trips will be departing tomorrow focusing on issues such as Hunger and Homelessness, Education, Rural and Urban Poverty, the Justice System, Human Trafficking, Native American Issues, Immigration and Healthcare.

We are also excited to send off our first co-sponsored trips with The Honors College (Disaster Relief in New Orelans) and the Department of Fraternity and Sorority Life (Urban Poverty in Atlanta).

Check out everyone's blogs (in the right-hand side bar) throughout the week and when they return to hear their amazing stories!!

- The AB Team

2011 Winter Break Trips will go Come Snow, Come Rain...

2011-01-11T17:04:00.001-05:00

The 2011 Alternative Winter Break trips are due to leave tomorrow! However, given the impending threat of snow (not snowing yet!), all the international flights have been cancelled for the 12th, but they are all scheduled to go out sometime b/w Thursday and Saturday. The driving trips will play that one by ear depending on the weather.

That being said, the Alternative Break program can't be stopped just due to some pesky snow (or the forecast of it in our case). They are all sure to have some amazing trips - so check out what's happening on their trip blogs. You can find all 5 trip blogs in the right-hand tool bar. The trips you'll be following during this break are:

Rural Education - Gaston, NC
Domestic Violence - Knoxville, TN
Sustainable Community Development - Los Andes, Guatemala
Environment and Conservation - the Bahamas
Sustainable Business Development - Tegucigalpa, Honduras

Enjoy their posts throughout the next 10 days! Have fun AWBers!!

And We're Off...

2010-03-12T11:29:00.004-05:00

It is that time again! We have planned, prepared, met...now it is time to go. The 17 ASB trips focusing on some of the most important topics of our time are off tomorrow for their week-long adventure of education and transformation.

Make sure to keep up on all of their trips here!

AWB 2010 - A Success!

2010-01-28T16:17:00.001-05:00

This past Saturday, four groups returned from incredibly successful trips. Check out the blogs from the amazing experiences the AWB 2010 groups had:

Rural Education - Gaston, NC: http://awb2010gaston.blogspot.com/
Sustainable Development - Guatemala: http://awbguatemalatrip.blogspot.com/
Domestic Violence - Knoxville, TN: http://awbknox2010.blogspot.com/
Environment/Conservation - The Bahamas: http://bahamasawb2010.blogspot.com/

Congratulations to all the trip leaders, participants, staff advisors and community members that made all this possible.

Now, we are looking forward to sending off 17 ASB trips March 13-20. Stay tuned for those blogs!

SAB South Dakota 2009

2009-05-27T11:21:00.000-04:00

AB has linked up with Hillel for an interfaith trip to South Dakota for the first-ever SAB (Summer Alternative Break) Trip.

To follow their trip, check out their blog at: http://marylandhillel.wordpress.com/.

And we're off!!!

2009-03-13T13:31:00.000-04:00

UMD's Alternative Spring Break is hitting the road!

250 student participants and 20 staff advisors making up 17 trips will hit the road to 16 locations this weekend and spread out across the continent to spend a week doing immersion service experiences.

We're using planes, trains, and automobiles to help over 25 agencies by doing 7100 hours of service and educational activities through the week. The first trips depart Saturday at 3:30am and our last trip heads out Sunday morning. All trips arrive back the following weekend, most likely exhausted, but definitely exhilirated at the experience.

Receptions for our ASB teams and local Terp alums will be held in NYC and Washington, DC. (If you're interested in attending, please contact Terry Zacker at tzacker@umd.edu or Mei-Yen Hui at meiyen@umd.edu.)

Individual trips will be blogging from the road, and you can read their updates by clicking on any of the links on the left side of this page.

Happy Spring Break!! Go forth and serve!

We're almost ready....

2009-03-10T11:10:00.000-04:00

The trips leave in 4 days, and everyone is busily packing and checking things off their To Do lists. The list of blogs for ASB trips is growing and you'll see them posted in the left hand column of this page. Check back frequently for new posts...you'll be able to keep up with each trip as they spread across the continent doing service.

To Do List
Create AB blog - CHECK!
Bookmark Maryland AB blog - CHECK!
Become a Follower of the Maryland AB blog - CHECK!

Welcome to our blog!

2009-02-20T08:15:00.000-05:00

Greetings from the Maryland Alternative Breaks blog! While we've just started this blog, we currently plan on using it as a place to share announcements and updates about the AB programs.

More importantly, we want to link to all of our trip blogs and you'll see a list on the left to our '09 Alternative Winter Break trips and some of our '09 Alternative Spring Break trips. They are FABULOUS reading, and we hope you'll enjoy reading about the great work and great adventures our students are doing all over the country and world.

ASB trips leave in 22 days!!!