Georgetown students use spring break to help Community Kitchen

A raucous, party atmosphere is not Georgetown University senior Lee Levkowitz’s idea of a fun spring break.

And instead of going home, she said, she’d rather be helping others.

“I was originally just not going to do anything for spring break, and I thought, ‘Why not come do some service?’” said Ms. Levkowitz, 21, of Vineland, N.J. “Better than wasting my time at home.”

Ten Georgetown students ventured to the Scenic City on Sunday and have been volunteering all week, performing tasks such as painting a Chattanooga Community Kitchen apartment unit and doing work at the East 11th Street organization’s thrift store.

This is the fourth year a Georgetown group has worked at the Community Kitchen, said Charlie Hughes, the social service agency’s executive director. He said it is great to have the continued working relationship with the Washington, D.C.-based university.

“It’s validation, especially when they come back year after year after year,” Mr. Hughes said. “They’ve looked at your programs, they’ve looked at your operation, and they say, ‘This works. This is the right thing to do, and we can be a part of that.’”

The Chattanooga trip is among five alternative spring break opportunities offered through Georgetown’s “Spring Break in Appalachia” initiative.

Maureen Stickel, 21 and a junior from Cincinnati, said these trips are good reminders that some people have it harder than others.

“When you’re here it sort of helps you refocus your life and remember, oh, actually, maybe getting a B on that test isn’t such a big deal when there’s other people who don’t have a meal,” she said.

As his painting crew shifted between rooms, Tim Swenson, 20, from Alpharetta, Ga., said his previous volunteer work generally has been in short spurts of a couple of hours, but this week-long trip has been different.

“We’re seeing the same people day in (and) day out,” said Mr. Swenson, a sophomore. “I’ve never had that before.”

Mr. Hughes said wild and crazy spring break trips have gotten bad publicity, and some students react to that by taking more altruistic trips.

“People are saying, ‘Well, I’m going to do something good,’” he said. “Of course, we’re more than (happy) to be the beneficiary of all this goodwill.”

SPRING BREAK IN APPALACHIA

Here are the locations for Georgetown University’s “Spring Break in Appalachia” program:

* Chattanooga

* Cranks Creek, Ky.

* South Boston, Va.

* St. Paul, Va.

* Wheeling, W.Va.

Source: Georgetown University’s Center for Social Justice